Executive Salaries Transparent

EghtesadOnline: The Administrative and Recruitment Organization announced on Friday that a retrospective directive has been issued to all state entities on May 8 for disclosing the full details of payments, including salaries and bonuses, made to their employees.

News ID: ۷۸۲۵۶۰

13 May 2018

The organization's website Aro.gov.ir is designed to collect and disseminate information on all payments made to government officials, executives, directors general and civil servants of all public organizations, IRNA reported.

Ministries, the organizations affiliated to the Presidential Office, the Guardians Council, the judiciary, parliament, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquarters, and all Iranian foundations and institutions are required to receive usernames and passwords from related authorities to upload information on the website within 10 days of the directive.

The Cabinet will ratify an official notification on how to make access to this database possible for the oversight bodies and the public after a trial period, according to Financial Tribune.

In July 2016, President Hassan Rouhani called for measures to improve the regulations on openness and transparency of state bodies on the salaries of officials and executives after mass media published the paychecks of top managers at banks and other companies, showing their remuneration to be dozens of times the average monthly income of an ordinary employee.

The scandal provoked widespread public wrath and compelled statesmen and policymakers to address concerns about the wide income inequality.

Rouhani also pledged during his reelection campaigns last year to order all public institutions enter a proverbial “glass room” where everything was transparent: budget figures, executive salaries and contracts.

To start with, Tehran Municipality on April 10 unveiled a first-of-its-kind website, Shafaf.tehran.ir, which offered viewers a full overview of its major contracts worth over 10 billion rials (about $166,000) and the details of city’s current fiscal spending package.

Later, the Iran Treasury Department’s public expenditure payments during the month of Farvardin (March 21-April 20) were made public on the website of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, Mefa.ir, on April 21.