A new study on executive compensation suggests that only 39 percent of big investors think the  way US companies reward top executives has helped improve corporate performance while most believe that top managers have too much influence in setting their own pay. Meanwhile, 71 percent of investors thought that executive pay plans were overly influenced by company managements and 49 percent of directors shared that view. Overall, however, 65 percent of directors thought that executive pay models helped make company perforamnce better, which comes in stark contrast to investor sentiment.

A US Congressional panel is also taking a look at executive compensation practices in order to determine if they are excessive. The committee was established amid sky-high compensation packages for executives at companies hurt by the subprime crisis. The meeting was delayed due to the death of Agelo Mozilo's mother, but has been rescheduled to March 7th where he and former heads of Citigroup and Merrill Lynch are expected to testify before Congress. We'll see who's side Congress finds itself on after those discussions...

The survey, conducted by Watson Wyatt, solicited responses from 162directors who served on the compensation committees at 230 publicly traded companies. Also polled were 72 investment and pension fund managers and other investors.