Ongoing CFO turnover is fueling higher pay for finance chiefs

In 2024, the median base salary increase for CFOs was 4%, while CEOs saw no change—mirroring 2023. In 2022, median base salary increases were 3.8% for CFOs and 2.9% for CEOs.

Courtesy of Compensation Advisory Partners

“We were expecting salary increases to start shifting downward, given the labor market,” Kelly Malafis, founding partner at CAP told me. “But salary increases are likely to remain steady for CFOs.”

This stability is driven by high turnover due to retirements or departures and strong demand for finance chiefs. The CFO role remains a key leadership position and strategic partner, contributing to higher pay, according to CAP.

As companies face challenges such as cybersecurity and AI implementation, CFOs have become central to these strategies, Malafis said. Organizations are seeking finance chiefs with the skill sets to handle this, in addition to core finance expertise to prepare for the future, she said.

Looking back at 2024, some prominent CFO hires that come to mind include Alphabet’s recruitment of Anat Ashkenazi from her CFO role at Eli Lilly, bringing her on as the tech company’s finance chief. Sarah Friar, former CEO of Nextdoor and ex-CFO of Square, joined OpenAI. Karen Parkhill became CFO of HP, coming from Medtronic. These are just a few notable examples.

CAP’s analysis found that for executives in the data set who did receive a bump to their salary, the median increase was 5.7% for CFOs and 4.1% for CEOs. The previous year, CFOs’ median increase was 5%, and 5.1% the year before that. Likewise, CAP does not expect a significant decline in CFO salary increases next year, Malafis said. 

An LTI trend

Although CFOs are currently seeing greater salary increases than chief executives, CEOs still lead in total compensation, according to CAP data. Over the past decade, CFO total compensation has averaged about 33% of CEO compensation, the firm’s research shows. The median tenure for these positions is typically around seven years, said Roman Beleuta, principal at CAP. “Every time there’s a reset, you’re kind of resetting the bar again,” he explained. “That’s why that ratio stays at about a third.”

At public companies, long-term incentives (LTIs) for executives are usually delivered through time-vested restricted stock, performance-vested stock, or stock options. “One trend we’ve highlighted is the reduction in the number of companies using all three vehicles,” Beleuta said. Five years ago, 33% of companies surveyed used all three, compared to just 22% today.

Performance-based equity plans remain the largest component of LTIs for both CFOs and CEOs. LTI awards increased an average of 7% for CFOs and 5% for CEOs in 2024. Over the past decade, LTI awards have grown by an average of 6% annually for both roles.

Bonus payouts in 2024 rose 2.6% for CEOs and 5% for CFOs in 2024. Total direct compensation increased 3.5% for CEOs and 6% for CFOs, mainly due to higher long-term incentive awards.

With demand for skilled finance chiefs rising, CFO compensation is expected to remain strong.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

Fortune 500 Power Moves

Jesus “Jay” Malave was appointed EVP and CFO of Boeing (No. 63), effective Aug. 15. Brian West, who served as Boeing CFO for the last four years, will become a senior advisor to Boeing President and CEO Kelly Ortberg. Malave was most recently CFO of Lockheed Martin and before that held the positions of SVP and CFO at L3Harris Technologies. He spent more than 20 years at United Technologies Corporation, including serving as vice president and CFO of Carrier Corporation when it was an operating unit of UTC, and vice president and CFO at UTC Aerospace Systems.

Every Friday morning, the weekly Fortune 500 Power Moves column tracks Fortune 500 company C-suite shifts—see the most recent edition.

More notable moves

Pierre Revol was appointed CFO of FrontView REIT, Inc. (NYSE: FVR), effective July 21. Revol brings more than 20 years of experience. Most recently, he served as SVP of Capital Markets at CyrusOne. Before that, Revol served as SVP of corporate finance and investor relations at Spirit Realty Capital, Inc., formerly a publicly traded net-lease REIT.

Marc Grasso was appointed CFO of Kyverna Therapeutics, Inc. (Kyverna, Nasdaq: KYTX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, effective June 30. Grasso brings more than 25 years of experience to the company. He succeeds Ryan Jones, who will move to a strategic advisor role. Most recently, Grasso served as CFO of Alector, Inc. Before that, he held the position of CFO and chief business officer of Kura Oncology.

Big Deal

Thomson Reuters, a global content and technology company, has released its 2025 Future of Professionals report, revealing a significant gap between organizations with formal AI strategies and those without.

Drawing on insights from 2,275 professionals in legal, risk, compliance, tax, accounting, audit, and global trade, the report finds that organizations with a defined AI strategy are twice as likely to report revenue growth from AI and 3.5 times more likely to realize critical AI benefits, compared to those with no significant AI adoption plans.

Despite these advantages, only 22% of respondents say their organizations have a clear AI strategy. As a result, many businesses may risk falling behind in both returns and competitive growth, according to Thomson Reuters. 

Going deeper

“How Private Equity Firms Are Coping With Tariffs” is a report in Wharton’s business journal. Tariff disruptions offer private equity investors opportunities to acquire undervalued assets, but they also challenge their reliance on predictable earnings, according to Wharton’s Burcu Esmer. 

Overheard

“The future of collaboration is not man versus machine, but man with machine—in an open, visible process where every contributor can see, learn from, and be fairly assessed for their effort.”

—David Ferrucci, managing director of the nonprofit Institute for Advanced Enterprise AI at the Center for Global Enterprise, writes in a new Fortune opinion piece.