Bottomline compensation: $3.52m

Compensation for Bottomline Technologies’ top executives and board members in the fiscal year that ended June 30 almost equaled the amount the company earned.The Portsmouth-based financial and payroll software company paid its top officials $3.52 million in salary benefits and stock options, according to a proxy released last week. For the year, it posted net earnings of $3.94 million.The executives earned only slightly more than they did the previous fiscal year, when the company lost $12.3 million.Chief executive Robert Eberle accounted for nearly half of the executives’ pay in fiscal 2010, with $1.63 million in compensation, just slightly below the $1.6 million he earned in fiscal 2009. Eberle’s $320,000 salary remained unchanged, but he pulled in $1.1.4 million in stock options. Chief financial officer Kevin Donovan compensation’s package was worth $482,000, and Nigel Savory, the managing director of the company’s European operations who joined Bottomline through an acquisition, was paid $727,000.Members of the board of Directors were paid a total of $677,000 in compensation, with about $381,000 in stock awards. The figure includes $158,000 in salary and compensation for chairman Joseph Mullen, the company’s former CEO.The other board members’ compensation ranged from $69,000 to $85,000.The company also proposed that it more than triple the amount of stock set aside for its employee stock purchase plan from $1.5 million to $4 million. This will help the company recruit more employees, particularly abroad, according to the proxy. International employees currently make up about a third of the company’s workforce. Shareholders however need to approve he stock expansion proposal at the annual meeting on Nov. 18. — BOB SANDES/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW