Pensions soar

Companies are generally bringing down overall executive pay, but many of them have found other ways of rewarding their top people. Take pensions - a WSJ analysis finds that they rose an average of 19 percent in 2008. And more than 200 executives in the survey saw their pensions jump better than 50 percent. In a proxy statement, pensions can be very hard to sort through - much harder than the straight base income and bonus information.

The executive-pension growth stemmed partly from generous pension formulas, which are based on executive pay, according to the filings. Also adding to the pension jumps are arcane techniques that have received little scrutiny, including increases triggered when an executive reaches a certain age or when companies change interest rates used to calculate the pensions. Executive pensions rose even as the share prices at the companies declined an average of 37% in 2008 and many firms froze employee pensions and suspended retirement-plan contributions.