Directors get fees for services, without over complicating this...

Directors get fees for services, without over complicating this they are generally paid for board attendance and various committee(s) attendance and that is paid out of a fee pool approved by the shareholders at each AGM or carried forward from the previous AGM if not amended. (Details will be in the remuneration report of the Annual Report and I think for FMS the fee pool was $750kpa). These fees sometimes carry superannuation for an individual or GST if through an intermediary company. Sometimes directors are paid extra for extra duties and that is highly variable and cause some angst amongst shareholders (e.g Crikey.com and News Corporation many years ago) and these costs are also taken out of the Directors fee pool.

All this has to be disclosed in the remuneration report including their attendance at the various meets for which they are paid. What most companies don't do is provide a rate card of fees for meeting types, for example board meetings, committee meetings, AGM's, EGm's, SGM's, travel & acomm and other related expenses etc. I doubt FMS publishes it either as it is not a regulatory requirement to do so, so the only way you can figure out who gets what is to look at the remuneration tables in the remuneration report and work backwards. Most times it is only NFP's that publish a rate card but it would be nice to for all companies to do so - piggies will fly for that to happen.

Company executives, for example Ian Gordon and his direct reports, are all remunerated as employees of the company and these are completely different remuneration arrangements from that of shareholder nominated directors fee pool.

So anyone wanting to rush in be nominated as a company director can and should anticipate being compensated for their work as a director. Your D&O insurance is paid for you by the company in case some shareholders or ex-employees or other stakeholders want to pursue a legal action against you...(but this insurance doesn't always protect you to the fullest extent.

Good luck for those that are seeking a nomination, and seconder, to the board of FMS. You may very well get to work alongside Michael Woolley as a peer in the not too distant future and don't forget the board is required to operate as a collegiate.