Company: VALU
Filing Date: 2025-08-22
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001437749-25-027553
Chunk: 5

Company: VALUE LINE INC
Filing Date: 2025-08-22
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 5
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 based on annual achievements. The Company’s force of sales representatives receive a significant portion of their earnings from commissions. Salary adjustments and bonuses generally are decided following the completion of the fiscal year, if the employee has taken on additional work responsibilities, or if an employee, under the supervision of senior management, contributed to the reduction of Company costs or increased revenues or profits. The Company believes such timing of adjustments or bonuses after the end of the fiscal year, and the discretionary nature of the process, create appropriate incentives to increase long-term shareholder value without unduly exposing the Company to manipulation of the incentive process or other material adverse risks. In the Company's view, its compensation approach including the incentive (bonus) program as an element of its compensation program is unlikely to create risks that could have a material adverse effect on the Company.

A number of sales representatives receive a substantial portion of their total compensation in the form of sales commissions. The Company believes its controls, including standard sales terms, pre-determined commission schedules, legal review of all contracts, and careful accounting controls, prevent the commission plan from leading sales executives or representatives to take undue risks on behalf of the Company.

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The Company recognizes that, under any incentive program, there is some level of risk that employees may attempt to manipulate the intent of the program through excessive risk taking. The Company believes that because it is a relatively small organization with close interaction among senior executives, other managers, and employees, undue risk can be foreseen and avoided. Further, its internal controls and the structure of its incentive and commission programs mitigate this risk in the following ways:

| ● | Base salary has been the principal component of the Company’s compensation program. It constitutes the majority of compensation for each employee other than certain commissioned sales representatives. |

| ● | The Board, based on the recommendation of the Compensation Committee, determines the base salary and incentive compensation award for the CEO. |

| ● | Compensation decisions for all employees other than the CEO and sales representatives compensated with commissions employ multiple factors including subjective factors. The range of factors considered in determining compensation discourages undue focus on any one metric so that employees are not motivated to try to manipulate a single metric in order to generate higher compensation. |

| ● | Financial performance measures used for bonus and base salary decisions include a mix of considerations that are aligned with operating and strategic plans rather than being based solely on sales or revenue targets. These measures support a culture in which employees understand that the evaluation of their achievements and compensation is unlikely to be materially affected by