Bonus Program for Executive Officers

Our executive officers are eligible for cash incentives through individual bonus arrangements based on improvements in the overall financial performance of the company and/or their respective areas of responsibility. The bonus arrangements provide our executive officers with the opportunity to earn a cash bonus for each quarter during a year when we increase our earnings above a predetermined minimum target.

The primary cash bonuses for all of our named executive officers other than our chief financial officer are based on growth in pre-tax earnings of the company and/or the officer's area of responsibility. The compensation committee selected pre-tax earnings as the appropriate metric for calculating cash bonuses for those officers because of the committee's belief that the focus of the named executive officers should be on profitability, which is the primary driver of shareholder value. The primary cash bonuses for our chief financial officer are based on growth in company-wide net earnings because his responsibilities allow him to affect our entire financial position including our tax position. The compensation committee believes that no named executive officer should earn a cash bonus under this program for a quarter unless financial performance has improved and therefore sets minimum targets for each quarter that are equal to the earnings achieved for the same quarter in the prior year. The compensation committee requires growth in earnings before any bonuses can be earned due to its belief that growth is achievable with superior effort and will generate the cash necessary to expand the company's operations in accordance with our business plans and increase shareholder value.

The payout percentage used to calculate the amount of each named executive officer's primary quarterly cash bonus reflects the officer's track record in his or her current position (i.e., newly promoted executives historically have had to prove themselves in their new positions before earning higher payout percentages) and relative ability to impact profitability.

We do not believe it is necessary for payouts under our primary executive cash incentive program to be capped, as cash bonus payments to our named executive officers are tied directly to our financial performance so that they increase only if and to the extent the company's profitability grows. We do not base the cash incentives paid to our executive officers on multiple metrics since we believe the current design of our executive bonus arrangements, along with our other controls, adequately mitigates risk and since the use of multiple metrics would not be in furtherance of our goal of keeping our compensation programs simple, understandable, and transparent, and would risk keeping our executives focused on things other than profitability, thereby depriving them of the clear feedback and motivation necessary to improve our bottom line.

Beginning in 2019, the compensation committee approved a supplemental bonus program for each named executive officer other than Mr. Florness. The supplemental bonus program, known as the ROA (Return on Assets) Plan, is intended to encourage better management of accounts receivable, inventory, and vehicles and provides cash incentive amounts on a quarterly basis for asset management improvement over the same quarter in the prior fiscal year and is described in more detail below. Beginning in 2021, the compensation committee included Mr. Florness in the ROA Plan.

The bonus arrangements for our named executive officers for 2020 were approved by our compensation committee at its last meeting in 2019. Consistent with prior years, the bonuses for 2020 were based on growth in pre-tax earnings or net earnings of the company and/or the officer's area of responsibility. The bonuses for each quarter were determined by applying a payout percentage to the amount by which pre-tax earnings or net earnings exceeded 100% of pre-tax earnings or net earnings for the same quarter in 2019. The compensation committee determined that the bonus formulas for each of the named executive officers for 2020 would remain unchanged from those in effect at the end of 2019, except that Mr. Florness' and Mr. Owen's bonus percentages increased in recognition of their continued growth, performance, and experience in their roles. The compensation committee otherwise maintained the bonus formulas for each other named executive officer consistent with 2019.

The specific bonus opportunities for our named executive officers are summarized in the table below. Each named executive officer's cash bonus for each quarter during 2020 was determined by applying the payout percentage listed opposite his or her name below to the amount by which pre-tax earnings or adjusted net earnings of the company and/or the officer's area of responsibility for that quarter exceeded 100% of such earnings in the same quarter of 2019 (the 'minimum target').        

(1)The bonuses for Mr. Watts were based on growth in pre-tax earnings for the geographic areas under his leadership (which are all areas outside of the United States), with the payout percentage applied to that growth of 2.40%, as well as growth in company pre-tax earnings, with the payout percentage applied to that growth of 0.35%.

The following table sets out, for each quarter in 2020, our actual and minimum target pre-tax earnings and net earnings on a company-wide basis for that quarter, in each case rounded to the nearest thousand. (As indicated above, the 'minimum target' amount in 2020 was 100% of such earnings in the same quarter of 2019.)

During 2020, the approximate percentage of the actual and minimum pre-tax earnings of the company attributable to our operations in the geographic area under Mr. Watts' leadership was 12%.

As noted above, the ROA Plan, which is designed to encourage careful management of assets, namely accounts receivable, inventories, and pick-up trucks, for 2020 was approved by the compensation committee for our named executives officers, other than Mr. Florness. Quarterly bonuses would be payable pursuant to the ROA Plan if a specified level of improvement in asset management relative to the comparable prior year quarter was achieved. Improvement in asset management was assessed using a two-quarter average of total assets divided by the trailing 12-month net sales, which we refer to as the 'performance percentage.' If the performance percentage when compared to the prior year benchmark showed improvement at a level specified in the table below, the named executive officer would receive the corresponding bonus amount.

In addition, for each whole percentage improvement (e.g., 41.0%, 40.0%, 39.0%, etc.) a $10,000 bonus would be payable for the quarter when the new whole percentage threshold was first achieved. We achieved improvement and paid bonus amounts to our named executive officers, other than Mr. Florness, pursuant to the ROA Plan for each quarter in fiscal 2020 as follows:

The bonus arrangements for our named executive officers for 2021 were approved by our compensation committee at its last meeting in 2020. The bonus plans for our named executive officers for 2021 are unchanged from our 2020 bonus plans, except that Mr. Watts' bonus percentage paid on company-wide pre-tax earnings growth decreased due to a planned modification related to continued growth in our international business. Mr. Watt's bonus percentage on pre-tax earnings growth for his geographic area of responsibilities remained unchanged from 2020.