Executive bonuses appear to be behind accounting misconduct at Brixmor

• “There was no target, no bonus, no compensation directly related to same-[property] NOI,” said audit committee Chairman Michael Berman on a Monday conference call when asked by Sandler O'Neill analyst Alex Goldfarb if same-property NOI (the measure that was fiddled with) was tied to compensation.
• In the most narrow sense, what Berman says was true, but a measure called cash NOI is used to trigger incentive bonuses, writes Francine McKenna, and the three axed executives were awarded payouts for exactly meeting the targeted $2.79 per share in 2014.
• "This is the first case that I’ve seen where an accounting issue is supposedly immaterial to GAAP [and] is potentially material to the non-GAAP results,” says Olga Usvyatsky of Audit Analytics.
• Previously: Brixmor CEO Carroll, CFO Pappagallo resign over accounting allegations (Feb. 8)
• BRX +0.5% today