Salary Guide for Chief Financial Officers

How much does a CFO earn in the UK? The honest answer is that it depends far more on the business than on the title. CFO compensation in the UK is much wider in range than most benchmark surveys suggest, because the gap between a first finance leader at a growing SME and a FTSE 100 CFO is many multiples, not a neat distribution around an average. What matters is understanding where your business sits and what the package needs to do to attract the right candidate at that level. This guide sets out the published data, where each figure comes from, and how to turn it into a package that wins the candidate you want.

CFO salary UK — base pay, bonuses, equity, interim rates, and what the data actually means for hiring and setting pay

UK Chief Financial Officer pay runs from around the £80,000 median that the Office for National Statistics records for full-time financial managers and directors to median total earnings above £2 million for FTSE 100 finance directors. The spread is wide enough that average salary figures, while useful as a starting point, need significant interpretation before they mean anything for a specific appointment. This guide sets out the data broken down by company size, ownership structure, sector and region — and explains what the numbers mean in practice for boards building a CFO package and for CFOs benchmarking their own compensation.

Key figures at a glance

Two things are worth knowing about these numbers before you use them. The ONS figure covers a broad occupation group of around 426,000 jobs that includes finance directors, heads of finance and senior finance managers as well as CFOs, so it describes the whole senior-finance population rather than the CFO seat alone; it is best read as the lower-middle of the true CFO market. The recruiter and KPMG figures describe the CFO seat specifically, but at different points in the market — Robert Walters covers private and listed businesses across the UK, while KPMG covers only FTSE 350 board directors, whose pay is disclosed in annual reports.

For detail on Finance Director compensation — a closely related role that frequently overlaps with the CFO title in UK businesses — see FD Capital’s CFO and FD salary guide. For our CFO recruitment service, see CFO recruitment. For interim arrangements, see Interim CFO.

CFO Salary by Company Size

Company size — measured by revenue, headcount, and complexity — is the primary driver of CFO compensation in the UK. The figures below refer to base salary only and are attributed to their published source; total package including bonus and equity is addressed in the sections below.

Early-stage and pre-revenue businesses (revenue under £5m). The lowest figure in Robert Walters’ 2026 UK CFO data is £90,000, and businesses at this stage frequently sit at or below the bottom of published CFO ranges. Many businesses at this scale recruit their first CFO as a Finance Director rather than a formal CFO, and the package frequently includes equity or options to offset the below-market base. The candidate pool includes recently qualified senior accountants making their first CFO move, and experienced fractional CFOs who work across multiple businesses at this scale. The fractional CFO model is particularly common here, with part-time or project-based arrangements allowing access to more experienced finance leadership than the headcount budget would support on a full-time basis.

SME and growing businesses (£5m–£30m revenue). Many businesses in this band fall within Robert Walters’ “medium enterprise” bracket (50 to 250 employees), where it puts commerce and industry CFO base pay at £120,000–£190,000. At this scale the CFO is typically the most senior finance person in the business, managing a small team and carrying broad accountability across financial reporting, cash management, banking relationships, and some strategic finance work. The role often carries a commercial flavour — involvement in pricing, contract decisions, and business development finance — alongside the core finance accountability.

Mid-market businesses (£30m–£200m revenue). Once headcount passes 250, Robert Walters’ “large enterprise” range for commerce and industry CFOs is £190,000–£300,000. This is where the CFO role typically acquires the C-suite character that justifies the title — a finance leadership team below the CFO, board-level reporting, involvement in the strategic agenda, and accountability for treasury, tax, and investor relations alongside financial reporting. The range widens at this scale because complexity varies significantly: a £50m business with a simple capital structure and single-site operations has a materially different CFO brief to a £150m business with multiple entities, international exposure, and PE or institutional shareholders.

Large private and institutional businesses (£200m–£1bn revenue). Base salaries here typically sit toward and above the top of the large-enterprise range, and in banking and financial services Robert Walters reports CFO salaries reaching £364,000. At this scale the CFO leads a substantial finance function, carries significant governance accountability, and frequently works with institutional investors, banks, and external advisers on transactions and financing. The role requires a broader skill set — capital markets understanding, M&A experience, regulatory awareness — alongside the core CFO competencies.

