Talk to a finance executive if you want to see why there are problems with the relationship between corporate America and Wall Street. "I have never looked at what an investment bank's telecom analyst had to say about the telecom industry," says the treasurer of one of the nation's largest telecommunications companies. "If I want an industry outlook, I always go to an independent research firm."

A very savvy assessment, given the latest news about even Wall Street's most influential telecom analyst, Jack Grubman of Salomon Smith Barney Inc. But then ask the same treasurer how an investment banker is chosen to handle the telecom giant's investment banking business: "If I am looking for a bank to handle my next bond placement, I'm sure as heck not going to go to a house whose analyst just wrote a bad report on my company."

And why would any treasurer? It's human nature to want to reward those people who have the nicest things to say about you.