Accounting manager vs finance manager

The differences between accounting managers and finance managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both an accounting manager and a finance manager. Additionally, a finance manager has an average salary of $101,374, which is higher than the $84,451 average annual salary of an accounting manager.

The top three skills for an accounting manager include reconciliations, CPA and GAAP. The most important skills for a finance manager are financial analysis, CPA, and customer service.

Accounting manager vs finance manager overview

	Accounting Manager	Finance Manager
Yearly salary	$84,451	$101,374
Hourly rate	$40.60	$48.74
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	92,089	125,345
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 73%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age	46	46
Years of experience	8	8

What does an accounting manager do?

An accounting manager is responsible for supervising and monitoring the overall accounting department operations. Duties of an accounting manager include reviewing account information and account statements, processing invoices, analyzing financial data, performing account reconciliations, assisting with tax processing and audit reports, and generating financial reports for presentation with the board. An accounting manager must have excellent knowledge of the accounting principles and legislation to assist the team with the company's financial goals. Accounting managers must have the outstanding analytical, critical thinking, and decision-making skills to develop the best competitive financial strategies.

What does a finance manager do?

A finance manager is responsible for monitoring the financial system of a company. Their tasks include handling their organization's financial status, generating cost estimates and budget goals, identifying business opportunities to increase revenues and profitability, improving financial strategies, reducing costs, analyzing account statements, processing invoice as needed, analyzing market trends, searching potential partnerships, and presenting reports. A finance manager must have excellent analytical skills and knowledge of the accounting and financial industry. They are responsible for providing the best recommendations for the organization's growth.

Accounting manager vs finance manager salary

Accounting managers and finance managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Accounting Manager	Finance Manager
Average salary	$84,451	$101,374
Salary range	Between $60,000 And $117,000	Between $71,000 And $144,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	New York, NY
Highest paying state	Vermont	New York
Best paying company	Morgan Lewis	Barclays
Best paying industry	Finance	Finance

Differences between accounting manager and finance manager education

There are a few differences between an accounting manager and a finance manager in terms of educational background:

	Accounting Manager	Finance Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 73%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common major	Accounting	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Accounting manager vs finance manager demographics

Here are the differences between accounting managers' and finance managers' demographics:

	Accounting Manager	Finance Manager
Average age	46	46
Gender ratio	Male, 40.4% Female, 59.6%	Male, 60.0% Female, 40.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.7% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 14.8% Asian, 10.0% White, 63.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 10.2% White, 63.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between accounting manager and finance manager duties and responsibilities

Accounting manager example responsibilities.

Refine the 'pro forma invoice' system process to manage prepayments of client invoices enhancing efficiency and adding value.
Work independently on line of business projects to automate derivative processes and system enhancement testing.
Manage payroll and all taxation matters, coordinate independent audit; communicate with outside organizations and agencies.
Lead team that develop templates and procedure documentation of key controls within general accounting to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley.
Lead successful international enterprise wide ERP migration and experience in analysis, testing, documentation, design and implementation.
Conduct corporate treasury management planning and analysis, manages controls for inventory and cost accumulation for all products sell.

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Finance manager example responsibilities.

Manage the preparation of monthly reporting packs and board presentations with robust variance analysis, commentaries and forward looking KPIs.
Manage a team of sales persons, business managers, sales manager, A/R, A/P, and general managers.
Lead successful sales team and provide direct oversight on overall dealership business profitability.
Manage accounts payable/receivable, deposits, payroll preparation, purchasing and inventory management, liaison to accountant.
Oversee financial analysis, financial audits, G/L, A/R, A/P and fixed-asset accounting in accordance with GAAP standards.
Execute simple SQL queries to validate data in tables.

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Accounting manager vs finance manager skills

Common accounting manager skills

Reconciliations, 10%
CPA, 9%
GAAP, 7%
Customer Service, 5%
Payroll Processing, 4%
Internal Controls, 4%

Common finance manager skills

Financial Analysis, 7%
CPA, 7%
Customer Service, 6%
Hyperion, 4%
Financial Models, 4%
Strong Analytical, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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