Show me the money! Or in this case, show me how much money financial pros rake in! AFP’s annual compensation survey has hit the streets (or, more likely, desktops) and the news is for the most part good. It’s only normal to want to compare yourself to others, especially when it comes to rating yourself against others who do the same job as you. But remember: There are other factors at work, such as type of business or industry, and region of the country.

So, without any further ado:

On average, finance pros saw annual salary increases of 4.5 percent (the national average was 3.3 percent) and bonuses for financial pros averaged 15 percent of their salaries.

The average salary hike between Jan. 1, 2007, and Jan. 1, 2008, broken down by job category:

• Executive — 5.1 percent increase
• Management — 4.8 percent
• Staff — 3.9 percent
• Support — 4.3 percent

Here’s a cross-section of different finance jobs showing the 2008 base salary, and how much the base salary increased from 2007:

• CFO — $185,700 2008 base salary, a 4.6 percent increase over 2007
• VP Finance — $171,500 2008 base salary, a 5.6 percent increase over 2007
• Accounting Manager — $74,700 2008 base salary, a 3.6 percent increase over 2007
• Cash Manager — $73,200 2008 base salary, a 5.0 percent increase over 2007
• Asst. Cash Manager — $57,200 base salary, a 5.9 percent over 2007
• Accounting Supervisor — $64,600 base salary, a 4.7 percent increase over 2007
• Accounting Clerk II — $39,200 base salary, a 3.7 percent increase over 2007
• Accounting Clerk I — $35,2000 base salary, a 3.8 percent increase over 2007 

It would be a mistake to overlook bonuses awarded for job performance, and the effect bonuses have on annual compensation.

A breakdown of 2007 bonus stats, showing job category, average bonus and percent of salary:

• Executive — $45,200 average bonus, 30 percent of base salary
• Management — $16,700, 17 percent
• Staff — $5,200, 9 percent
• Support — $3,100, 7 percent

There were seven main factors that determined how bonuses were earned and allotted:

• completion of projects — 59 percent
• operating income — 55 percent
• profits/increased profit targets — 53 percent
• cost control/cost reduction — 34 percent
• sales/increased revenue targets — 32 percent
• cash flow/increased cash flow targets — 25 percent
• customer satisfaction — 21 percent

Tags: bonus, compensation, finance