Everyone knows that many of America's leading corporate bosses make boatloads of money. But finding out whether a particular CEO needs a skiff, a cruiser or a freighter to stash away the loot can be a task for a team of detectives.

Financial statements must list salary and bonuses. Grants of stock and stock options are also pretty easy to find. But after that, it gets a lot murkier. Consider that everyone, including the board members who signed off on Richard Grasso's pay package, was shocked to find out the board had awarded him as much as $187.5 million for his tenure as chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. If those who approve a CEO's compensation can't figure its value, pity the poor shareholders.

Thankfully — though about a decade too late — the Securities and Exchange Commission is coming to the help of investors. In a unanimous decision, the SEC approved draft rules this week that will force all publicly traded companies to disclose in one place and in plain English the full value of what they give their chief executive and chief financial officers, as well as other top paid executives and directors. If approved, as expected, the rules will take effect in 2007.

Unlike with most rank-and-file employees and even many senior executives, the pay packages given to top executives are pretty complicated affairs. In addition to salary, bonuses and equity, there are complex pension plans and post-retirement packages, severance agreements and special deals for completing mergers or meeting certain targets. There are perks such as use of corporate jets for personal travel or home-security services, and plans that allow execs to defer part of their pay, only to receive a bigger — and sometimes a much, much bigger — payday later. Sorting out some of the formulas behind deferred compensation plans can require a lawyer, an accountant and an actuary.

Some execs also get health plans, consulting contracts and offices they can enjoy long after the employment ends, and sometimes for life. After retirement, GE's Jack Welch got a New York apartment, country club memberships and a bodyguard, but shareholders didn't find out about them in financial filings. Rather, the perks came to light in Welch's messy divorce dispute.

The loose rules have allowed some companies to hide from shareholders the extravagant and ever-rising fortunes that top executives earn.

The new SEC rules, the first since 1992, will help shareholders cut through all the obfuscation. They'll require companies to post a single bottom-line figure listing a CEO's total compensation and far more disclosure about its various components. Perks worth $10,000 or more, down from $50,000 previously, will have to be listed.

Whether all this extra information reduces eye-popping remuneration that some executives receive remains to be seen. As SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said, the rules are about "wage clarity, not wage controls."

But at least shareholders will know what their CEOs really make — and be able to make an informed decision on whether they are worth it.

The new SEC rules will shed more light into what makes up an executive's total pay package. Some shareholder groups believe that better disclosure will pressure boards to curb ever-rising pay packages. Here are some figures about recent surges in executive pay:

In 1990 the average large U.S. company paid its CEO about 100 times what its average worker earned. In 2004, that multiple had risen to more than 400, according to United for a Fair Economy and the Institute for Policy Studies.

From 2001 to 2003, top executive compensation amounted to 9.8 percent of the companies' profits — almost double the 5 percent of 1993-1995, according to a Harvard-Cornell study.