Key Takeaways

• CEO statutory pay remains below 2012 levels
• CEO Fixed Pay is growing faster in the ASX 101-200 than the ASX 100.
• ASX100 CEOs achieved record median realised pay, while ASX101-200 CEOs reached record highs in median fixed pay and reported pay.
• CEOs receiving no annual incentive is less likely than CEO termination.

In June, the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) published its latest annual survey of ASX 200 CEO remuneration.

The ACSI analyses

The ACSI report analyses longitudinal trends in “realised” and “reported” pay, fixed and cash pay, annual  incentives, and termination payments.

The final sample consists of 80 ASX 100 CEOs and 68 ASX 101-200 CEOs. CEOs with part-year tenures, companies with foreign domicile, non-comparable remuneration reports, and externally managed entities are excluded from analysis. Foreign-domiciled constituents were analysed individually but were omitted from statistic calculations.

The findings are summarised as follows.

Realised Pay

ACSI provides an analysis of “realised” pay, referring to pre-tax remuneration received by executives, including fixed pay, cash annual incentives, the value of options with an exercise price (considered on exercise), and the value of zero exercise price options (considered on vesting, not exercise, so inconsistent with how they value at-the-money options).

• ASX 100 CEOs had a median realised pay of $4.8m, the highest in the 12 years ACSI have reported realised pay data.
• ASX 101-200 CEOs had a median realised pay of $2.13m, down 1.7% (FY24: $2.17m). The median realised pay for ASX 101-200 CEO incumbents¹ increased to $2.58m (FY24: $1.91m), suggesting the slight decrease in median realised pay was due to sampling difference rather than movements for individual CEOs.
• Over the span of 10 years since FY15, ASX 100 CEO median realised pay has increased at an annual growth rate of 2.2%, growing slower than the ASX 101-200 (4.2%). This compares to an inflation rate of 2.65% and worker average total earnings increase of 3.16%. Maybe CEOs should start a union and go for pattern bargaining?
• According to ACSI, average realised pay for ASX 100 CEOs is 55 times the average Australian adult earnings (unchanged from FY24), while the multiple for ASX101-200 CEOs fell from 31 times in FY24 to 29 times in FY25. These levels have remained relatively stable since FY22.

Reported Pay (a.k.a. Statutory Remuneration)

“Reported” pay refers to statutory remuneration disclosed in accordance with Australian accounting standards. This amortises the expense of awards vesting over multiple-year periods.

• Median reported pay for the ASX 100 CEOs rose to $4.91m (FY24: $4.54m), mirroring the upward trend in realised pay over the same period.
• ASX 101-200 CEOs reached a record level median reported pay at $2.49m (FY24: $2.39m).
• The ratio between ASX100 and ASX101-200 CEO median reported pay has remained steady at around 50% over the past 5 years.

Fixed Pay

• In FY25, ASX100 CEO median fixed pay (including salary, pension, and fringe benefits) rose to $1.83m (FY24: $1.76m), an increase of 4.0%.
• The ASX 101-200 CEO median fixed pay increased by 5.4% to $1.14m, the highest level in the 15 years of the ASX 101-200 data set.
• ASX 100 CEO median fixed pay in the ASX has declined by 0.3% per annum on average since FY11 while the ASX 101-200 CEO median fixed pay has risen by 2.3% per annum on average.
• With the Consumer Price Index growing at 2.6% per annum on average over the same period, actual fixed pay in the ASX 101-200 is trailing inflation (representing 97% of the inflation adjusted number) while the ASX 100 has fallen behind (representing 67% of the inflation adjusted number).

Annual Fixed plus Cash Incentive Pay

• ASX 100 CEO median cash pay (sum of fixed pay and cash annual incentives) saw a decrease of 1.6% to $2.64m in FY25 (FY24: $2.68m).
• In the ASX 101-200, CEO median cash pay increased 10.9% to $1.59m (FY24: $1.44m) contributing to an average annual growth rate of 2.32% since FY11. The growth over the same period for the ASX 100 CEOs was -0.8%.

