REM means total remuneration: base salary plus superannuation (12% in Australia), plus any short-term incentive and long-term incentive such as equity. At senior finance levels the package increasingly skews toward equity over cash, so comparing two offers on base salary alone can be misleading.
What sits inside the number
REM, short for total remuneration, is the sum of everything a role pays. The four pieces I see on senior finance offers are the fixed base salary, superannuation on top (currently 12% under the ATO’s super guarantee rate), a short-term incentive (STI), usually an annual cash bonus, and a long-term incentive (LTI), most often equity vesting over several years.
Story Recruitment’s own placement fee is calculated on base plus super only, not on STI or LTI, which is one reason it is worth knowing which figure is actually being quoted when a role is advertised as “$250k REM” versus “$250k base.”
Why senior offers skew toward equity
At the more senior end, the shape of a REM package genuinely changes. For a public-company-ready or Series C+/Pre-IPO CFO in Australia, total remuneration commonly runs $350k to $500k or more, and it is often weighted more toward equity than cash, which tracks with the seniority of the search: IPO, M&A or significant secondary transaction experience.[1] A base-only comparison between that role and an earlier-stage one misses most of the actual difference.
I set out what the LTI component has actually looked like on the option grants I have placed.
Reading a REM figure properly
Before comparing two REM numbers, check what is actually inside each one: is super included or on top, is the STI figure at target or a guaranteed minimum, and is the LTI valued at grant or at some future projected value. Two offers both labelled “$300k REM” can be genuinely different offers once those four questions are answered.
I go through how to price the equity component as a range of dollar outcomes rather than a single number.
Common questions
What does REM stand for in a job ad?
Total remuneration. It is the sum of base salary, superannuation, and any short-term incentive (bonus) and long-term incentive (typically equity) the role includes, rather than the base salary alone.
Does REM include superannuation?
Yes. Superannuation, currently 12% under the ATO's super guarantee rate, is one of the standard components of total remuneration in Australia, alongside base salary and any incentive pay.
Why do senior finance packages weight REM toward equity?
At the CFO level, especially Series C+ or pre-IPO, businesses often prefer to reward for long-term value creation rather than cash alone, so the long-term incentive component, usually equity, becomes a larger share of the total package than it is at earlier stages.
Is a REM figure the same as what a recruiter's fee is based on?
Not necessarily. Story Recruitment's own fee, for example, is calculated on base salary plus superannuation only, excluding STI and LTI, so a higher REM figure driven by equity does not automatically change the search fee.
References
- From searches I have run: a public-company-ready or Series C+/Pre-IPO CFO in Australia typically commands $350k to $500k or more in total remuneration, weighted more toward equity than cash, and usually requires IPO, M&A or significant secondary transaction experience.
These guides set out how we see it, drawn from the searches we run and the finance leaders we place. They are general information about the market, not financial, accounting or legal advice, and they are no substitute for advice on your own circumstances.