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This study extends current knowledge of upper echelon executive compensation beyond the CEO , specifically CFO compensation, based on whether they possess generalist or specialist skills. We find that “strategic” CFO s with an elite MBA (generalist) consistently command a compensation premium, while “accounting” CFO s (specialist) and CFO s with a non‐ MBA master's degree, even from an elite institution, do not. Further, scarce “strategic” CFO s are awarded both higher salaries and higher equity‐based compensation. Our findings support the view that unique complementarities between scarce CFO s and firms increase these executives' bargaining power leading to pay premium. Our results are robust to post‐hiring years, firm sizes, board characteristics, and CFO 's insider/outsider status. We contribute at the confluence of upper‐echelon compensation, executive human capital, resource‐based view, and assortative matching literatures . Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Datta et al. (2014) studied this question.