Listed and FTSE businesses. Listed CFO total packages are disclosed in annual reports and span a wide range. KPMG’s February 2026 guide, which covers FTSE 350 companies with financial years ending up to 31 March 2025, reports a median finance director salary of £439,000 in the FTSE 250 and £600,000 in the FTSE 100, with median total earnings of £1.155m and £2.144m respectively. Pay also scales with market capitalisation inside each index: the median salary is £393,000 for FTSE 250 companies under £1bn and £715,000 for FTSE 100 companies above £15bn. For AIM and smaller quoted companies there is no single comparable published median, so the practical benchmark is the remuneration disclosure of eight to ten genuine peers. The UK Corporate Governance Code’s requirements on executive remuneration transparency, overseen by the remuneration committee, apply to companies listed in the equity shares (commercial companies) category. For reference, the FRC publishes the UK Corporate Governance Code, which sets out the remuneration principles that remuneration committees are expected to apply.

CFO, Finance Director and Financial Controller Pay Compared

Boards often ask whether they need a CFO, a Finance Director or a strong Financial Controller — and the pay difference is a large part of that decision. The three roles overlap in title but not in scope. A Financial Controller runs the accounting engine: month-end, statutory accounts, controls, payroll and the audit. A Finance Director usually owns the whole finance function and sits on, or reports to, the board. A CFO adds the outward-facing dimension — investors, lenders, transactions and strategy. The published ranges reflect that progression, although the bands overlap heavily, especially in London.

Sources: Robert Walters published salary pages for the Financial Controller, Finance Director and CFO roles. The Finance Director page is dated 2025; the CFO and Financial Controller pages are dated 2026. The same source puts Finance Director pay at £100,000–£160,000 in a medium enterprise and £120,000–£180,000 in a large one, against £120,000–£190,000 and £190,000–£300,000 for CFOs — a useful illustration of where the premium for the CFO title actually appears.

The practical reading is that the CFO premium is small at smaller businesses and grows sharply with scale. In a medium-sized company the Finance Director and CFO ranges largely overlap; in a large company the CFO band starts roughly where the FD band ends. If your business needs someone to run a tight finance function rather than face investors and lenders, a Finance Director brief may be the better and more affordable hire — see our finance director recruitment service, and our guide to the differences between a Financial Controller and a Finance Director. If the brief genuinely includes capital raising, M&A or a listing, the CFO job description sets out the scope the higher package is paying for.

CFO Salary by Sector

Sector drives significant variation in CFO compensation, particularly at mid-market and larger scale.

Financial services. CFOs at banks, insurers, investment managers, and regulated financial firms carry regulatory accountability — including direct accountability to the FCA under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime where the CFO holds SMF2 — that commands a premium. Robert Walters reports that banking and financial services CFOs can earn up to £364,000 base, the top of its UK range, and that commerce and industry CFOs at the top of their range earn around 17% less. Fintech businesses tend to weight compensation more toward equity, with base salaries more in line with technology sector norms. The FCA’s SMCR guidance sets out the personal accountability obligations that attach to the CFO function at regulated firms.

Technology and software. Technology CFO base salaries at mid-market scale broadly follow the commerce and industry ranges above, with total packages frequently including meaningful equity in growth-stage businesses. The profile of the CFO role in technology businesses leans toward investor relations, fundraising, and M&A — often more so than in manufacturing or services businesses of comparable size — which drives demand for candidates with capital markets and transaction experience.

Private equity-backed businesses. PE-backed CFOs typically earn a base at or slightly above market rate for the company scale, with the primary financial incentive in sweet equity — the right to co-invest alongside the fund and participate in the exit. A PE-backed CFO joining at the right stage of an investment cycle can generate multiples of their base salary on exit. The size of the CFO’s share of the management equity pool depends on the stage of the investment, the size of the pool and the CFO’s contribution to the value creation plan, and there is no reliable public benchmark for it. Understanding and negotiating the equity mechanics — sweet equity structure, leaver provisions, ratchets — is a distinct skill from negotiating base and bonus, and one that many CFO candidates underinvest in.

Manufacturing, industrial, and distribution. Base salaries in this sector sit within the commerce and industry ranges, which Robert Walters caps at around £300,000. The CFO role carries a significant operational finance dimension — cost accounting, working capital management, supply chain finance — alongside strategic finance responsibilities. The sector typically offers less equity upside than technology or PE-backed businesses, but total packages including benefits tend to be competitive and stable.

