November 16, 2021
CEO & CFO Compensation: 600 Mid-Market Companies
Here’s BDO’s latest study examining CEO & CFO compensation plans and pay levels of 600 middle-market public companies. Data was collected from proxy statements filed between April 2020 and March 2021 – right in the thick of the pandemic. The study found that total CEO and CFO pay levels for middle market companies rose 12.1% and 10.1%, respectively – these year-over-year increases consisted of salary increases, annual incentives and long-term incentives. Other findings include:
– Further breaking down the year-over-year change, CEO salaries increased by 1.5%, total cash compensation increased by 10.5% and long term incentives by 9.4%. CFO salaries increased by 4%, total cash compensation increased by 8.1% and long term incentives by 8.8%.
– Pay levels for CFOs are approximately 43% of CEO pay for the sampled companies.
– Full-value shares dominate long-term incentives; stock options were only a small fraction of the long-term incentive mix.
– Variable compensation for both CEOs and CFOs increased in tandem with company size.
– Emily Sacks-Wilner