From The Associated Press:

THE 'HOUSING CRISIS HITS HOME' AWARD: Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) - It may be in the telecommunications business, but it hasn't escaped the housing market downturn. Bought a house for its new CEO last summer, ultimately sold the house and lost $1.83 million on the episode.

THE 'LET'S GO SHOPPING' AWARD: Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) gives its top brass an additional discount on top of the discount that the rest of its employees get. That totals 40 percent off the retail price. There's more: The Cincinnati-based department store chain also picks up the taxes on that extra discount because it's considered taxable income.

THE 'YOUR PAY IS BASED ON WHAT?' AWARD: To companies that trumpet the idea of "pay for performance" but then don't give investors the detail they deserve in knowing what that means.

A study by compensation consulting firm James F. Reda & Associates of about 300 large public companies found that just 16 percent were thorough in spelling out exactly how pay supposedly tied to the company's annual performance was measured — and how much was actually paid. Another 19 percent provided no detail at all.