Professional services and healthcare. Professional services CFO compensation varies significantly by firm scale and partnership structure. Healthcare CFOs — particularly at NHS trusts — operate within public sector pay frameworks for very senior managers, though private healthcare and bioscience companies follow commercial norms with competitive packages.

CFO Pay by Ownership Structure

Ownership changes the shape of a CFO package more than it changes the base salary. Two CFOs on the same salary can have very different total compensation because one has a listed LTIP, another has sweet equity and a third has a family office co-investment right. When you benchmark, compare like with like on ownership first, then on size.

Owner-managed and founder-led businesses

In an owner-managed business the package is usually salary, an annual bonus tied to profit or cash targets, pension and standard benefits. Equity is the variable that differs most. Some founders offer none; others offer share options to secure a CFO for the run-up to a sale. Tax-advantaged options under the Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) scheme are common in qualifying smaller companies, and the scheme formerly called CSOP — renamed EMI2 at the October 2026 Budget — is available to companies of any size. A transaction bonus, payable on a successful sale or refinancing, is a frequent alternative where the owners do not want to dilute. The key point for founders is that a CFO who can take a business through a sale will often compare your offer with PE-backed roles carrying sweet equity, so the upside needs to be explicit even if the base is modest.

Private equity-backed businesses: sweet equity

In a PE-backed business the fund typically invests most of its money through loan notes or preference shares and a smaller amount in ordinary shares. Management buy ordinary shares on the same terms — the “sweet” equity — so their slice benefits from the gearing created by the institutional strip. If the business is sold for well above its entry value, the ordinary shares capture a disproportionate share of the gain. That is why PE-backed CFOs often accept a market-rate salary: the equity is the real reward.

The terms that matter are less visible than the headline percentage. Leaver provisions decide what happens to the shares if the CFO leaves early — a bad leaver typically gets the lower of cost and market value, a good leaver gets market value or a tapered amount. Ratchets can increase management’s share if returns beat agreed hurdles. Vesting, drag and tag rights, and whether the CFO must invest personal cash all affect the value. Because the shares are employment-related securities, the tax treatment depends on paying full market value at acquisition and on elections such as section 431, so candidates and boards should take specialist tax advice. For portfolio company hires see our portfolio company CFO recruitment service, and for fund-side roles our private equity salary guide.

Sweet equity in a portfolio company is not the same as carried interest, which is paid to fund managers on fund returns. From 6 April 2026 carried interest is taxed within the income tax framework, with qualifying carry brought into charge at 72.5% of its amount — an effective rate of about 34.1% for an additional-rate taxpayer once Class 4 National Insurance is included (Buzzacott summary of the new regime). This matters for CFOs of fund managers and GPs who receive carry, not for portfolio company CFOs holding ordinary shares.

Listed companies: FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and AIM

Listed CFO pay is built from salary, annual bonus and a long-term incentive plan (LTIP), within a directors’ remuneration policy that shareholders approve. KPMG’s 2026 data shows the median FTSE 100 finance director has a maximum bonus of 200% of salary and actually received 137%; in the FTSE 250 the median maximum is 150% and the median payout 104%. For companies running only a performance share plan, the median maximum award at grant is 300% of salary for FTSE 100 finance directors and 200% for FTSE 250. The median finance director salary is 64% of the chief executive’s in the FTSE 100 and 67% in the FTSE 250, and the median salary increase in 2025 was 3% in both indices. Finance directors are also expected to build a personal shareholding — at median, 300% of salary in the FTSE 100 and 200% in the FTSE 250.

AIM companies follow a lighter regime. They do not have to apply the UK Corporate Governance Code, and many use the QCA Code instead; packages are smaller, options are more common than performance share plans, and disclosure is less standardised. For AIM CFO benchmarking, the remuneration reports of comparable AIM companies in your sector are the most reliable guide.

Regulated firms: the SMF2-approved CFO

At banks, building societies, insurers and the larger FCA-regulated firms in the enhanced tier of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, the CFO usually holds the SMF2 Chief Finance function and must be approved by the regulator before taking up the role. That adds personal accountability, a statement of responsibilities and a duty of responsibility, and it narrows the candidate pool to people who can pass regulatory approval. The premium follows. At banks and other firms subject to the remuneration codes, the CFO’s variable pay is also governed by deferral and clawback rules — covered below in the section on tax and regulatory changes. Our guide to hiring an SMF2-approved CFO for a regulated firm covers the approval process and timing, and our SMF salary guide covers pay across the senior manager functions.

