Answer the expected salary question with a specific number and a reason for it, never a vague range or a refusal. Name the level you operate at, the band the Australian market pays for it in your city, and where you sit in it.
Research the number before you are asked
The question is not hard if you already know the answer. It is hard when you are calculating live in front of someone who does this weekly.
Start with what the role is, not what you currently earn. Your current salary is a fact about your last employer, not evidence about this job. Then find the band for that role at that stage in that city. The national average is the wrong tool: 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. That gap is filled by people having direct conversations in the market, not by aggregated data.
Adjust for location and stage. Sydney leads Australia in both role volume and pay, driven by demand and cost of living.[1] A Sydney figure applied to a Brisbane role reads as out of touch, and a national median applied to a Sydney role costs you money.
Concrete anchors help. In the Australian tech and scale-up market, $140k secures a good Senior Accountant while $160k attracts a very capable Finance Manager. Current ranges are $140k to $170k plus super for a Finance Manager and $160k to $200k plus super for a Financial Controller, varying by industry, business size and complexity, and location.
The salary guide sets out the current Australian bands role by role, which is where to start before you name a number.
What to say, and where
The right answer depends on the channel. An application form is not an interview, and a recruiter is not the hiring manager.
| Where you are asked | How to answer | |
|---|---|---|
| Application form, mandatory field | A single number | Enter the top of your researched band rather than the middle. Forms filter on the number, and you can always negotiate down once someone has met you. You cannot negotiate up from a filtered-out application. |
| Recruiter screening call | A researched band | Give a real range here. A good recruiter needs it to match you properly and will tell you if it is off market. Being cagey with a recruiter wastes both parties' time. |
| Interview with the hiring manager | One specific figure plus a reason | Name the level you operate at, the market band for it, and where you sit in that band and why. Then stop. Specificity reads as market awareness. |
| Asked before you know the role | Defer once, then answer | "I want to understand the scope first, but based on the ad I would expect it to be around X." Deferring once is fine. Refusing twice reads as evasive. |
In conversation, the strongest form is a specific number with a reason attached: the level you are operating at, the band the market pays for it, and where in that band you sit and why. Then stop talking. A range invites the bottom of it, and a vague answer invites the employer to fill the gap with their budget rather than your value.
Anchor on value, not on your current salary
The most common mistake is calculating expected salary as current salary plus ten percent. That method carries every past under-negotiation forward and lets an old employer set your ceiling.
If you are senior, argue judgement rather than tasks. Finance professionals operating at a high strategic level should negotiate based on their judgement and strategic value, not just their technical skills, because discerning founders will pay for the peace of mind that comes from having finance in capable hands. Nobody pays a premium for a faster close. They pay it for not having to worry about the numbers.
Back it with evidence rather than assertion. One Senior Accountant I placed, within 30 days, created a business process manual, presented recommendations for financial reporting and business operations, improved KPI reporting processes, created efficiencies with over-rostering in labour reporting, and increased revenue opportunities by around 20%. Two examples in that shape justify a number far better than any argument about market rates.
And know what backing yourself is actually worth. Someone messaged me after watching my content on salary negotiation to say they had used the advice to back themselves during their search, securing a better offer and a role they were excited about, earning more than they had thought possible. The number people fear naming is usually below what they could have had.
Price the whole package, not the base
Australian offers are quoted on base plus superannuation, currently a compulsory 12% of ordinary time earnings, so compare on that basis or you are comparing two different things. Then look at what else is in the package.
Equity is the component people evaluate worst. Assess it as a table of economic outcomes tied to the grant structure, across a range of exit scenarios, rather than as a percentage on a page.[2]Structured correctly under the ATO's employee share scheme start-up concession, the taxing point can be deferred to the eventual sale, so you are not taxed on paper gains before you have the cash to pay the bill. There is also a reason early grants are cheap for the company to make: under the safe-harbour net-asset valuation, a startup that has raised but not turned a profit often has a common-share value of effectively $0.01.[3]
The cash components beyond base are worth pricing properly too. In the roles I work on, short-term incentives typically run 10% to 30% on base salary. And where a car allowance is on the table, it can be somewhere between $10k and $20k worth of benefit, which is particularly helpful when you are starting off. Neither shows up in the base number, and both belong in your comparison.
Flexibility now carries real weight too. One of the biggest changes in finance hiring over the last few years is not salary expectations or skill requirements, it is flexibility. If an employer cannot move on base, that is often where the negotiation actually has room.
If you are weighing an external move against asking internally, the pay rise conversation has a different structure.
If you are the one asking the question
Story recruits senior finance for Australian VC-backed startups and scale-ups, specifically the first finance hire and the first CFO, so I also see this from the founder side. Asking for expected salary as a screening filter is cheap and it costs you good candidates, because the strong ones read it as a business that leads with budget rather than with the opportunity.
Put a band in the ad instead. Within the first 50 words of a job ad, you need to sell your target candidate on why they should work there: progression, growth plans, earning potential, equity or ESOP access, and flexibility. Do that and the salary conversation stops being an ambush on both sides.
Common questions
How do I answer the expected salary question?
With a specific number and a reason for it, not a vague range and not a refusal. Name the level you are operating at, the band the Australian market pays for that level in your city and sector, and where in that band you sit and why. Then stop talking. A range invites the bottom of it, and refusing to answer lets the employer fill the gap with their budget rather than your value. The key is doing the research beforehand so you are not calculating live.
Should I put my expected salary on an application form?
If the field is mandatory, enter the top of your researched band rather than the middle, because forms filter on the number. Coming down is easy once someone has met you and understands what you bring. There is no negotiating up from an application that was filtered out before anyone read it. In a recruiter conversation give a genuine range, since they need it to match you properly and will tell you if it is off market.
Should my expected salary be based on my current salary?
No. Current salary plus ten percent is the most common method and the most expensive one, because it carries every past under-negotiation forward and lets a former employer set your ceiling. Price the job you are applying for, at that stage and in that city, then position yourself within that band on evidence. If you are senior, argue judgement and strategic value rather than technical tasks, because that is what buyers actually pay a premium for.
What else should I negotiate besides base salary?
Australian offers are quoted on base plus superannuation, so start by comparing on that basis. Then look at equity, which should be assessed as a table of economic outcomes tied to the grant structure rather than as a percentage, and note that under the ATO Employee Share Scheme startup concessions the taxing point can be deferred to sale if structured correctly. Flexibility is the other real lever: one of the biggest changes in finance hiring in recent years is not salary expectations or skill requirements, it is flexibility.
References
- Our market data at Story Recruitment: Sydney leads Australia in both the volume of Finance Business Partner roles and pay, driven by demand and cost of living.
- How we advise founders to present equity offers at Story Recruitment: as a table of economic outcomes tied to the founder's grant structure, showing a range of exit scenarios. Alexey Mitko of CoVentures sets out the same approach in our equity and ESOP guide.
- Alexey Mitko of CoVentures, who built the ESOPs at Eucalyptus, covers safe-harbour valuations and vesting mechanics in the equity and ESOP guide he wrote for us.