Salaries and total compensation for accounting and financial personnel increased 3.5% and 4.2%, respectively, within organizations responding to a survey this year and last. This compares to the 3.1% and 3.2% increase in salaries and total compensation experienced in 2006.

Watson Wyatt Data Services’ 2007/2008 Survey Report on Accounting & Finance Personnel Compensation is now in its ninth edition. The report covers a full range of accounting and finance personnel, including executive/fiscal control, accounting, shareholder relations, audit, budget/planning, cash management/investment, credit, financial analysis, payroll, risk management/insurance and tax.

Twenty-seven individual positions (within the overall sample) received salary and/or total compensation increases that exceeded the overall salary/total cash compensation increase by 25% or more. A total of five positions received salary increases of 7.8% or more: top strategic/long-range planning executive, chief financial officer/top financial executive, top financial analysis executive, top shareholder relations executive and shareholder relations administrator.

Salary increases within the industry sectors remained consistent in 2007, ranging from 2.8% to 3.8% as compared to 2.6% to 3.8% in 2006. The most significant change in salary was experienced in durable goods manufacturing and health care, at 3.8%, as compared to salary increases in 2006 of 3% and 3.1%, respectively.

Only slight differences in salary increases existed among the five regions. The Northeast, Southeast and West Coast regions experienced a 3.6% increase, while the North Central and South Central regions experienced a 3.4% increase. Average total cash compensation increases for all five regions ranged from 4% to a high of 4.6% in the Northeast Region.

Overall, 45.7% of the employees covered by this survey received some form of bonus/incentive payment in 2006. The percentage of employees receiving a bonus varies significantly between salary levels. While 81.3% of employees being paid at least $200,000 received a bonus, only 23.7% of employees paid under $30,000 received a bonus.

Bonus prevalence showed only a slight variation by region, with 47.6% of employees in the Northeast region receiving bonuses at the high end (average bonus was 21.2% of salary), and 47.6% of South Central region workers receiving bonuses at the low end (bonuses averaging 17.3% of salary). Other regional bonus payments ranged from 17.6% of salary in the North Central to 18% of salary for West Coast employees.

With the exception of the retail and wholesale trade sector, only modest variations in bonus prevalence and average bonus payments among industry sectors were experienced. The retail and wholesale trade sector experienced a sharp decline in the prevalence of bonuses paid (50.4% vs. 67%) and in the average bonus payments (15.2% vs. 16.8%). The banking and finance sector experienced the most significant increase in the percentage of employees receiving bonus payments (67.5% vs. 61.5%). However, the average bonus paid (to those employees receiving a bonus) experienced no variation.

The report is based on responses from 1,587 organizations encompassing 5,008 locations reporting data on 146,154 incumbents. A total of 207 geographic areas, including 144 metropolitan areas, are reported on in this year’s edition.

[www.WWDS.com]