Family office CFO

A family office CFO role is different from a corporate CFO role. The CFO oversees the family’s consolidated balance sheet across operating companies, property, investment portfolios and trusts, works closely with tax and legal advisers, and often handles reporting to family members rather than external shareholders. Because the family owns the assets, there is no equity to offer in the usual sense. Packages are typically salary plus a discretionary bonus, sometimes with a co-investment right in direct deals or a deferred element designed to reward long service. Confidentiality, discretion and longevity are valued as highly as technical skill, and a family office will often pay a premium for a CFO who has worked in a comparable office before. There is no reliable public pay benchmark for family office CFOs, so packages are usually set by reference to the corporate or private equity market the candidate is coming from. See our family office CFO recruitment service for how we approach these searches.

Regional CFO Salary Variation

London commands the highest CFO salaries in the UK, reflecting the concentration of larger organisations, financial institutions, and multinational headquarters in the city. The official data shows how large the gap is. In the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, the median full-time pay of financial managers and directors working in London is £121,504, against £72,244 in the South East and £57,561 in Yorkshire and The Humber.

Sources: ONS ASHE 2026 provisional, Table 15 (gross annual pay, full-time, SOC 1131; ONS does not publish a median for regions where the sample is too small, including the North East, East Midlands and Wales) and Robert Walters’ CFO salary page. The two sources measure different things: the ONS median covers all financial managers and directors and is pulled down by the large number of mid-level finance managers, while the Robert Walters ranges cover CFO roles only.

On the ONS figures the London median is about 68% higher than the South East and roughly double that of Yorkshire and The Humber. Part of that gap is composition rather than like-for-like pay — London holds a disproportionate share of head offices, banks and listed companies — which is why the recruiter ranges for CFO roles show a much narrower regional gap at the senior end.

The regional premium is narrowing for senior CFO appointments. Remote and hybrid working has allowed businesses outside London to compete more effectively for London-calibre finance leaders, and interim and fractional CFOs in particular are frequently engaged across geographic boundaries. Edinburgh-based financial services and energy sector CFOs can approach London equivalents given the concentration of regulated and asset-heavy businesses in those sectors. The South East — Surrey, Berkshire, Hertfordshire — benefits from the presence of large corporate headquarters outside the city itself, and in the Robert Walters data the South East and East range has a higher floor than London’s.

Bonus and Incentive Structure

Annual bonus. Mid-market and private company CFOs typically receive an annual bonus expressed as a percentage of base salary, structured against a blend of company financial performance targets and individual objectives. There is no reliable published median for private-company CFO bonuses, so the level is usually set by the ownership model: owner-managed businesses tend to pay more modest, profit-linked bonuses, while PE-backed businesses can pay a larger bonus on outperformance of the investment plan. Listed company CFOs have the best-documented bonuses: KPMG’s data shows a median maximum of 200% of salary in the FTSE 100 and 150% in the FTSE 250, with median actual payouts of 137% and 104% of salary. Listed bonuses are typically part-deferred into shares.

Long-term incentive plans (LTIPs). Listed company CFOs receive annual LTIP awards, vesting over three years subject to performance conditions, often followed by a holding period. For companies operating only a performance share plan, KPMG reports a median maximum award of 300% of salary for FTSE 100 finance directors and 200% for FTSE 250, while companies operating only a restricted share plan grant smaller awards — a median of 150% and 100% of salary respectively — because vesting is not subject to stretching targets. LTIPs are the primary mechanism by which listed CFO total compensation significantly exceeds base salary. The Investment Association publishes Principles of Remuneration, updated for 2026, that remuneration committees draw on when structuring these awards.

Benefits. Standard CFO benefits packages include private medical insurance for the individual and family, a car allowance or company car, a pension contribution (or cash in lieu), life assurance at a multiple of salary, and critical illness cover. In the FTSE 100 the median actual pension contribution for executive directors is 10% of salary, according to KPMG, reflecting the Corporate Governance Code expectation that executive pension rates align with those of the wider workforce. At larger organisations, executive risk and travel insurance, directors’ and officers’ liability cover, and annual health screening are additional standard components.

Compensation and Package Structure

A CFO offer is a set of components, and candidates compare the whole set rather than the salary line. The components below appear in most UK CFO packages in some form.

