‘Higher Growth’

“They have higher growth year-over-year, strong earnings performance,” said Todd Lippincott, leader of Towers Watson & Co.’s executive-compensation practice for the Americas. “That’s reflected in still some very significant year-on-year changes in pay.”

At Apple, Oppenheimer’s pay was made up almost entirely of stock grants issued to retain top lieutenants after co-founder Steve Jobs died. Apple’s finance chief was the fifth-highest among all executives in the S&P 500, including CEOs, according to filings submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as of April 12.

Oppenheimer has guided Apple’s cash strategy since becoming CFO in 2004. Last month, he orchestrated a $17 billion bond sale -- the biggest corporate offering on record -- to help fund a $100 billion dividend and buyback plan. Apple avoided as much as $9.2 billion in U.S. taxes by using debt rather than offshore cash that would have been taxed at 35 percent, Moody’s Investment Services estimates.

Tax Rate

Apple’s effective tax rate was 25.2 percent in fiscal 2012. The company finished fiscal 2012 with $121.3 billion in cash and long-term investments, including $83 billion outside the U.S. Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Apple, said the company paid $6 billion in federal income taxes last year, for one of the biggest -- if not the highest -- corporate-tax payments.

Oracle’s Catz is a longtime confidant of CEO Larry Ellison, the best-compensated executive in the S&P 500, and helps structure many of the company’s acquisitions. Catz and Aon Plc’s Christa Davies were the only women among the top 25-paid CFOs. Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger declined to comment.

Google CFO Pichette benefited from a change in the policy for the timing of stock payout. Google, which had $48.1 billion in cash at the end of 2012, has seen its tax rate fall for three straight years. Last quarter, the company’s effective tax rate was less than 10 percent, after it was able to write off research investments.

Bermuda Shift

Google avoided income taxes by shifting revenue into a Bermuda shell company, regulatory filings show. In 2011, Google reduced its tax bill by about $2 billion by legally funneling profits from overseas subsidiaries into Bermuda, which doesn’t have a corporate income tax. The amount moved to Bermuda was equivalent to about 80 percent of Google’s total pretax profit in 2011.