Here are some specific suggestions:

• group the table headers a bit more to emphasize the logical structure;
• break up the headers for columns 2 and 3 across two lines to make them less wide;
• don't use vertical whitespace to the left of the first column and to the right of the last column;
• use \midrule[\heavyruleweight] instead of \bottomrule to provide a bit more "breathing room for the next line.

Of course, these suggestions are personal and lay no claim to representing some greater truth...

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{scrreprt} \usepackage{booktabs} \begin{document} \begin{table} \centering \begin{tabular}{@{} lcccc @{}} % suppress vertical whitespace at start and end \toprule Company& \multicolumn{3}{c}{Exceedances} & No.\ of Obs.\ \cmidrule(lr){2-4} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Empirical} & Expected\ \cmidrule(lr){2-3} \cmidrule(lr){4-4} &standard & standardized\\ % make columns 2 and 3 narrower &normal & Student's-$t$\ \midrule Company 1&1&5&9&13\  Company 2&2&6&10&14\  Company 3&3&11&15\  Company 4&4&8&12&16\  \midrule[\heavyrulewidth] % use "thick" \midrule instead of \bottomrule \multicolumn{4}{@{}l}{\footnotesize An additional hint about a detail} \end{tabular} \caption{Here is the caption.} \label{labelhere} \end{table} \end{document} 

Here are some specific suggestions:

• group the table headers a bit more to emphasize the logical structure;
• break up the headers for columns 2 and 3 across two lines to make them less wide;
• don't use vertical whitespace to the left of the first column and to the right of the last column;
• use \midrule[\heavyruleweight] instead of \bottomrule to provide a bit more "breathing room for the next line.

Of course, these suggestions are personal and lay no claim to representing some greater truth...

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{scrreprt} \usepackage{booktabs} \begin{document} \begin{table} \centering \begin{tabular}{@{} lcccc @{}} % suppress vertical whitespace at start and end \toprule Company& \multicolumn{3}{c}{Exceedances} & No.\ of Obs.\\ \cmidrule(lr){2-4} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Empirical} & Expected\\ \cmidrule(lr){2-3} \cmidrule(lr){4-4} &standard & standardized\\ % make columns 2 and 3 narrower &normal & Student's-$t$\\ \midrule Company 1&1&5&9&13\\ Company 2&2&6&10&14\\ Company 3&3&11&15\\ Company 4&4&8&12&16\\ \midrule[\heavyrulewidth] % use "thick" \midrule instead of \bottomrule \multicolumn{4}{@{}l}{\footnotesize An additional hint about a detail} \end{tabular} \caption{Here is the caption.} \label{labelhere} \end{table} \end{document}