The full ladder in 2026
These are the ranges I see land real offers in Australian high-growth businesses. Equity sits on top from head of finance upwards and gets heavier at the later stages. They are guides rather than gates: a capital-heavy fintech pays at the top of a band for the same title a lean SaaS business fills at the bottom.
| Role | 2026 range and what it owns | |
|---|---|---|
| Accountant | $95k to $120k + super | Financial or management accounting. Handles the ledger, reconciliations and reporting inputs. |
| Senior Accountant | Around $140k + super | Owns management accounts and board reporting: P&L, variance analysis, commentary and KPIs. Executes well with direction. |
| Finance Manager | $140k to $170k + super | Runs the day to day of a small function. Around $160k is where genuinely capable candidates become reachable. |
| Financial Controller | $160k to $200k + super | Owns the close, compliance and clean numbers. Assumes a bookkeeper or outsourced accounting underneath. |
| VP / Head of Finance | $180k to $240k + equity | Owns the model, reporting frameworks and the systems that let you fundraise and scale. |
| CFO, late Series A | $275k to $325k + equity | Often a head of finance stepping up. Carries the board and investor relationship as well as the function. |
| CFO, Series B | $325k to $375k + equity | Has raised capital, led a team and sat on a board. The premium is experience, not title. |
| CFO, Series C+ / pre-IPO | $350k to $500k+, weighted to equity | Public-company ready, with IPO, M&A or secondary experience behind them. |
I set out where these numbers come from, including the limits of the data, in the full salary guide here.
Read the band by stage, not by title
The same title costs very different money depending on what stage the business is at and what you need the person to have done before. The CFO band shows this most sharply: a credible CFO at late Series A commands $275k to $325k plus equity, at Series B it is $325k to $375k, and a public-company-ready CFO for a Series C or pre-IPO business runs $350k to $500k and up with the package weighted towards equity.[1]
Below that the pattern holds. An accountant, whether financial or management, sits at roughly $95k to $120k plus super.[2] A finance manager runs $140k to $170k plus super and a financial controller $160k to $200k plus super, varying by industry, business size and complexity, and location.[3] The practical tell in tech and scale-ups: around $140k secures a good senior accountant while around $160k attracts a very capable finance manager.[4]
Why the national averages mislead
Most salary data averages across listed companies, mid-market businesses and startups at once, and no real business sits at that average. The large benchmarking providers have the opposite problem: scale without granularity. They will not know what a finance manager in Warwick earns, or what a financial controller in the Hunter Valley is worth.[5] The same gap shows at the top, where they cannot tell you what a CFO in an Adelaide deep tech startup earns or what a head of finance in a Series A Sydney fintech commands.[6]
These ranges come from a different method: no formal survey, just conversations, hundreds of them, over years, with hiring managers, CFOs, candidates and finance leaders across Australia.[7] That makes them narrower than a national survey and weighted towards Australian startups and scale-ups. Inside that market they are sharper than anything you can buy. Outside it, use something else.
What actually moves someone up a band
It is rarely another year of technical skill. In our research, 60% of finance professionals identified strategic and commercial thinking as the biggest skill gap in Australian finance, outweighing technical accounting, data analytics and technology literacy combined.[8] The scarce thing is the commercial half, and that is where the premium sits.
A senior finance leader told me recently they were struggling to build a national tender team. Reporting and pricing were covered. What was missing was someone who could take the information, tell its story, and communicate it in a way that won business.[9] That is the capability separating the middle of a band from the top of it, and it is worth more than another qualification.
I went deeper on what distinguishes the senior finance levels, and the behaviour that justifies the top of each band here.
Getting the level right before the number
The most expensive mistake is title inflation: deciding you need a CFO, writing the job description a CFO would want, then paying a CFO salary for work a head of finance would own. Get the level right and the number follows from it.
