A quick update on say-on-pay voting results, courtesy of Towers Watson.

As of March 21, 120 companies have disclosed voting results. Only two of these companies have failed to win majority support for their say-on-pay proposals.

Among the 118 companies that have received majority support, 77 percent have won more than 90 percent shareholder support. more

Whether you’re investing for yourself or your employer, you no doubt have heard the diversification mantra over and over — holding a mix of investments offers protection against the risk that any one security will plunge in value.

While the idea of diversifying remains valid, to truly gain protection you may need to rethink how you do it, according to a recent study titled “Has the U.S. Stock Market Become More Vulnerable Over Time?” by a trio of professors from Boston College, the University of Delaware and the University of Washington. Specifically, the study found that smaller stocks should play a bigger role in most investors’ diversification strategies. more

Pressure is mounting on Capitol Hill in support of the American Research and Competitiveness Act, a bipartisan bill that aims to strengthen the research and development tax credit by making it permanent and increasing the “alternative simplified credit” from 14 percent to 20 percent. The traditional method of calculating the credit would get a one-year phase-out.

“America is the world’s leading innovator — developing life-saving technologies, state-of-the art computer systems, and breakthrough manufacturing products — but we’re losing ground to competitors around the world,” asserts Congressman John B. Larson, one of the bill’s sponsors, in a statement. “It’s time we get back on the playing field by modernizing the R&D tax credit and keeping American jobs and innovation here at home.”

He’s right about the “losing ground” part. The R&D tax break is itself an example of the American flair for innovation that Larson is talking about — the United States was among the first nations to adopt research incentives, back in 1981. But since then we’ve gradually lost that lead, and by 2008 the U.S. ranked close to the bottom among OECD nations for R&D tax generosity. more

In just a few weeks — April 1, to be precise — Chinese banks will be able to offer their clients yuan foreign exchange options contracts. This is one step in moving the function of setting the yuan’s exchange rate to the market, this story in ChinaDaily reported.

To be sure, the instruments come with a number of restrictions, which likely will limit their appeal. Trading will be restricted to companies and banks that are hedging risks, and are not speculating. In fact, before selling an option, a bank is required to ask its client to provide the contracts that will show the transaction into which it wants to enter is for hedging purposes, KPMG says. The options will be European-style, which means that they only can be settled on the expiration date, and not before, iMarketNews reports. Once a party purchases the option, it can’t resell it.

Even so, a brief review of news reports about the move indicates that traders and other experts see this as one indication that China’s interest in broader yuan reform is moving ahead. “This is a bold move by the SAFE (China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange) and indicates that yuan reform is firmly on the cards,” according to FX-MM, a magazine covering the capital markets.

As I mentioned in a post last week, most countries, including the United States, confront a major talent risk that’s projected to reach a breaking point by 2020 if it’s not addressed within the next several years. (See also my post about Edward Gordon’s book, “WInning the Global Talent Showdown.)

The majority of workforce strategies within U.S. companies need improvement, according to many talent management and human capital experts, including Manpower Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Joerres. A major concern, Joerres adds, is that many organizations “lack a comprehensive workforce strategy that maps to a clearly articulated business strategy.”

The source of the problem is that top human resources leaders are either unaware of this shortcoming or, more likely, they’re failing to convince their C-suite colleagues, including CFOs and risk executives, that the lack of a workforce strategy qualifies as a strategic risk.

To get a better understanding of what an effective workforce strategy looks like, I checked in with Deloitte. After all, accounting firms will be competing for talent with corporate finance functions in a big way in the coming decade. The world’s fifth-toughest job to fill (according to Manpower): accountant. more