The sunlight of disclosure and heightened public outrage over excessive pay amid the financial crisis has seen some perks fall by the wayside. However, club memberships don't appear to be one of them.

Among more than 3,000 U.S. public companies studied, 382 had chief executives who received club membership fee benefits in 2008/2009, up slightly from the 372 who did so in 2007/2008, according to research by The Corporate Library.

That's in contrast to some reports that show that certain perks that tend to draw investor ire, such as tax gross-ups on perks and personal use of company aircraft, have declined somewhat since the Securities and Exchange Commission expanded its rules to require greater disclosure of executive pay in 2006.

Still, overall, the club membership perk isn't particularly widespread: Only about 12 percent of the sample studied received club membership benefits in 2008/9, according to the report, "2010 Proxy Season Foresights #7: Club Membership Benefits Holding Steady."

Moreover, at least some CEOs gave up or had the benefit taken away, since a matched sample analysis showed 319 of 2,657 CEOs in their post for all of the 24 months under study received the club membership benefit in 2008/9, compared to 329 in 2007/8.

At the same time, the data also shows that it's not an "exclusive" benefit provided only by the largest companies. While S&P 500 firms represented slightly more than 15 percent of the sample, just 43 S&P 500 CEOs received club membership benefits in 2008/9, representing just over 10 percent of all CEOs receiving the perk. Meanwhile, among financial services companies, which accounted for roughly 13 percent of the group, more than one quarter (97 CEOs) received the benefit.

The report's author, TCL senior research associate Paul Hodgson, says the interest in the benefit isn't in the cost or in the low incidence, but "in the existence of such a perk at all."

"Club memberships are often seen in conjunction with other largely unnecessary perks at companies and indicate, in our opinion, the possibility of a board unwilling to refuse any request from management," Hodgson writes. "If this is true of the payment of club membership fees, it may also be true of other, far more financially damaging requests. It is thus a potential indicator of the balance of power in the boardroom and is significant from a governance viewpoint."

In all, 66 CEOs in the matched sample received club memberships in 2007/8 but not 2008/9, while 76 received the benefit in 2008/9 though not in 2007/8. However, the reasons behind the changes aren't clear. While some of the shifts may be due to disclosure issues (initiation fees may exceed disclosure thresholds one year, while regular annual fees might be below it in another), that's not the case in all of the examples, according to the report.

Median club membership costs rose nearly 4 percent, while the average increase was 66 percent, which the report says was driven by a number of high increases, for example, at companies like Comerica Inc., where initiation fees were paid in the most recent year compared to a simple annual fee in the prior year. The median annual cost of club membership was $6,399, with similar costs regardless of company size.

The report points to four companies that disclosed six-figure club membership benefits in the most recent 12 months of filings. Moreover, two of the top-five club membership fee benefits (those representing the highest costs to shareholders) went to CEOs of banks that are or were in receipt of government bailout money under the Capital Purchase Program of the Troubled Asset Relief Plan.

Under TARP rules, those banks are required to state a policy on "Luxury Expenditures." One, TCF Financial, which disclosed $105,000 in "club membership equity" which gives members an ownership stake in the club, paid for CEO Lynn Nagorske, didn't even mention such a requirement in its proxy. The other, Comerica, which disclosed club memberships for all of its NEOs, noted the requirement, but didn't state its policy.

James Kirsch, CEO of Ferro Corp. also topped the list due to a one-time payment of $100,000 in 2008 for initiation fees to join a country club. Meanwhile, Diebold Inc. discontinued the club benefits for all of its executives except CEO Thomas Swidarski, who kept an existing club benefit and joined another in 2008, putting it in the top five with a club membership benefit of $95,007.

While such memberships may well be useful for business development and networking purposes, Hodgson says "best practice would dictate either that executives reimburse the company for personal use of country clubs or cover the cost of membership themselves and seek reimbursement as for ordinary business expenses." For example, at Humana and Chubb, personal use and benefits are reimbursed by the CEO.

The full report is available for free here.