Bond default risk is one of the main risks in China's financial market, affecting the stability and development of China's capital market. This article uses Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2020 as a research sample to study the impact of CFO compensation internal rankings on corporate bond default risk. The study found that the higher the internal ranking of CFO compensation, the smaller the risk of corporate bond default. This conclusion is still valid after a series of robustness tests. In the mechanism test using structural equation model, it was found that the internal ranking of CFO compensation mainly affected the default risk of corporate bonds by reducing corporate agency costs. Further research found that when a company had a low leverage ratio and good internal supervision, rating agencies would recognize more the positive impact of CFO salary internal rankings. When rating agencies were concerned about agency issues caused by “dominance by one company”, they would also pay more attention to the monitoring effect brought about by the internal ranking of CFO compensation. The conclusions of this study confirm that effective incentives for CFOs can reduce the risk of corporate bond default.