Dive Brief:
- If you’re a chief compliance officer of a public company with $1 billion to $5 billion in revenue, your average compensation package is $520,000, executive search firm BarkerGilmore says based on a survey of 2022 pay packages it conducted this year. If you’re a private company CCO of a similarly sized company, your total compensation package on average is $345,000. Overall, chief compliance officers saw their total compensation rise 10% from the prior year.
- "The demand for compliance professionals, especially chief compliance officers, is as strong as it has ever been," says John Gilmore, managing partner of the executive search firm that conducted the 2023 Compliance Compensation Report.
- Compliance officers, who typically report to CCOs or in some cases serve as non-C-suite compliance leaders in their own right, saw an average 6% increase in compensation. Those working at a public company with $1 billion to $5 billion in revenue make $210,000 on average, and $200,000 if they’re in a similarly sized private company. When compensation for CCOs and compliance officers is considered together, from both public and private companies, compensation is up 8% on average.
Dive Insight:
The increase in compensation for compliance professionals comes as companies face stepped-up regulatory demands, driven in part by data privacy and cyber security laws across the United States and outside the country.
"The need for business-minded leaders, an environment of increasing regulations, and the heightened awareness of the risks associated with lack of compliance have created a competitive landscape for compliance professionals," Gilmore said.
A survey BarkerGilmore conducted on in-house counsel compensation for the same time period showed a 3% decline, mainly because bonus targets weren’t met. “Base compensation was flat and LTI (long-term incentives) was up 10%, but bonuses realized a 23% loss,” that report said.
CCO compensation
The size of the company, whether it’s public or private and the industry it operates in are among the factors that, when combined with individual matters like the number of direct reports, years of experience and type of law degree, influence CCO compensation.
Average total compensation for a CCO of a public company with more than $10 billion in annual revenue, for example, is $639,000, compared to $260,000 for a CCO of a private company with less than $500 million in revenue.
CCOs in public utilities and energy companies might see greater compensation, since these are higher paying industries. Meanwhile, compensation might be less for those in financial services, identified as a lower paying industry for compliance work, according to the results.
Compensation for a CCO in an energy company or public utility is almost twice that of a financial services CCO, $638,000 compared to $387,000 for public company respondents.
As a general matter, the larger the number of direct reports, the higher the pay.
For CCOs with at least 20 reports, compensation averaged $665,000, not factoring in type of company or industry, compared to $322,000 for those with five or fewer reports and $285,000 for those with no reports.
Compensation is typically comprised of three buckets: base pay, bonuses and long-term incentives (LTI) like stock options and restricted cash.
For CCOs, the average increase is 12% for base pay, 3% for bonuses and 14% for LTI. That translates into $300,000 for base pay, $100,000 for bonuses and $120,000 for LTI for $520,000 in total compensation for large public company CCOs.
For a small private company CCO, the increases translate into a base salary of $200,000, bonuses of $50,000 and LTI of $10,000, for total average compensation of $260,000.
Compliance officers
The factors influencing compensation for CCOs generally apply to compliance officers as well.
For compliance officers, total compensation at a large public company is $298,000 on average, comprising $200,000 in base salary, $60,000 in bonuses and $28,000 in LTI.
For the small private company compliance officer, compensation is $202,000 on average, comprising $185,000 in salary and $17,000 in bonus, with no LTI.
