The duties imposed on compensation committees of publicly traded companies have evolved and grown over time. The fifth edition of the Compensation Committee Handbook, authored by our Executive Compensation and Benefits Group, is intended to help compensation committee members (and their advisers) understand and comply with the duties imposed upon them. The Handbook is deliberately written in a non-technical manner and is intended as something to educate and provoke questions rather than serve as an exhaustive compliance manual. It focuses on considerations for publicly traded companies and specifically those listed on the NYSE or Nasdaq. Many of the principles discussed have broader application, however.