• Base salary. The fixed element, and the anchor for most other components — bonus, LTIP and pension are usually expressed as a percentage of it.
• Annual bonus. A target and maximum percentage of salary, paid against financial and personal objectives. Listed companies and regulated firms often defer part of it into shares.
• Long-term incentive. An LTIP or restricted share award in a listed company, share options (EMI or EMI2) in a private company, or sweet equity in a PE-backed business.
• Pension. An employer contribution or cash allowance. High earners are often restricted by the tapered annual allowance, so cash in lieu is common.
• Benefits. Private medical cover, life assurance, income protection, car allowance and directors’ and officers’ liability insurance.
• Transaction or retention payments. One-off sums payable on a sale, refinancing or listing, or for staying through a defined period.
• Notice period and restrictive covenants. Senior finance contracts commonly carry long notice periods and non-compete clauses. These are not cash, but they affect what a new employer must do to secure the candidate.

How buy-outs work

Most strong CFO candidates will forfeit something when they resign — an unpaid bonus, unvested LTIP or option awards, deferred bonus shares, or unvested sweet equity at less than full value. A buy-out compensates for that loss so the move does not leave the candidate worse off. The standard approach is to replace like with like: the buy-out mirrors the value, timing and form of what is forfeited, and is often subject to similar performance conditions or clawback. Buy-outs are usually delivered as a mix of cash for near-term amounts and shares for longer-dated awards, vesting on the same timetable as the original awards.

Listed companies must disclose buy-out awards and are expected by investors to make them no more generous than what the director gave up. Private companies have more freedom, but the same discipline applies: a buy-out should be evidenced by the candidate’s award documentation and valued on a realistic basis, not on the most optimistic outcome. Timing matters too — a candidate who resigns just before a bonus is paid or an LTIP vests will expect that value bought out, and it can change the economics of the offer considerably. Our guide to the executive buy-out of deferred compensation covers valuation and structure in more detail.

Tax and Regulatory Changes Affecting CFO Packages

Three recent changes affect how CFO packages are put together. Each applies to a different part of the market.

EMI2 and share options (Budget 2026, announced, not yet law). At the Budget on 28 October 2026 the government renamed the Company Share Option Plan as EMI2 and announced that, from April 2027, the individual limit on EMI2 options will double from £60,000 to £120,000, the maximum exercise period for tax advantages will rise from 10 to 15 years, and EMI and EMI2 will operate independently so that options under one scheme no longer count against the limit of the other (HMRC, Enterprise Management Incentives: EMI and EMI2). The EMI individual limit stays at £250,000. The April 2027 changes remain subject to legislation. For a private company CFO this means a combined tax-advantaged option package of up to £370,000 measured at grant becomes possible once the changes take effect, which makes options a more credible alternative to cash for growth businesses that cannot match listed or PE-backed packages.

Carried interest. The new income tax regime for carried interest, effective from 6 April 2026 and described above, affects CFOs and other executives at fund managers who participate in carry. It does not change the treatment of sweet equity held by management in portfolio companies.

Bonus cap removed, and deferral rules eased, for regulated CFOs. The cap limiting bankers’ variable pay to a multiple of fixed pay was removed from 31 October 2023 by PRA PS9/23 and FCA PS23/15. A second round of reform, in PRA PS21/25 and FCA PS25/15, took effect on 16 October 2025. It reduces the minimum deferral period to four years for all material risk takers, including senior managers, applies the higher 60% deferral rate only to variable pay above £660,000 with 40% deferred below that, and removes the retention period on deferred instruments. For a CFO holding SMF2 at a bank, building society or PRA-designated investment firm, this means a package can carry a higher variable element than before 2023, with a shorter wait for deferred awards to vest. The practical effect is that regulated firms have more room to compete with unregulated businesses on total pay, though deferral and clawback still apply.

Interim and Fractional CFO Rates

Interim CFOs in the UK charge on a day-rate basis or, in some arrangements, a fixed monthly retainer. Rates rise with the complexity of the mandate: a steady-state cover role at an SME sits at the lower end, while turnarounds, post-acquisition integration, refinancing and IPO preparation attract higher rates, and the top of the market is reserved for FTSE or major institutional mandates. We do not quote a single day-rate range here because published interim rate data is thin and varies with how the engagement is contracted; our interim CFO service, linked above, sets out how we scope these assignments.