Then check the structure underneath. Most of these bands assume support below the role. A controller at the top of the band with no bookkeeper is a harder job than the same title with transactional work handled elsewhere, and the market prices that difference even when the job ad does not mention it. The framing matters as much as the figure: one client saved over $25,000 in recruitment costs after a single call adjusting their finance manager ad's value proposition, title and salary alignment, with interviews booked inside four days.[10]
I set out how the finance function splits as headcount grows, and which role to add in what order here.
Common questions
What is a good finance salary in Australia?
It depends entirely on level. In Australian high-growth businesses in 2026: accountant $95k to $120k plus super, senior accountant around $140k, finance manager $140k to $170k plus super, financial controller $160k to $200k plus super, head of finance $180k to $240k plus equity, and CFO from $275k at late Series A up to $500k and beyond at Series C or pre-IPO. Ranges shift with sector, business complexity and location.
Why do salary guides disagree with each other?
Because most average across listed companies, mid-market businesses and startups at once, and no real business sits at that average. Large benchmarking providers also lack local granularity: they cannot tell you what a finance manager in Warwick earns, what a controller in the Hunter Valley is worth, or what a head of finance in a Series A Sydney fintech commands. Those are exactly the roles people are trying to price.
What increases a finance salary the most?
Commercial capability rather than technical depth. In our research 60% of finance professionals named strategic and commercial thinking as the biggest skill gap in Australian finance, outweighing technical accounting, data analytics and technology literacy combined. One senior leader described a team where reporting and pricing were covered but nobody could take the information, tell its story and communicate it in a way that won business. That gap is where the premium sits.
How much does a CFO earn in Australia?
A credible CFO at late Series A commands $275k to $325k base plus equity, at Series B $325k to $375k, and a public-company-ready CFO at Series C or pre-IPO runs $350k to $500k and up with the package weighted increasingly to equity. Pricing a CFO as a single number is the most common and expensive mistake, because the job changes completely across those stages.
How do I set the salary for a finance role I am hiring?
Get the level right before the number. Title inflation is the costly error: deciding you need a CFO, writing the CFO job description, then paying a CFO salary for work a head of finance would own. Then check the support structure, because most bands assume someone handles the transactional work. Framing matters too: one client saved over $25,000 in recruitment costs after a single call adjusting their ad's value proposition, title and salary alignment, without changing the budget.
References
- Story Recruitment 2026 finance leadership salary bands: late Series A CFO $275-325k, Series B $325-375k, Series C+ / pre-IPO $350-500k+ weighted to equity.
- Story Recruitment market data: accountant salaries, including Financial and Management Accountants, range from $95-120k plus superannuation.
- Story Recruitment market data: $140-170k plus super for a Finance Manager and $160-200k plus super for a Financial Controller, varying by industry, business size and complexity, and location.
- Tom Hunter on Australian tech and scale-up pricing: $140k secures a good Senior Accountant while $160k attracts a very capable Finance Manager.
- Tom Hunter on the limits of large benchmarking providers, which do not capture what a Finance Manager in Warwick earns or what a Financial Controller in the Hunter Valley is worth.
- Tom Hunter: large providers cannot say what a CFO in a DeepTech startup in Adelaide earns or what a Head of Finance in a Series A Sydney fintech is worth.
- Tom Hunter on salary guide methodology: no formal methodology or expensive reports, relying instead on conversations, hundreds of them, over years with hiring managers, CFOs, candidates and finance leaders across Australia.
- Story Recruitment research: 60% of finance professionals identified strategic and commercial thinking as the most significant skill gap in Australian finance, outweighing technical accounting, data analytics and technology literacy combined.
- Story Recruitment conversation with a senior finance leader struggling to build a national tender team: reporting and pricing were covered, but nobody could take the information, tell its story and communicate it in a way that won business.
- Story Recruitment case example: a single advisory call on job ad value proposition, title and salary alignment saved a client over $25,000 in recruitment costs, with interviews booked within four days.