US companies have begun cutting pay and benefits for top executives – and disclosing more details of packages – anticipating the effect of new rules that give shareholders greater power to vote down remuneration structures.

According to pay consultancy ClearBridge, which has examined the first 100 Fortune 500 companies to file details of so-called proxy statements – resolutions to be voted on at annual meetings – there is clear evidence of a shift in pay practices.

“Executive compensation tends to go up or stay flat, so any time it goes down is the beginning of a noteworthy trend,” said Russell Miller, partner at ClearBridge. The 2011 annual meeting season is the first to see the implementation of evidence of the effect of new “say-on-pay” rules, introduced as part of last year’s Dodd-Frank financial reforms.