Fractional CFO arrangements — a fixed number of days per week or month — are increasingly common at the £5m–£50m revenue scale, where a full-time CFO headcount is not yet justified but the business needs more financial leadership than a Finance Manager can provide. Fractional CFO costs in the UK depend on the number of days, the seniority and sector experience of the CFO, and whether the role is London-based. Our guides to how much a virtual CFO costs in the UK and what a London fractional CFO costs work through the pricing in more detail.

How an interim CFO day rate is built

An interim CFO’s day rate is a fee for services, not a salary. The interim usually works through their own limited company or an umbrella company, so the rate has to cover their own pension, holidays, sick days, insurance and the gaps between assignments. When the interim is supplied through a search firm, the client pays a charge rate that includes the firm’s margin on top of the rate the interim receives. That is why a day rate cannot be compared directly with a permanent salary divided by working days.

Tax status matters as well. Under the off-payroll working rules (IR35), medium and large private sector clients, and all public sector clients, must decide whether an engagement is inside or outside IR35. An inside-IR35 role means income tax and National Insurance are deducted at source, which reduces what the interim takes home; interims often look for a higher rate on inside-IR35 roles to compensate. Interim CFO assignments are usually agreed for a defined period, extended in blocks if needed, and priced per day worked rather than per calendar day.

Fractional and part-time CFO pricing models

A fractional CFO is typically engaged for a fixed number of days a week or month and paid either a day rate multiplied by days worked or a fixed monthly retainer. Retainers give the business a predictable cost and the CFO a committed income; day rates give flexibility when the workload is uneven, for example around a fundraise or year-end. Many fractional CFOs work for two to four clients at once, so the day rate is usually higher than the daily equivalent of a permanent salary for the same seniority, but the total annual cost is far lower because the business is buying one or two days a week. A fractional CFO works best where the business needs senior judgement on cash, funding and reporting but does not yet have a full-time workload at that level.

A part-time CFO is different in one important respect: they are usually an employee on a pro-rata salary, with pro-rata benefits and pension, rather than an independent contractor. That suits a business that wants the same person on a long-term basis, embedded in the team, and is comfortable with the employment commitment. When comparing options, look at the total annual cost — days per year multiplied by the rate, against salary plus employer costs — and at how much continuity and availability the business needs.

CFO vs Finance Director — How the Titles Relate

In UK businesses, the titles Chief Financial Officer and Finance Director are frequently used interchangeably, particularly at SME scale. There is no legal definition that distinguishes them. In practice, the CFO title tends to be used in businesses that are larger, PE-backed, or internationally oriented — where the finance function has a strategic and investor-facing dimension alongside the operational finance brief. The Finance Director title is more common in privately-owned businesses, family groups, and organisations where the finance leadership role is primarily internal-facing.

The compensation benchmarks for FD and CFO appointments at comparable scale are broadly similar, though CFO-titled roles at larger or more complex businesses attract a premium that reflects the additional scope. When benchmarking a package, the title is less useful than the actual scope of the role — what functions report to the finance leader, whether the role carries board or investor-facing accountability, and whether the business has material financing or M&A complexity.

The naming question also affects listed-company data. KPMG and most remuneration surveys use “Finance Director” for the executive director responsible for finance, whatever the company calls the role internally, so a FTSE “finance director” benchmark is a CFO benchmark in all but name. For comparison with the other C-suite seats, see our CEO salary guide and COO salary guide.

How to Set a CFO Package That Wins the Candidate

Published ranges tell you where the market sits. They do not tell you what it will take to move the specific person you want. The CFOs most businesses want to hire are already employed, often well paid, and frequently holding unvested awards. A package that wins them is built around their position, not around an average. The steps below are the ones we work through with clients before a CFO search goes to market.

• Define the scope before the number. Decide what the CFO is actually being hired to do in the next three years — a sale, a refinancing, a listing, a turnaround, or building a finance function — and benchmark against roles with that scope, not just that title.
• Benchmark against the candidate pool, not the incumbent. If your outgoing CFO was appointed years ago or promoted internally, their salary may be well below what the external market will accept.
• Use the right comparator for ownership. A PE-backed candidate will value sweet equity; a listed-company candidate will compare your offer against bonus and LTIP; a family office candidate will weigh security and longevity. Match the structure to the candidate’s frame of reference.
• Price the buy-out early. Ask for the candidate’s award documentation at offer stage and value what they would forfeit. A buy-out that arrives late, or is valued grudgingly, is the most common reason a CFO offer fails.
• Make the upside concrete. If the business cannot match a listed or PE salary, an option grant, sweet equity or a transaction bonus with clear terms can close the gap — and the EMI2 changes announced in the 2026 Budget will make tax-advantaged options more flexible once they take effect.
• Keep the process tight. Strong CFO candidates usually have more than one conversation going. A long process with unclear decision-making loses them to faster competitors.
• Consider an interim bridge. If the right permanent CFO will take time to secure, an interim CFO can hold the finance function steady without forcing a rushed permanent appointment.