Annual incentives (a.k.a. Short-Term Incentives)

• In FY25, 76 of the 80 ASX 100 CEOs were eligible for an “annual incentive”, or short-term incentive.
• Three CEOs received maximum payouts in the ASX 100 while 10 CEOs in the ASX 101-200 received maximum payouts.
• Median annual incentive outcomes as a percentage of maximum in the ASX 100 and ASX 101-200 was 70.7% and 72.9% for FY25, respectively.
• The CEO median annual incentive in FY25 in the ASX 100 was $1.79m, up 5.3% from the previous period (FY24: $1.70m).
• Median annual incentives in the ASX 101-200 sample also increased, rising 14% in FY25 to $672,000 (FY24: $588,675).
• Only 16 of 74 CEOs in the ASX 100 received less than half of maximum.
• In the ASX 101-200, only 15 of 64 received less than half of maximum and 11 received below 40% of maximum.

ACSI points to CEO departures to reinforce the view that annual incentives are not under genuine risk, stating that it is more likely for a CEO to depart than to receive nil annual incentive. Yet, this does not show that annual incentives are not at risk. The risk attached can be masked by aggregate market data. A CEO’s annual incentive can fluctuate widely year-to-year without shifting the overall sample median.

Termination Payments

ACSI’s definition of termination payments includes annual incentives for part year worked, the value of long-term incentives that vest due to termination, payments made in lieu of notice or for severance, and accrued leave entitlements where leave has not previously been accrued in the statutory remuneration table.

• The FY25 sample for the ASX 100 consisted of 9 CEO termination payments totalling $18.6m.
• The ASX 101-200 saw 11 CEO termination payments in the same period totalling $12.08m.
• In FY25, the average ASX 101-200 termination payment was $1.10m while the ASX 100 average was $2.2m.
• Termination payments were above $2m for 3 of 9 ASX 100 CEOs. The ASX 101-200 sample saw only 1 of 11 CEOs receiving $2m or more.

Comparison to US CEO pay

US-based CEOs are among the highest paid CEOs on the ASX. On the ASX, Chris Hulls of Life360 had the largest realised pay due to US$25.15m in exercised options from prior year grants. Across the same period, ISS-Corporate found median CEO Target Total Remuneration for the S&P 500 increased by 10.6%, base salary increased by 3.2% (4.0% for ASX 100 CEO median fixed pay), with a company median 1-year TSR of 7.5% (16.3% for ASX 100²). US CEO packages are much larger, pay growth for ASX CEOs is steadily climbing.

Wealth Generation of the average Australian and CEOs – we build on the ACSI review

ACSI does not undertake a comparative productivity analysis. Guerdon Associates did. Further analysis finds the average Australian adult earnings increased by 2.9% per annum on average since FY14, alongside a 2.2% real GPD growth and 2.1% CPI growth across the same period. In contrast, ASX 100 CEO realised pay increased by 1.8% per annum on average since FY14 and ASX 101-200 CEOs by 1.9% per annum on average. To measure wealth generation, we found an increase of 8.1% per annum on median Market Capitalisation of ASX 200³ companies across the period.

In a nutshell, over time, listed company CEO pay is not reflective of the wealth they have generated, and in fact, it is falling behind the growth in market value of the companies they are overseeing. This appears to be in contrast to the general workforce which has experienced pay increases in excess of inflation and the GDP growth of the nation. This is, of course, simplistic. The analysis excludes the earnings enjoyed by the executives who took their companies private and enjoyed the fruits that Private Equity can provide to those who work hard and are totally focussed on shareholder return. Likewise for the founders and entrepreneurs, many of whom we have lost for more lucrative markets and rewards far from our shores.

See ACSI’s report

As in prior years, it is worth studying. View ACSI’s full FY25 research report for more details.

Appendix – summary

Table 1: ASX200 CEO Median Pay

Footnotes:

[1] Only includes CEOs who were members of the ASX 100 or ASX 101-200 samples for both the current and prior year.

[2] Sample includes 2025 ASX 100 companies listed in 2024.

[3] Sample includes 2025 ASX 200 companies listed in 2014.

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