Ask ten finance leaders what a CFO earns and you will get ten different numbers, most of them anchored to whatever the last person they know was paid. That is not data, it is anecdote. So we built the Finance Pay Index, a live, crowdsourced benchmark of UK finance pay, and this is what it currently shows.
The headline numbers
Across verified submissions, the current medians are:
- Chief Financial Officer: £164,000
- Finance Director: £120,000
- Finance Manager: £60,000
The overall median across all senior finance roles sits at £77,000. These are basic salaries, before bonus, and they move as new data comes in, which is the point. A benchmark that was accurate in 2023 is misleading you now.
Why the CFO to FD gap is wider than people expect
The £44,000 step between the median FD and the median CFO is not just a title premium. It reflects a genuine change in the job: ownership of the capital structure, the investor relationship, and the board conversation, rather than running the finance function well. When a business underpays at CFO level, it is usually because it is briefing for a strong FD and calling it a CFO. The market can tell the difference, and so can the candidates you want.
What this means if you are hiring
A quieter hiring market has not pushed these numbers down the way people assume. The strongest finance leaders are sitting tight, so the ones who will move do so for the right role, not a small premium on base. If your offer is landing below these medians, the issue is rarely that candidates are greedy. It is that the benchmark in your head is a couple of years out of date.
Two practical steps:
- Anchor the range to live data, not the last hire. Pull the current median for the exact role and level before you set a budget.
- Spend the premium where it is scarce. Platform-fluent FP&A talent and genuine capital-raising CFOs are rare, and a brief that treats those skills as a nice-to-have quietly filters out the people who matter most.
A note on the data
This is a crowdsourced index, not a survey with a cast of thousands, so treat the headline medians as directional for the major roles and read them alongside your own market knowledge. The more finance professionals contribute, the sharper it gets, which is why every figure links back to a benchmark you can add your own numbers to and unlock in full.
If you are planning a senior finance hire and want the current range for a specific role, sector and location, reply to our newsletter or get in touch. We work these roles every week.