Executive Salary Surveys

Corporate Treasurers See Higher Pay Raises than CFOs - Survey

"The treasurer's ability to effectively manage liquidity was severely tested throughout the recession," said , AFP's president and CEO. "Companies are rewarding this important role with a healthy combination of base pay, incentives and benefits."

The 2011 AFP Compensation Survey ( www.afponline.org/compsurvey ) asked senior level financial professionals to provide compensation information for their entire staff and asked core level financial professionals to provide their own compensation information for calendar year 2010 as well as data on base salaries effective on . AFP has published its compensation report annually for 23 years.

Average annual salaries for financial professionals increased by 2.8 percent in 2010, bringing them nearly one percent point above the national average. Bonuses averaged 16 percent of financial professionals' base salaries, compared to 14 percent in the previous year, but the number of companies awarding bonuses has been declining. Of those surveyed, 65 percent of organizations awarded bonuses in 2010, down from 71 percent in 2009 and 75 percent in 2008.  

The executive level of the finance profession experienced the highest salary growth – an increase of 3.2 percent, on average. Treasurers earned the highest average increase within the executive tier, 3.7 percent, compared to 2.8 percent for CFOs. This was the second year that treasurers received bigger raises than CFOs.

Staff level salaries increased by an average of 2.9 percent. Financial analysts received the highest raises within that category (4.3 percent), the largest increase that AFP recorded.

Support-level financial professionals earned the smallest raises (2.5 percent), reflecting new technologies and increased automation of clerical roles in finance. The clerk title received less than a one percent raise, for example.

Upward Mobility - When reviewing candidates for promotions, increased job responsibility is the number one factor employers consider, cited by 62 percent of survey respondents. Other factors include an employee's contribution to profitability (52 percent), holding a professional designation such as AFP's Certified Treasury Professional . Compensation information for finance, treasury, and accounting positions was measured by job title, education, geographic region, industry, company size, gross revenue and years of experience. The report also presents analysis on pay structures, documents general compensation trends for the finance profession, and includes job descriptions. AFP collected data from over 3,000 professionals in over 2,000 companies, evenly distributed across , serves a network of more than 16,000, members with news, economic research and data, treasury certification programs, networking events, financial analytical tools, training, and public policy representation to legislators and regulators. AFP is the daily resource for the finance profession ( www.afponline.org ).

How do we interpret salary survey data? | The Business Leader Post

The ASK MIKE Column provides access to questions & answers from finance and small business expert Michael Gonnerman.  Mike has served as a trusted advisor to hundreds of technology CEO’s and investors as well as served on more than two dozen corporate boards. The ASK MIKE Column contains a mix of current as well as classic Ask Mike questions & answers.

How do we interpret salary survey data?

“I’m on my board’s compensation committee, and we look at several salary surveys when we set executive salaries. However, the best surveys break out their numbers according to geography, company revenues, headcount, etc. Any thoughts on which of these factors is most important?”

Mike: You probably won’t find this data in salary surveys, but I’ve found that the single most important factor in executive pay is the development stage of the company–pre-funding, venture-backed, profitable, post-IPO, etc. As a rule, the more mature the company, the higher the pay.

Of course, company maturity usually corresponds with revenue level. But not always: You’d should expect to pay a lot more to recruit a CEO for a $10 million public company than you would for someone to run a private company with similar revenues.

If you like the ASK MIKE Column than you will love the Ask Mike book from Michael Gonnerman.  The book contains Mike’s response to actual problems encountered in 30 years as an advisor to high-tech startups and small companies.  To learn more or to purchase the book click here .

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