Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) chief executive Ken Lewis received a total of $17 million in compensation during 2007 compared to $96 million in 2006. The executive's bonus also came in at a mere $4.25 million, which is down from $6.5 million a year earlier. The cut in pay was actually steeper than shareholders' 22 percent loss holding the company's stock during the same time period.

"We believe our executive compensation program results in total compensation awards that are reasonable and appropriate in amount, align our executive officers' interests with those of our stockholders, are directly linked to our performance and are easy for our stockholders to understand," said the compensation committee in a statement.

Indeed, Bank of America appears to be one of the few companies actually getting it right this time around. The executive made far less money because he either didn't or wasn't able to exercise his stock options given the lower price thanks to problems with its mortgage securities.

Interestingly, shareholders will also get to vote on a new pay proposals during the company's April 23rd annual meeting that would give them a non-binding executive compensation vote. This is a proposal that has been making its rounds and it quickly becoming the norm. In the end, Bank of America may not need one since they got it right!

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