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Director of accounting & finance vs finance manager

The differences between directors of accounting & finance 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 a director of accounting & finance and a finance manager. Additionally, a director of accounting & finance has an average salary of $127,871, which is higher than the $101,374 average annual salary of a finance manager.

The top three skills for a director of accounting & finance include CPA, GAAP and internal controls. The most important skills for a finance manager are financial analysis, CPA, and customer service.

Director of accounting & finance vs finance manager overview

Director Of Accounting & FinanceFinance Manager
Yearly salary$127,871$101,374
Hourly rate$61.48$48.74
Growth rate17%17%
Number of jobs100,209125,345
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 75%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age4646
Years of experience88

What does a director of accounting & finance do?

A director of accounting and finance is in charge of overseeing all financial activities and decisions in a company and supervising its workforce. Their responsibilities revolve around spearheading the development of financial plans and strategies, coordinating with analysts and consultants, gathering and analyzing financial data, and reporting all sales progress to executives through documents and presentations. They must also set goals and objectives, allocate budgets to different departments, prepare comprehensive sales forecasts, and lead employees while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

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.

Director of accounting & finance vs finance manager salary

Directors of accounting & finance and finance managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Director Of Accounting & FinanceFinance Manager
Average salary$127,871$101,374
Salary rangeBetween $88,000 And $184,000Between $71,000 And $144,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CANew York, NY
Highest paying stateNew JerseyNew York
Best paying companyFried FrankBarclays
Best paying industryHealth CareFinance

Differences between director of accounting & finance and finance manager education

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

Director Of Accounting & FinanceFinance Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 75%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common majorAccountingBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Director of accounting & finance vs finance manager demographics

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

Director Of Accounting & FinanceFinance Manager
Average age4646
Gender ratioMale, 67.1% Female, 32.9%Male, 60.0% Female, 40.0%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 7.7% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 14.8% Asian, 9.4% White, 63.7% 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 Percentage11%11%

Differences between director of accounting & finance and finance manager duties and responsibilities

Director of accounting & finance example responsibilities.

  • Implement the firm's financial policy while managing day to day accounting and oversight of accounting staff and financial vendors.
  • Manage ERP implementation for both development and general construction operations.
  • Lead business validation process to produce accurate and timely portfolio consolidation results while ensuring favorable audit and SOX compliance opinions.
  • Manage financial accounting and reporting for all client entities, including consolidations and inter-company reconciliations, with recommendations for process improvements.
  • Champion and manage the integration of account reconciliation software to improve the efficiency and accuracy of inter-department and company-wide account reconciliations.
  • Assist CPA with yearly audit requirements and enter adjusting journal entries.
  • Show more

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.
  • Show more

Director of accounting & finance vs finance manager skills

Common director of accounting & finance skills
  • CPA, 7%
  • GAAP, 7%
  • Internal Controls, 5%
  • Financial Data, 5%
  • Balance Sheet, 4%
  • Financial Reports, 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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