executive compensation

Profits at big U.S. companies broke records last year, and so did pay for CEOs. The head of a typical public company made $9.6 million in 2011, according to an analysis by the AP using data from Equilar, an executive pay research firm.

The average person may find it hard to imagine what big company CEOs do to justify their massive pay packages. Shareholders often ask a similar question: Why pay executives so much when the returns they produce are often so modest? But that's a question that doesn't apply to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally and Executive Chairman Bill Ford, have been awarded $56.5 million and $42.4 million in stock, respectively, in recognition for the company's stunning turnaround, which resulted in the automaker raking in $6.6 billion last year -- its best performance in more than a decade.

Most workers would worry about losing their jobs, let alone receiving a bonus, if they slacked off, but CEOs are held to a different standard. For example, despite several stumbles, GSK's CEO got a nice bonus, and J&J's CEO even got a raise for a job badly done.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday approved a measure that gives institutional shareholders a vote on executive pay at large corporations, part of regulators' efforts to give investors greater say over top-level salaries that have been described as excessive.

Now that General Motors is on better financial footing and the automaker's initial public offering of stock is behind it, CEO Daniel Akerson is reportedly seeking to have government restrictions on executive pay eased.

Thanks to public outcry and the prodding of the SEC, public companies don't throw crazy perks at their CEOs the way they once did. But execs still routinely get lavish benefits that increase their pay by millions. See our list of this year's most outrageous CEO perks.

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has been praised for her blunt, foul-mouthed management style. But with shares of the company down more than 14% this year, her $39 million pay package is a little hard to swallow.

Considering how often airline industry executives complain about how hard it is to run a profitable carrier, one might expect their efforts could go unrewarded -- at least monetarily. Not so at the new United Continental Holdings, where big post-merger raises are coming for top management.

Citigroup Inc. (C) will pay five of its top executives almost $33 million in stock compensation this year and plans to increase its CEO's salary above his $1 a year figure in 2011, marking the financial institution's effort to reward executives for turning a profit so far this year after two years of losses.