Peer-to-peer membership organisation The CEO Institute, which has been operating throughout Australia for more than 20 years, commissioned RMIT University to conduct an online survey into CEO remuneration that was representative of the full two million-plus businesses operating in Australia.

Nearly 40% of respondents said they received $A100,000-200,000 per annum.

Only 1% received more than $1 million, 1% received between $750,000 and $1 million and 4% actually earned less than $100,000pa.

The CEO Institute chairman and founder Ken Gunn says there is a misconception about CEO pay.

"We often see sensational reports about Australia's high-flying CEOs and their multimillion-dollar packages and lavish share options but the big corporations concerned account for a tiny 0.1 per cent of Australian businesses," Gunn said.

One group concerned about executive pay is the Australian Shareholders Association.

The group, which advocates on behalf of shareholders, makes numerous mentions of executive pay in its policies and guidelines.

While the document said base salaries of executives should "adequately compensate individuals for their workload, skills and requirements of their roles" it also stressed the idea that executive pay was "out of touch".

"Current global financial turmoil and the accompanying massive diminution in shareholder wealth have reinforced the view that senior executives' remuneration levels are excessive and out of touch with the rest of society and with actual performance achieved," it said.

The RMIT report suggests results are largely consistent with average CEO compensation figures in the US, where the average salary package for 2012 was $US197,000 ($A188,212).

The survey looked at the total salary package for Australian CEOs, including wages/salaries, superannuation, bonuses and benefits.

It was conducted between July and September 2012 by an RMIT research team led by Associate Professor David Gilbert and Dr Carol Tan.

In all, 369 responses were provided from CEOs of companies which represented all industry sectors as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, including for profit and not-for-profit firms.

Respondents to the survey led small, medium and large companies above and below the $A10 million turnover point used by the Treasury to define business size.

The CEO Institute Queensland chief Evan Davies said the survey, which guaranteed total privacy for respondents, was an important step in gaining a clearer picture of the Australian business landscape.

"We wanted to uncover a more accurate picture of the spectrum of CEO remuneration," Davies said.

An additional 28% made between $200,000 and $300,000pa, meaning two thirds of respondents earned $100,000-300,000.

Salary packages from $300,000-400,000pa accounted for 14% of the group, while 8% earned between $400,000 and $500,000.

For Davies, an interesting point in the survey was the difference - or lack thereof - between profit and not-for-profit respondents.

In total 11% of respondents were from the not-for-profit sector.

"The researchers said there was no statistical difference from CEO remuneration levels from not-for-profit and for profit businesses," Davies said.

"The median salary bracket for that sector was between $100,000 [and] $200,000 a year."

The ASA emphasised that executive pay needed to correlate with company performance.

"There should be a rational relationship between growth in total remuneration and the company's performance in creating value for shareholders," it said.

More than half of the CEO respondents indicated that their remuneration was linked to company performance, commonly involving a combination of measures including earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, sales growth and profit margin.

"These reports will be published annually to provide a far more accurate and complete picture of CEOs than anything previously available," Gunn said.

"We will be able to track movements in the demographic profile of our business leaders and present a more balanced picture of how they're paid."

The survey results were not broken down by industry sector but Davies said the institute would consider that possibility for future years.