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Director of accounting & finance vs senior finance manager

The differences between directors of accounting & finance and senior 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 senior finance manager. Additionally, a senior finance manager has an average salary of $133,358, which is higher than the $127,871 average annual salary of a director of accounting & finance.

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

Director of accounting & finance vs senior finance manager overview

Director Of Accounting & FinanceSenior Finance Manager
Yearly salary$127,871$133,358
Hourly rate$61.48$64.11
Growth rate17%17%
Number of jobs100,209139,639
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 75%Bachelor's Degree, 68%
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 senior finance manager do?

A senior finance manager is an individual who supervises financial department staff members as well as monitors the daily financial operations within a company. Senior finance managers must keep track of the financial status and performance of the company so that they can identify areas for potential improvement. They review financial data and prepare reports to be presented to the management to help them in their business decision making. Senior finance managers must also maintain policies within the company and should have a deep understanding of financial regulations and legislations.

Director of accounting & finance vs senior finance manager salary

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

Director Of Accounting & FinanceSenior Finance Manager
Average salary$127,871$133,358
Salary rangeBetween $88,000 And $184,000Between $95,000 And $185,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateNew JerseyCalifornia
Best paying companyFried FrankRoku
Best paying industryHealth CareProfessional

Differences between director of accounting & finance and senior finance manager education

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

Director Of Accounting & FinanceSenior Finance Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 75%Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common majorAccountingAccounting
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Director of accounting & finance vs senior finance manager demographics

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

Director Of Accounting & FinanceSenior Finance Manager
Average age4646
Gender ratioMale, 67.1% Female, 32.9%Male, 70.3% Female, 29.7%
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, 7.5% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 10.0% White, 63.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage11%11%

Differences between director of accounting & finance and senior 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

Senior finance manager example responsibilities.

  • Manage regional treasury functions including coordination with international HQ for daily cash balance requirements.
  • Manage staff of financial analysts who perform divisional and branch portfolio and profit/loss analysis.
  • Manage Oracle/Hyperion application upgrade used to support the close, consolidate and report process within Oracle/PeopleSoft ERP environment.
  • Manage financial reporting in support of CEO/CFO/President with oversight for data integrity and consistency of reporting across enterprise.
  • Manage eight team members' activities including daily transaction processing, monthly reconciliations and analysis, and financial statement preparation
  • Manage senior financial analysts responsible for evaluating the financial risks of a portfolio of large property and casualty insurance programs.
  • Show more

Director of accounting & finance vs senior 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 senior finance manager skills
  • Hyperion, 7%
  • Financial Performance, 5%
  • Financial Analysis, 5%
  • Business Development, 4%
  • SR, 4%
  • Financial Models, 4%

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