What does a chief finance officer do?
A chief financial officer is responsible for managing and reviewing the financial status of a company. Chief financial officers' duties include ensuring the accuracy of financial reports, monitoring the company's expenses and budget goals, providing recommendations to prevent financial loss and increase revenues, processing the company's tax obligations, and resolving financial disputes. A chief financial officer must have an impeccable knowledge of the financial industry, updated with the current market trend, and strong leadership and decision-making skills to support the organization's financial department.
Chief finance officer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real chief finance officer resumes:
- Lead management team in developing and executing a combination of pricing and cost savings strategies that improve EBITDA more than threefold.
- Lead the consolidation of financial and operational systems for non-acute services including rehabilitation and psychiatry services.
- Lead system conversion to Hyperion planning budgeting/forecasting software, responsible for training, developing and implementation.
- Manage all firm banking relationships, treasury functions and retain signatory authority for all partnership and corporate accounts.
- Lead implementation of new worldwide consolidation system, Hyperion, significantly reducing closing time and improving controls over the consolidation process.
- Prepare annual general ledger reconciliations and consolidate financial reports for CPA tax preparation.
- Introduce and implement GAAP and meaningful financial analysis for better management decision making and higher credibility with interest parties.
- Supervise all general accounting operations, including general ledger processing, accounts payable, investment accounting, and payroll administration.
- Increase Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates per encounter, increase private insurance collections, and implement daily cash collection processes.
- Budget preparation and analysis, financial reconciliations, cash and investment management, financial analysis and reporting, audit preparation.
- COO and CFO with responsibility for the operations of all hospital departments.
- Initiate request for proposal (RFP) for company's credit card processing.
- Partner and work closely with all departments to provide integrate support and KPIs.
- Direct RFI / RFP process to evaluate forward and reverse 3rd party logistics providers.
- Crown are a family hold distributor of medical cushioning devices for the rehabilitation and wind care markets.
Chief finance officer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 7% of Chief Finance Officers are proficient in Payroll, CPA, and Oversight. They’re also known for soft skills such as Leadership skills, Management skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Chief Finance Officers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Payroll, 7%
Supervised all general accounting operations, including general ledger processing, accounts payable, investment accounting, and payroll administration.
- CPA, 6%
Coordinated external audits with outside CPA firm, information technology vulnerability and penetration tests, and state examiners.
- Oversight, 5%
Maintain responsibility and oversight of all financial, accounting and administrative departments, with significant interaction with the Board of Directors.
- Financial Reports, 4%
Review the financial statements, including monthly financial reports, annual statutory reports and all reporting of relevant communication to headquarters.
- Human Resources, 4%
Finance and administrative leader, charged with effective supervision of finance, human resources, purchasing and information technology divisions.
- Internal Controls, 4%
Introduced best-practice methodologies and metrics to improve overall operational excellence, financial performance, internal controls, including ITAR Import/Export compliance.
Common skills that a chief finance officer uses to do their job include "payroll," "cpa," and "oversight." You can find details on the most important chief finance officer responsibilities below.
Leadership skills. One of the key soft skills for a chief finance officer to have is leadership skills. You can see how this relates to what chief finance officers do because "top executives must be able to shape and direct an organization by coordinating policies, people, and resources." Additionally, a chief finance officer resume shows how chief finance officers use leadership skills: "drive forecasting to provide insights to executive leadership, and partner with investor relations for determining guidance. "
Problem-solving skills. This is an important skill for chief finance officers to perform their duties. For an example of how chief finance officer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "top executives need to identify and resolve issues within an organization." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a chief finance officer: "answered and resolved all issues in regard to investor relations for our stockholders. ".
Time-management skills. chief finance officer responsibilities often require "time-management skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "top executives do many tasks concurrently to ensure that their work gets done and that the organization meets its goals." This resume example shows what chief finance officers do with time-management skills on a typical day: "managed implementation of erp system to support 99.9% on time delivery. "
Communication skills. Another common skill required for chief finance officer responsibilities is "communication skills." This skill comes up in the duties of chief finance officers all the time, as "top executives must be able to convey information clearly and persuasively." An excerpt from a real chief finance officer resume shows how this skill is central to what a chief finance officer does: "directed activities associated with investor relations and communications with financial analysts, brokers and investment bankers. "
The three companies that hire the most chief finance officers are:
- B2B CFO
132 chief finance officers jobs
- Paro93 chief finance officers jobs
- Robert Half65 chief finance officers jobs
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Compare different chief finance officers
Chief finance officer vs. Accounting director
An Accounting Director supervises the general accounting and financial reporting functions, as well as financial services within a company or organization. They also ensure that all transactions and financial policies for their organization meet federal regulations and standards.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between chief finance officers and accounting director. For instance, chief finance officer responsibilities require skills such as "risk management," "financial management," "financial performance," and "private equity." Whereas a accounting director is skilled in "reconciliations," "customer service," "account reconciliations," and "process improvement." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Accounting directors earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $128,951. On the other hand, chief finance officers are paid more in the construction industry with an average salary of $149,797.On average, accounting directors reach lower levels of education than chief finance officers. Accounting directors are 5.1% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.7% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Chief finance officer vs. Controller, vice president
A Controller, Vice President is focused on controlling and directing financial planning and budget management. They supervise the daily operations of the finance department, such as financial reporting, accounts payable, and payroll.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real chief finance officer resumes. While chief finance officer responsibilities can utilize skills like "private equity," "strategic plan," "financial leadership," and "business plan," controllers, vice president use skills like "internal audit," "nyse," "regulatory reports," and "reconciliations."
On average, controllers, vice president earn a higher salary than chief finance officers. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, controllers, vice president earn the most pay in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $162,621. Whereas chief finance officers have higher pay in the construction industry, with an average salary of $149,797.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Controllers, vice president tend to reach similar levels of education than chief finance officers. In fact, they're 1.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for chief finance officers in the next 3-5 years?
Nate Peach Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Economics, George Fox University
Chief finance officer vs. Manager finance planning and analysis
A manager finance planning and analysis oversees the daily operations of a company's financial planning department. They typically have administrative duties such as setting goals and guidelines, establishing timelines and budgets, delegating tasks among teams and staff, and reviewing financial reports regularly. They also perform research and assessments, gather and analyze financial data from different departments, coordinate staff, and solve issues and concerns when any arise. Additionally, as a manager, they must lead and empower staff to reach goals while implementing company policies and regulations.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from chief finance officer resumes include skills like "cpa," "oversight," "risk management," and "cash management," whereas a manager finance planning and analysis is more likely to list skills in "customer service," "hyperion," "process improvement," and "visualization. "
Managers finance planning and analysis earn the highest salary when working in the manufacturing industry, where they receive an average salary of $109,735. Comparatively, chief finance officers have the highest earning potential in the construction industry, with an average salary of $149,797.Most managers finance planning and analysis achieve a similar degree level compared to chief finance officers. For example, they're 3.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Chief finance officer vs. Director of administration & finance
A director of administration & finance oversees and directs an organization's administration and finance department, ensuring operations run smoothly and efficiently according to company standards and regulations. It is their duty to set goals and guidelines, lead the research and development efforts, establish procedures, manage the budgets and costs, review and evaluate financial reports, and implement the organizations' policies and standards. Moreover, a director of administration & finance leads staff and supervises all operations, solving issues and concerns if any would arise.
Types of chief finance officer
Updated January 8, 2025
