How to Benchmark CFO Pay Across a Sector

Benchmarking CFO pay well is the difference between an offer that lands and one that stalls. Done badly, it relies on stale survey averages. Done well, it uses disclosed, comparable data.

Define the peer set first

"The market" is meaningless; a relevant peer set is everything. Compare against companies of similar scale, sector and complexity — not the whole index.

Use disclosed figures

Annual-report remuneration disclosures are more reliable than surveys. Pull fixed, variable, perquisites and equity for the peer set, and note the pay-to-median ratio for context.

Normalise for scale

A larger balance sheet commands more pay. Express comparisons relative to revenue or scale so you're not comparing a mid-cap CFO to a large-cap one.

Mind the traps

One-time equity vesting can inflate a single year. A newly appointed CFO's part-year pay understates the run-rate. Read more than one year where you can.

Make it fast

Assembling this by hand across a peer set is slow. A CFO directory structured from filings lets you build a sector benchmark in minutes. See what's included on the pricing page.