Nine out of the 51 executives featured in the Business Herald's CEO pay survey this year saw a decline in annual salary last year.
Spark managing director Simon Moutter saw the biggest decline out of all the executives. His annual pay decreased by more than 23 per cent last yearto $2.7m, down from $3.5m the year before.
Former Stride Property chief executive Peter Alexander saw his pay drop by 3.74 per cent to $1.02m from $1.06m.
Mainfreight's Don Braid saw a 2.8 per cent decline last year, earning a total of $1.9m, John Penno of Synlait earned $790,000 after a 1.78 per cent decline and Freightways managing director Dean Bracewell earned $1.05m from $1.06m.
Findings from this year's survey reveal chief executive pay for the 2016 financial year averaged $1,732,802, up 3.34 per cent from $1,676,757 previously.
In the survey's 12-year history, the lowest CEO pay increase was recorded at just 0.4 per cent in 2011.