Why a single CEO salary number tells you nothing
Search the term and you get one figure. That figure averages across listed companies, private mid-market businesses, not-for-profits and venture-backed startups, which are four completely different pay markets. In a listed company the number is disclosed, board-approved and heavily weighted to incentives. In a founder-led startup it is often deliberately suppressed so cash goes into the business. Averaging the two produces a number that describes nobody.
I hold the same view on executive benchmarking generally. The large benchmarking providers will not accurately know what a CFO in a deep tech startup in Adelaide earns, or what a Head of Finance in a Series A Sydney fintech is worth.[1] That gap is worse at CEO level, not better, because the sample of genuinely comparable roles is smaller.
The three parts of an Australian executive package
Whatever the size of the business, the structure is the same. Base is the fixed cash. Short-term incentive is the annual bonus tied to performance measures for the year. Long-term incentive is equity or options, vesting over several years, tied to a longer horizon. What changes between a listed company and a startup is the weighting, not the ingredients.
| Component | How it behaves at CEO level | |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | Fixed cash, plus superannuation | The most quoted number and the least informative. In founder-led businesses it is often deliberately held down so cash stays in the company. |
| Short-term incentive | Annual bonus against set measures | Heavier in listed and mature businesses, lighter or absent in early-stage companies where the equity is doing that job instead. |
| Long-term incentive or equity | Options or shares, vesting over years | The component that separates a startup package from a corporate one. At later stages the executive package skews increasingly to equity over cash. |
Where the CEO number is public, and where it is not
For an ASX-listed company, executive pay is disclosed. The remuneration report in the annual report sets out each key management person's base, incentives and equity, and shareholders vote on it. That is the only category where you can read a real, verified CEO figure rather than a survey estimate. For registered charities, the ACNC annual information statement and the charity's own annual report are the equivalent disclosure path, though the detail is thinner and rarely names a per-person figure.
For every other business, private companies and startups included, the number is not public, and any figure you find is a modelled estimate. Treat it accordingly. If a founder or board wants a real read, the route is a proper benchmarking exercise against genuinely comparable businesses, not a national average.
If a board is setting or reviewing executive pay, the remuneration committee is the mechanism that does it, and I explain how one actually works here.
What the CEO number means for the finance hire beside it
This is the part I care about, because it is the part founders get wrong. Executive pay is relative. The CFO number sits in a fixed relationship to the CEO number, and in Australian high-growth businesses in 2026 the CFO bands are known: $275k to $325k base plus equity at late Series A, $325k to $375k at Series B, and $350k to $500k and up at Series C or pre-IPO, increasingly weighted to equity.[2] Those are the numbers I see land real offers.
If a founder is paying themselves modestly to preserve runway, that is a legitimate choice, but it cannot become the ceiling for the finance hire. I have watched founders under-hire by pricing the role against current complexity rather than the complexity twelve months out, and then re-hire because the first person could not scale.[3] A CEO taking a discount is not a reason for the CFO to take one.
The CEO and CFO relationship is priced too, even if nobody says so
The CFO role goes well past financial reporting. It is strategic advice, challenging decisions and critical business input, and if the CEO does not instinctively trust or enjoy working with the CFO, the technical ability stops mattering.[4] I have watched technically brilliant CFOs fail purely because that chemistry was not there.[5] One CEO put it to me plainly: they could not work with someone they did not actually like, because they were spending forty to fifty hours a week with them.[6]
That is a compensation point, not a soft one. The businesses that get the CEO and CFO pairing right run a proper process rather than negotiating a number in isolation, and they pay for fit as well as capability.
For the finance side of the executive team, the full 2026 band by role and stage is set out here.
Common questions
What is the average CEO salary in Australia?
There is no single useful figure. A national average blends ASX-listed chief executives, private mid-market CEOs, not-for-profit CEOs and founders paying themselves last, and those are four separate pay markets with different structures. For listed companies the real numbers are disclosed in the remuneration report of the annual report. For everything else, published figures are modelled estimates, and the only reliable read is a benchmarking exercise against genuinely comparable businesses.
How is a CEO package structured in Australia?
Three components: base salary plus superannuation, a short-term incentive paid as an annual bonus against performance measures, and a long-term incentive delivered as equity or options vesting over several years. The ingredients are the same in a listed company and a startup. The weighting is what differs, with early-stage packages leaning on equity and later-stage executive packages skewing further towards equity over cash.
Where can I find a real, verified CEO salary figure?
For ASX-listed companies, the remuneration report inside the annual report discloses each key management person's base, incentives and equity, and shareholders vote on it. For registered charities, the ACNC annual information statement and the charity's own annual report are the disclosure route, though they rarely give a named per-person figure. Private companies and startups do not disclose, so any figure you find for them is an estimate.
Should the CFO be paid less than the CEO in a startup?
Usually yes, but the gap is not a rule you can lift from an org chart. In Australian high-growth businesses in 2026 the CFO bands are $275k to $325k base plus equity at late Series A, $325k to $375k at Series B, and $350k to $500k and up at Series C or pre-IPO. If a founder CEO is taking a modest salary to preserve runway, that is a valid choice, but it should not become the ceiling for the finance hire. Under-pricing the finance role against current rather than future complexity is a common and expensive mistake.
References
- Tom Hunter on the limits of large benchmarking providers: they will not accurately know what a CFO in a deep tech startup in Adelaide earns or what a Head of Finance in a Series A Sydney fintech is worth.
- Story Recruitment 2026 finance leadership salary bands: late Series A CFO $275-325k plus equity, Series B CFO $325-375k plus equity, Series C+ / pre-IPO CFO $350-500k+ weighted to equity.
- Tom Hunter on under-hiring: many founders price the first finance role against current complexity rather than the complexity anticipated in 12 months, which often leads to re-hiring because the initial hire could not scale.
- Tom Hunter on the CFO mandate: it transcends financial reporting to strategic advice, challenging decisions and critical business input, and if the CEO does not instinctively trust or enjoy working with the CFO, technical ability becomes irrelevant.
- Tom Hunter on chemistry: he has personally observed technically brilliant CFOs fail in their roles because the essential chemistry with their CEO was lacking.
- A CEO quoted by Tom Hunter on the CEO-CFO partnership: 'I couldn't work with someone I actually don't like. I'm spending 40 to 50 hours a week with them.'