Exec comp exposed! What your CFO, COO and CEO made this year

Last year, most company execs took one for the team and cut their own salaries. This year? Not so much.

2010 saw a significant uptick in executive compensation in companies of all sizes and in many industries. That’s the finding of Compdata’s Executive Compensation 2010/2011 survey.

How are increases justified considering that many companies are still struggling in this economy and much of the rank-and-file are receiving modest to no raises at all?

It’s all about strategic planning, report the companies surveyed. These organizations assert that paying their top talent competitively now will better position them when the economy rebounds. And many of them are banking (quite literally) on the fact that 2011 will be the year that happens.

So are you interested in a sneak peak at what the top of your organization’s food chain will take home this year? Check out the six-figure numbers getting even larger for these big job titles, on average:

• Company President: $241,900 (a 5.6% jump over 2009)
• Chief Operating Officer (COO): $217,400 (1.3% more than last year)
• Chief Information Officer (CIO): $187,100 (more than 6% higher than in ’09), and
• Treasurer: $168,100 (another 6% boost over last year).

As for the biggest fish closest to home, your CFO, compensation in 2010 varies wildly, depending the size of your organization:

• CFOs at companies with more than 5,000 employees earn $267,500 on average
• Companies with 1,001-5,000 employees pay their CFOs $247,700
• Finance chiefs at companies with 500-1,000 employees earn $193,700, and
• CFOs at companies with fewer than 100 employees earn $156,100.

The only executive who’s likely taking home a much smaller paycheck this year?  Your CEO. Chief Executive Officer salaries are down by as much as 25% — dropping from $346,600 in 2009 to $332,900 in 2010.