The Wall Street Journal reported results of two new studies on mutual fund director compensation this week. Equilar, Inc. and Management Practice, Inc. mined public information in regulatory filings and conducted surveys to compile information on director pay.

The Management Practice study found that, at the 50 largest fund families, median compensation rose 13 percent in 2003, from $113,000 to approximately $128,000. The increased compensation wasn't free money though; work hours at those families increased from 300 to between 400 and 450.

Pay on smaller fund boards went up by a higher percentage. Median director pay increased 18% to $47,063 at firms managing between $5 billion and $10 billion.

The very highly compensated took home pay more than ten times the median. One of the highest paid board members, Joseph S. DiMartino, received $800,306 from Dreyfus last year for serving as chairman of the funds' boards.

The article also discusses data on directors' fund ownership.  

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