deferred compensation

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Alan Mulally has been very good for Ford Motor Co. And in return, Ford has been very, very good for Mulally.

In just over six years, the Ford CEO has amassed holdings valued at more than $300 million.

At a time when Enron Corp. was cutting back on its employee retirement plans to save money, executive benefits at the energy company kept getting richer.

Enron's bankruptcy may have wiped out most of the retirement savings of most of its workers. But one thing it didn't take away were the pensions of its most senior executives. Financial filings disclose that former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay, for one, used a private partnership to protect millions of dollars worth of executive pension benefits.

Until recently, executive deferred-compensation plans largely escaped scrutiny by regulators. That changed after Enron Corp. filed for bankruptcy late last year, and court documents showed that some Enron executives had withdrawn millions of dollars from their accounts just before the Chapter 11 filing.

Last year, John R. Stafford, chairman of pharmaceutical giant Wyeth, earned $1.8 million in salary. He also was awarded a $1.97 million bonus, restricted stock valued at $724,283 and 630,000 stock options.

That much shareholders can learn from glancing at the company's proxy.