Administration August 2, 2007

Finance Professionals Seeing Fat Paychecks

August 2, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Compensation for financial professionals bested the national workforce average by more than 50%, continuing the trend of previous years, a new survey has found.

Reported by

Fred Schneyer

A news release from the Bethesda, Maryland-based Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) about its 2007 Compensation Report said findings showed financial professionals reported a salary increase of 4.8% and a bonus increase of 18% of their base salaries.

According to the AFP survey, factors determining salary compensation included:

Increased Job Responsibility,
Higher Education — particularly advanced degrees such as an MBA,
Certifications such as a CTP or CPA,
Contribution to Profitability,
Job Location; and
Type of Industry.

“Companies realize the increasingly important role that treasury and finance professionals are playing in the success of their business and that’s evident in these latest survey results,” said Jim Kaitz, President and CEO of AFP, in the news release. “What else is becoming increasingly clear is that career development through higher education such as an MBA and certifications such as a CTP are almost invariably impacting salaries with survey results showing as much as 25% higher earnings in some cases.”

On average, professionals with an MBA earn 25% higher than that of their counterparts who hold only a bachelor’s degree, according to the survey. Those without an advanced degree could still boost their earnings potential through certifications such as the Certified Treasury Professional designation (CTP) or CPA, the survey found. The report found that treasury and financial professionals can earn up to 25% more with a certification compared to those who weren’t certified.

From January 1, 2006 to January 1, 2007, management level financial professionals were reported as having the greatest base salary increase at 5.7%. In addition, executive level finance professionals were awarded the largest bonuses at about 35% of their base salaries or averaging $49,600.

An Executive Summary of the survey is available at http://www.AFPonline.org/research . The survey was based on more than 5,000 respondents from more than 2,000 companies.