Fannie Mae, recovering from an accounting scandal, is bringing down compensation for its executives but still offering them big stock rewards.

Responding to pressure from critics and regulators, the provider of funding for home mortgages said awards of restricted stock to executives this year will be based on a target equal to the 50th percentile of compensation at comparable companies, down from the 65th percentile used in past years, according to the Wall Street Journal. Moreover, the board is also determined not to award stock options this year.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission the company informed that overall compensation for executives in 2004 dropped 45% compared with 2003. It was prompted by a decision to keep back bonuses for 2004 as a result of the accounting problems.

Fannie Mae stated that its interim chief executive officer, Daniel H. Mudd, will get a salary of $850,000 this year, up 14% from $746,209 last year, when he served as chief operating officer. Mr. Mudd accepted the new job in December after the board fired Franklin D. Raines as CEO as part of its response to findings that the company had broken accounting rules.

Mr. Raines ‘s annual salary made up $992,250 when he worked as CEO. But his total compensation in 2003 was about $20 million, including bonus, stock options and payments from a long-term incentive plan.