Average Finance Pay Soars in 2001

The Association for Financial Professionals’ 13th Annual Compensation Survey also found that nearly 90% of the practitioner respondents received an increase in salary this year.

The survey found that financial officers’ average total compensation, comprising base salary, bonus and deferred compensation, was $122,170, compared with $112,986 in the 2000 survey.

Why Ask Why?

Survey participants were asked to select factors that contributed to their salary increases,

• 54%, of practitioners cited merit as the chief contributor,
• 38% said individual performance,
• 24% benefited from “general increases”
• 13% cited cost-of-living adjustments

“Check” It Out

The highest total compensation packages are taken home by:

• President?s or CFO?s who receive average compensation packages of $241,841
• followed by CFOs who earn $190,933 on average,
• Vice-presidents of Finance who get $178,724, and
• Treasurers who receive $158,404

Location, Location

Across industries, the highest compensation gains were recorded in:

• banking-related financial services, where compensation increased by15%,
• followed by the software and hardware industries which rose by13.6%, and
• the non-petroleum energy sector, where remuneration was up by13.5%.

At the other end of the scale, were:

• the hospitality industry, where compensation rose by 6.9%
• the non-profit sector which increased by 7%, and
• compensation in the petroleum sector, which increased by 7.1%

Further, the survey found that practitioners in the Northeast received higher packages than their peers, with average total compensation of $137,112, an increase of 8.5% on 2000 numbers. In other regions,

• those in the southeast received $108,923, up 7.2%
• followed by practitioners in the Midwest who received $114,822, an increase of 7.2%,
• while their counterparts in the West received $113,318, an increase of 8%

Other Benefits

Over two-thirds (68%) said their firms offered a flexible workday, while 21% have flexible workweeks. Nearly three-quarters (74%) have casual dress codes.

More than 60% of bankers and nearly half (45%) of corporate practitioners “experienced” a merger in the last two to three years. Of those, nearly three-fourths of the bankers and half the practitioners saw layoffs in their department as a result.

Most popular recruiting tools were moving expenses and temporary living allowances, followed by hiring bonuses and the purchase of a former residence.

The survey gauged the responses of to over 150 questions on the career development, compensation and benefits, of 2,980 financial professionals.

Go to http://www.AFPonline.org for a summary of the survey results.