The accounts examined in this year's Accountancy FTSE 100 survey cover the start of the slowdown in the global and UK economies. But you'd never guess that from the numbers. They show a significant number of FDs now receiving over £1m a year, the median pay for an FD rising to over £450,000 and the Big Five auditors making over £840m from their FTSE 100 clients - up 22% on the year before.

The highest paid director in the survey - or ever, for that matter - is Vodafone AirTouch's Ken Hydon, who received £3.036m. In all, six FDs received over £1m, compared with three in last year's survey. David Kappler of Cadbury Schweppes, the first FD to pass the £1m mark, does so for the third successive year.

Forty-two FDs received over £500,000 (as opposed to 28 last year) and the median remuneration rose from more than £400,000 to more than £450,000, an increase of over 12%. This partly reflects the changing composition of the FTSE 100, a point we return to later.

As last year, the survey shows that the typical FD stays in the post for about eight years, has been internally promoted and probably spends about 16 years with the company altogether.

Forty-nine of the FDs in the survey (v 52 last year) have already been in post for four years or more and 38 (v 39) of them for more than five years. Fifty-one of them (v 50 last year) have already been with the company for eight years or more, 39 (v 36) for 10 years or more, and 10 (v 14) for 20 years or more.

The ICAEW has strengthened its hold on the top jobs. Fifty-seven of the FDs in the survey can be identified as ICAEW members (v 53 last time), 14 as CIMA members, six as Scottish CAs, four as ACCA members, and three as South African CAs.

The number of female FDs in the survey is growing at a rate of 100% a year - they went up from one to two, Kingfisher's Helen Weir joining the long-established Kathleen O'Donovan of Invensys (formerly BTR).

Although you might get the impression from reports in the press that audit firms are separating from their consultancies, our survey shows little evidence of this as yet. The audit now provides only 25% of auditors' total fee income from their clients (v 27% last year).

Total fee income from the companies in the survey rose an extraordinary 22% to £843m, which combines a 7% rise in audit fees to £215m with a 28% rise in non-audit fees to £628m.

BP Amoco, audited by Ernst & Young, reports the highest audit fee: £18.7m. Its total fees to E&Y were £52.9m. HSBC paid its auditor, KPMG, £17.3m for the audit and £27.3m altogether. Shell paid its joint auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG, £11.4m for the audit and £42.9m altogether. Lloyds TSB paid PwC £4m for the audit and £36m altogether.

The survey shows a slight fall in PwC's dominance of the top 100 audits. It now audits 45.5 of them (counting joint audits as 0.5) against 49.5 last year. KPMG remains unchanged on 23. E&Y has gone up from 11 to 13.5. Deloitte & Touche has fallen from 12.5 to 10. And Andersen has risen from five audits to eight. The significant feature of these figures is that E&Y, which last year fell behind D&T for the first time, has now overtaken it again. The changes are almost entirely the result of changes in the FTSE 100 constituents, rather than of one firm being fired and another appointed.

The past year has seen unprecedented turmoil in the FTSE 100. Our survey reflects changes to the index's constituents announced on 12 September 2001. Since last year's survey, 21 of the constituent companies have changed. This reflects mergers, demergers and the fall from favour of TMT stocks - technology, media and telecommunications. The new economy is dead, and it can now be seen how the temporary wild enthusiasm for TMT stocks distorted the message given by the FTSE 100 stocks.

The changes provide part of the explanation for the significant apparent increase in FDs' pay. A number of the companies in the FTSE 100 a year ago were relatively small, but remarkably highly valued. Their FDs' pay was typically low by FTSE 100 standards, reflecting their real economic status rather than the market's inflated view of them. Now that they have been eliminated from the FTSE, the average FD's pay has risen partly through the mere fact of the change in the constituents of the index.

Because last year's survey included some unusually small companies, the figures for audit fees were also unusually low. Last year, we reported total audit fees of £175m; by contrast, last year's audit fees for the companies in this year's survey were £201m. This is accounted for by Shell now disclosing its audit fees and by the change in the index's constituents.

The year ahead seems likely to be one of further turmoil and declining profits. Perhaps directors' pay and accountants' fees will begin to reflect that.

Survey compiled by Christina Buckingham

NOTES

Pay is from date of appointment to year-end. When no comparative is given, the information was not available in the annual report. Qualifications are listed if provided in the annual report or ICAEW/CIMA/ACCA members' register. Salaries for AstraZeneca, Billiton, BP, and Shire Pharmaceuticals were quoted in dollars; they have been changed as at the exchange rate at 31.12.00 of $1.4938 to the £. Salaries for Unilever quoted in euros and converted at 31.12.00 rate of 1.5911 to the £.

BOC, Diageo, Hays, Prudential, Sainsbury: prior year figures are for the prvious FD. Brambles - new conglomerate. No annual rep ort yet. Compass Group - no annual accounts for 2000 because of Granada merger or since then because of demerger. GSK - salary refers to positio n as FD of GlaxoWellcome. HBOS - new conglomerate. No annual report yet.

NOTES

Fees for Anglo American, AstraZeneca, BP, Billiton, HSBC Holdings, Shell and South African Breweries are quoted in dollars. They have been converted as at the exchange rate of 31.12.00 of $ 1.4938 to the £. Audit fees for Unilever are quoted in euros. They have been converted as at the exchange rate of 31.12.00 of 1.5911 to the £. Billiton - fees not split between KPMG and PwC. CGNU - audit fees are not divided between PwC and Ernst & Young. Compass Group - produced no annual report in 2000 because of Granada merger or since then because of demerger. Shell - fees not split between KPMG and PwC. HBOS - new conglomerate. No annu al report yet. Prior year figures for Alliance & Leicester relate to KPMG. Prior year figures for AstraZeneca include fees paid to D&T. Prior year figures for Prudential include fees paid to PwC. Prior year figures for Reckitt Benckiser include fees paid to D&T. Prior year figures for Royal Bank of Scotland relate to PwC. UK figures for non-audit fees may include fees for overseas work where they are not disclosed seperately.