New York ? When the new chief executive of Kmart takes the company’s jet for personal trips, he will have to pay for it. His base salary is lower than that of the company’s former CEOs, and he got no signing bonus.

Kmart’s board of directors, sharply criticized for not doing enough to prevent the century-old retailer from going bankrupt, showed restraint last month in the terms offered to Julian C. Day, its third CEO in less than a year.

As troubled companies turn over CEOs, not every new one is getting hired on bargain terms, and some experts question whether that is a good approach. But the lavish treatment of top executives is being scrutinized and often reconsidered after last year’s string of scandals and bankruptcies.

Day, who held senior positions at Sears and Safeway Inc. before joining Kmart, will earn an annual salary of $1 million. He’s guaranteed another $1 million when Kmart emerges from bankruptcy.

In contrast, former CEO Charles Conaway — whose management is now the subject of an internal inquiry — received more than $20 million in loans, cash, shares and bonuses in his first year.

Not everyone agrees that cutting back on executive compensation is advisable when companies need a leader with skill, experience and credibility. A chief who can successfully guide a company through the bankruptcy jungle, experts say, is probably worth every cent they make.

After WorldCom filed for Chapter 11 last July, striding past Enron to become the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, Michael Capellas was named CEO. When the corporate board proposed he be paid $25 million over three years, court-appointed monitor and former SEC Chairman Richard Breeden objected, and a bankruptcy judge knocked it down to $20 million.

“In a world where football players are making $15 to $20 million, I’m not at all troubled that a guy like Capellas is making $20 million over three years to save one of the largest telecom companies in America,” said Harlan Platt, a finance professor at Northeastern University’s College of Business Administration.