For businesses hiring their first CFO, our startup CFO recruitment page explains how to balance a modest base with credible equity. If you would like to discuss a specific package, you can reach the team through our contact page or the form linked below.

Where These Figures Come From

Every number in this guide is taken from a published source, and each source measures something slightly different. Understanding the differences is the difference between a sensible benchmark and a misleading one.

• ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). The official employer-reported survey of UK pay. The 2026 provisional figures cover the tax year ending 5 April 2026 and include bonuses and incentive pay. The relevant occupation, SOC 2020 code 1131 “Financial managers and directors”, includes many roles below CFO, so its median sits well below the CFO market. Its strength is that it is large, independent and published consistently every year.
• Robert Walters salary data. A named recruiter’s published ranges for CFO, Finance Director and Financial Controller roles, broken down by region, sector and company size. Ranges are base salary and reflect the roles that recruiter handles.
• KPMG Guide to Directors’ Remuneration (February 2026). Analysis of FTSE 350 annual report disclosures for financial years ending up to 31 March 2025. These are actual disclosed figures for executive directors, so they are precise but describe only the largest listed companies, and they lag the current year.

Online aggregators such as Glassdoor and PayScale also publish CFO salary figures based on self-reported data. They can be useful as a rough cross-check, but sample sizes for CFO roles are often small and the data is not always recent, so we have not relied on them here.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a CFO earn in the UK?

It depends on the size and ownership of the business. The ONS median for full-time financial managers and directors is £80,000, Robert Walters puts UK CFO base salaries at £90,000–£364,000, and KPMG reports median salaries of £439,000 for FTSE 250 and £600,000 for FTSE 100 finance directors.

How much does a CFO make including bonus and equity?

In listed companies total pay is far above salary. KPMG reports median total earnings of £1.155m for FTSE 250 and £2.144m for FTSE 100 finance directors, including bonus and vested LTIP awards. In PE-backed businesses most of the value comes through sweet equity on exit, which is not captured in annual pay data.

How much does a CFO earn in London?

The ONS median for full-time financial managers and directors working in London is £121,504. Robert Walters puts London CFO base salaries at £120,000–£364,000 in 2026.

Is a CFO paid more than a Finance Director?

Usually, but the gap depends on scale. Robert Walters’ ranges for Finance Directors and CFOs overlap at medium-sized businesses and separate at large ones, where the CFO range starts roughly where the FD range ends. The scope of the role matters more than the title.

How is an interim CFO paid?

An interim CFO is normally paid a day rate, invoiced through their own limited company or an umbrella company, or occasionally a monthly retainer. The rate depends on the complexity of the mandate and whether the role sits inside or outside IR35. It is not directly comparable with a salary because the interim covers their own costs and downtime.

What does a family office CFO earn?

There is no reliable published benchmark. Family office CFO packages are usually salary plus discretionary bonus, sometimes with co-investment rights or a deferred element, and are set by reference to the corporate or private equity market the candidate comes from.

What is sweet equity?

Sweet equity is the ordinary shares that management buy in a PE-backed business alongside the fund. Because the fund puts most of its money into loan notes or preference shares, the ordinary shares are geared, so a successful exit can return many times what management invested.

Is there still a bonus cap for CFOs at banks?

No. The bonus cap was removed from 31 October 2023. Deferral and clawback rules still apply to material risk takers, but the 2025 reforms cut the minimum deferral period to four years and eased other requirements.

What changed for share options in the 2026 Budget?

CSOP was renamed EMI2, and the government announced that from April 2027 the EMI2 limit will double to £120,000, the exercise period will extend to 15 years, and EMI and EMI2 will operate independently. The April 2027 changes are subject to legislation.

How often should a CFO’s pay be benchmarked?

At least annually, and whenever the scope of the role changes — for example on a fundraise, an acquisition or a move toward sale or listing. Listed company salary increases have recently run at around 3% a year at median, but a change in scope can justify a larger adjustment.