A recent survey of U.S.-based directors of public companies found that CEO pay is too high in most cases. This should come at no surprise to Americans, but why don't directors act on the problems that they see? The study, released by Heidrick & Struggles International and the Center for Effective Organizations, also found widespread unhappiness among directors regarding disclosure rules about executive compensation imposed by the SEC.

The survey saw a rise in concern year-over-year about the level of CEO compensation; however, about half of them qualified their answers by saying that compensation is about right except for a few high profile cases. Indeed, only 11% of the respondents agreed that SEC-mandated executive compensation information was at a great level while fewer than 3 out of 10 agreed that proxy statements provide valuable information about the amount of executive compensation.

So, if the government isn't doing enough and board members aren't taking action - where does that leave investors?