An astonishing 41 of the 96 FTSE 100 finance directors in this year's survey received more than £1m in remuneration. This compares with 34 (from a total sample of 97) in last year's survey.

Much of the increase is once again due to large performance-related bonuses. The base salaries of the FDs have risen to an average of £419,000 over the year, representing a rise of 9%. Total remuneration, though, increased by 20% to an average of £1,031,000.

Some of the increase in total remuneration can be explained by gains from stock options due to the rising FTSE 100 share index. The base salary of the FDs in the survey represents only 40% of their total remuneration, with almost all receiving substantial performance-related bonuses in various forms.

According to the latest survey of annual and long-term incentives carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers Monks, more companies are offering annual bonus plans to their executives that are based on non-financial measures. The number of FTSE 100 companies offering bonus plans based on purely financial measures fell in the year to July 2007 from 33% to 17%. Over the same period, the number of companies basing their incentive schemes on non-financial measures such as customer satisfaction and employee engagement rose from 13% to 31%.

Some remuneration analysts believe that the increases in remuneration in recent years reflect the greater level of responsibility faced by finance directors of large organisations.

A survey by Watson Wyatt at the end of 2006 found that the average rise in overall salary for FTSE 100 finance directors had outstripped that received by chief executives for the first time. Watson Wyatt speculated that the increase reflected the greater demands placed on FDs by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other regulations, as well as an increase in demand for FDs from private equity companies.

There is no doubt that the FD role with a major company is both demanding and precarious. Take, for example, the case of Jim Smart, the former chief financial officer of Boots. Smart left the company on its merger with Alliance UniChem in 2005 and was named CFO of Friends Provident in November 2006. Barely eight months later, though, he could be out of a job once more thanks to the recently proposed merger with Resolution.

But while the position may be precarious, leavers are often handsomely compensated. On his retirement from ITV in March 2006, for example, Henry Staunton received a year's basic salary (£595,000), a cash bonus of £215,000 and nil-cost options over an equal amount in shares, a further cash bonus of £287,000 and pension contributions of £270,000.

The phenomenal rise in executive remuneration over recent years has already attracted a great deal of comment and criticism and these results are unlikely to quell the debate. It has to be said, though, that the companies sometimes fail to help their cause by presenting unnecessarily lengthy and often confusing remuneration reports.

The presentation of bonus payments, for example, varies widely from company to company. A handful of companies present a single figure that encompasses all bonus payments from cash and share-based incentive plans. Others, however, separate payments into cash bonus payments, long-term schemes, short-term schemes, deferred payments and various share-matching plans, with various 'sub-totals' in between. A bonus, surely, is a bonus.

* Converted from US dollars at a rate of $1=£0.496 ** Converted from Euros at a rate of €1=£0.67

1. Resigned 31.03.07

2. Joined board 1 March 2006 and appointed FD 1 July 2006

3. Remuneration not disclosed

4. Luff appointed March 2007

5. Smart appointed FD 1 January 2007. On merger with Resolution, new FD will be Jim Newman

6. Nicholls resigned 31 October 2006

7. Appointed 16 January 2006

8. Not a board member - remuneration not individually disclosed

9. Ferguson appointed June 2007

10. Hayes appointed 1 March 2007

11. Jones appointed February 2007

12. Appointed 1 November 2006

13. Appointed June 2006

14. Appointed 1 February 2006

15. Now vice chairman. No CFO

16. Langston appointed 6 September 2006

17. Appointed November 2006

18. Appointed July 2006

19. Retired May 2007. Lawrence appointed 1 August 2007

20. Appointed 1 August 2006

21. Not a board member - remuneration not individually disclosed

Barclays: Chris Lucas, 46, ICAEW

Carnival: David Bernstein

Centrica: Nick Luff, ICAEW

Friends Provident: Jim Smart, ACCA, 47

Hanson: Pavi Binning, CIMA, 46

Lonmin: Alan Ferguson, ICAS, 48

Man Group: Kevin Hayes, 47, CA(NZ)

Northern Rock: Dave Jones, 48, ICAEW

Resolution: Jim Newman, 42, ICAEW

Smiths Group: John Langston, 56, ICAEW

Unilever: James Lawrence, 54

Information is taken directly from the companies' remuneration reports. Pension contributions are, wherever possible, excluded from total remuneration. Bonuses generally represent cash bonus payments, unless the company has included share-based bonuses. Total remuneration includes all long-term, short-term and deferred bonus payments as well as benefits in kind and, where applicable, payments received in lieu of pension contributions.

Survey research and reporting by Liz Fisher.