Normally you can predict which companies are headed for trouble by finding those that slather multimillion-dollar bonuses on executives without regard to their performance.

"There is no more reliable indicator of litigation, liability and investment risk," Nell Minow, co-founder of the Corporate Library research group in Maine, told Congress last week.

When boards of directors refuse to demand excellence for hefty compensation, dole out riches to reward short-term gains or pay according to quantity of deals rather than quality, where's the incentive for building a solid company?