Staying out of trouble with corporate governance and shareholder activists would be a lot harder if you were handing out outrageous executive perks. Some boards have caught onto that fact the last few years and have scaled back the lavishness of executive perks. But others remain determined to make life as wonderful as possible for their top dogs.

But if a board is going to provide outrageous perks, it should at least be armed with a good reason. We bring this up in light of Footnoted.org's top 10 perks of the year.

Here's a sampling: As noted by Deal Journal, "Last year, Amazon.com spent $1.6 million to provide CEO Jeff Bezos with personal security, which was actually down from the $1.7 million Amazon spent in 2009. While the company didn't provide any specifics on exactly what that money covered, it did note that it believed the costs to be ‘especially reasonable' in light of Bezos' low salary of $81,840 a year."

Here's another: "When the executive is the brand, there seems to be no end to the perks a company can (and will) pay for, and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO) is no exception. It paid $1.95 million to Martha Stewart's MS Real Estate Management Company for the privilege of filming Martha's show at one of Martha's many properties. Martha's management company also pays to "Maintain, landscape and garden" her properties. And MSO pays for Martha's security and telecommunications systems, including security personnel, as well as "up to $100,000 of approved and documented household expenses."

Don Blankenship got some nice perks when he stepped down as CEO of Massey Energy after a devastating explosion last year. "He went far from empty-handed: In addition to $10.4 million in pay and regular benefits while working, and $39 million in accumulated retirement benefits, he got $14.4 million in severance and post-employment perks. That includes office space and a secretary for up to five years, two years of health-care benefits, a two-year consulting contract, a free house and land on what used to be company property, reimbursement of $257,111 for taxes on the free house and an option on land next to the house."

Related articles:
Corporate perks draw lots of interest  
Pay to be a huge issue at annual meetings