The study, which looks into board level remuneration, found FTSE 100 boards are making greater efforts to link pay to performance.
Median bonus payouts for executive directors in 2012 fell to 67% of maximum bonus opportunity, compared with 75% for 2011 and 87% in 2010. The median remained at 150% of salary.
Deloitte said companies were considering performance periods of more than three years in their incentive plans, or requiring shares to be held for longer periods. More than a quarter had incorporated longer timescales in their plans.
"We are starting to see a genuine move towards a stronger alignment between remuneration, company strategy and performance," said Stephen Cahill, partner in Deloitte's remuneration team.
The proportion of shares awarded four years ago translating into payouts is increasing as bosses meet more of their long-term targets.
The median boss received 68% of the shares awarded in 2009, up on 50% awarded in 2008 and 45% in 2007.
Salary changes
Salary increases continue to be modest with around a third of executives receiving no increase in 2013 and a median increase of 2.5%, a similar gain to last year.
"It is clear that companies now understand there is no rationale in normal circumstances for giving salary increases to executives that are higher than those given to other employees," said Cahill.
"It also does not mean that there should be expectations of salary increases being awarded every year."
The study also found 92% of FTSE 100 firms now have formal shareholding requirements in place and there has been an increase in the number of shares executives are expected to hold.
The study found 62% of companies require executive directors to hold shares with a value of more than one times salary, compared with 48% last year.
"We are starting to see a genuine move towards a stronger alignment between remuneration, company strategy and performance," Cahill said.
