IR salaries at publicly traded companies are rising and more executives are receiving cash bonuses compared, according to a biennial study by the National Investor Relations Institute and Korn/Ferry International.
The median base salary for Fortune 500 IROs rose to $195,000 from $170K in 2010, while the media among all respondents jumped from $156K in 2010 to $175K this year.
The study found that the percentage of IR execs receiving a cash bonus increased from 71% to 82% this year. Twenty-one percent of IROs in the Fortune 500 received cash bonuses between $50K and $100K, the fourth straight year the NIRI/KF study found an increase.
Pepper Binner, senior client partner in K/F’s corporate affairs practice, said the data aligns with what the executive search firm is seeing in the marketplace.
“The increased compensation for the investor relations officers is a strong reflection of the critical role that this role plays in the corporate executive suite,” she said. Binner said a rise in the number of CPA and CFA designations among IROs shows a demand for “highly technical and analytics” execs. NIRI president and CEO Jeffrey Morgan noted that more than half of those surveyed said they have responsibilities in addition to IR duties and most have advanced degrees.
Although compensation is rising, most say IR budgets are essentially unchanged. Thirty-four percent reported budgets from $1M-$2.5M with another 32% from $500K-$1M. Within the Fortune 500, 21% had budgets of more than $2.5M.