That question is on the minds of many as funds wait for a final decision from the SEC next year. Some guidance may be on the way from the ICI's Independent Directors Council. The group plans on issuing guidance on how to select a lead independent director and how much they should be paid, Marguerite Bateman of the IDC told the WSJ.

Some of the prominent fund firms that would be affected by a rule requiring independent chairmen are adopting a wait-and-see approach, reports the WSJ.

"Vanguard's independent trustees have discussed the issue, and we fully expect that they will name an independent chairman of the Vanguard funds sometime before the January 2006 deadline," Vanguard spokesman John Demming told the WSJ.

"We'll address the issue next year since our lead independent director is scheduled to retire then…[i]n the meantime, we're interested to see if there's any impact as a result of the SEC's congressionally mandated review of the issue," the WSJ reported Steve Norwitz, spokesman for T. Rowe Price, as saying. 

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