The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association released a report detailing compensation practices at small and medium-sized equipment leasing and finance companies. The 2021 Small and Medium Enterprise Compensation Survey reveals trends in pay — including salaries, bonuses, benefits and commissions — at bank, captive and independent equipment finance companies.

The report is based on a survey of ELFA member companies conducted by Vault Consulting. A total of 53 companies participated in the survey. The respondents reported 1,175 employees for 19 specialized revenue and support positions, ranging from CEO to collections staff to sales staff. The data are displayed by company type, new business volume, region and market segment.

Survey Highlights

• The five highest paid positions, based on average total compensation, were CEO/president, head of sales, CFO, senior sales representative and manager of asset management remarketing. Total compensation was based on average base salary and average bonus/commission.
• Compared with the last SME compensation survey in 2019, the average total compensation of the top five positions changed by the following percentages: CEO/president compensation was up 10%; head of sales compensation was up 10%, CFO compensation was down 9%, senior sales representative compensation was up 5% and manager of asset management remarketing compensation was up 9%.
• A bonus/commission was reported for 75% of the submitted employees. A total of 82% of sales staff received a bonus/commission and 6% were indicated as commission-only sales staff.
• The top quantitative factor used to determine executive leadership incentives was profitability (88%) and the top qualitative factor was managerial effectiveness (72%).