What is a Finance Assistant?

A finance assistant contributes to carrying out daily tasks at a financial institution or department. Working under the supervision of the finance director, he/she or she assists staff in maintaining accounts and troubleshooting transactions.

Finance assistants will perform data entry and create balance sheets, keep financial records updated, and order and prepare invoices. They also assist in creating reports on cost analysis to present to management.

This is an entry-level position that may lead to roles with higher responsibilities in accounting or financial analysis. You need to be good at math and have an obsessive attention to detail to good at this job.

What Does a Finance Assistant Do

There are certain skills that many finance assistants have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed interpersonal skills, writing skills and organizational skills.

Learn more about what a Finance Assistant does

How To Become a Finance Assistant

If you're interested in becoming a finance assistant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 59.0% of finance assistants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.5% of finance assistants have master's degrees. Even though most finance assistants have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Finance Assistant
Top Finance Assistant Jobs Near You

Finance Assistant Career Paths

In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of accounts payable clerk you might progress to a role such as staff accountant eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title controller.

Finance Assistant

Average Salary for a Finance Assistant

Finance Assistants in America make an average salary of $37,926 per year or $18 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $52,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $27,000 per year.
Average Finance Assistant Salary
$37,926 Yearly
$18.23 hourly
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Roles and Types of Finance Assistant

The role of a finance assistant includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general finance assistant responsibilities:

  • Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to: review
  • Review all incoming purchase orders for appropriate signatures
  • Assists in supporting the financial set-up

There are several types of finance assistant, including:

Finance Coordinator

Role:

Finance coordinators work for finance departments and are responsible for managing a company's accounts payable and receivable. They keep track of receipts and financial documents and resolve any issue regarding billing.

If you are considering a position as a finance coordinator, an interest in numbers and analytical thinking are non-negotiable. You will need to handle cash and accounting software proficiently, be organized, and know how to deal with people.

Before you take on this role, though, you will need to have work experience in the financial sector. A degree in accounting, finance, or a related field will also be necessary. You will work in an office and have a dynamic job with multiple tasks to deal with simultaneously.

  • Average Salary: $49,358
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Finance Clerk

Role:

Financial clerks manage finances for a business or organization. They often work in banks, insurance companies, or other financial organizations and typically work office hours. Primary responsibilities of a financial clerk include, but are not limited to, carrying out financial transactions on behalf of the business, keeping detailed records of financial transactions, and assisting customers wanting to conduct various transactions, such as depositing or withdrawing money.

Financial clerks are expected to have familiarity with computers tracking purchases orders, billing, assess sales and purchase orders, and keeping track of inventory. Finance clerks should be comfortable with working with management, staff and customers, and should be organized, efficient and have a working knowledge of banking and finance as a whole.

The minimum education requirements for a financial clerk are a high school diploma or G.E.D. Some individuals in this field may possess advanced degrees in finance, but that is not necessarily a requirement, as most employers provide training for this role. A finance clerk can expect to make up to $40,000 per year, with no expected increase or decrease in U.S. job growth for this particular role.

  • Average Salary: $39,225
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Finance Assistant Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active finance assistant jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where finance assistants earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Finance Assistant Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California5,751$40,321
2Texas3,559$38,360
3New York3,337$48,648
4Florida3,194$34,437
5Illinois2,122$37,180
6Pennsylvania1,935$37,656
7Virginia1,916$47,642
8Massachusetts1,852$43,954
9Ohio1,775$35,461
10Georgia1,556$34,710
11North Carolina1,545$37,609
12New Jersey1,417$50,884
13Washington1,384$38,571
14Michigan1,307$33,883
15Minnesota1,288$37,265
16Colorado1,167$34,941
17Maryland1,145$46,445
18Wisconsin1,144$32,918
19Arizona1,008$33,443
20Tennessee978$32,972
21Missouri900$33,573
22Indiana876$35,962
23Utah724$33,040
24Oregon689$35,472
25Connecticut663$51,231
26Alabama636$33,412
27South Carolina560$33,495
28Iowa523$30,537
29Kentucky469$33,801
30Nebraska389$31,632
31Louisiana383$38,333
32Nevada335$34,946
33Mississippi287$37,289
34Idaho268$31,298
35New Hampshire255$40,303
36New Mexico240$38,936
37Delaware226$35,667
38Rhode Island202$45,972
39Oklahoma200$36,221
40Montana193$33,046
41North Dakota180$31,586
42Hawaii177$44,971
43Maine177$35,183
44Kansas174$29,091
45West Virginia172$38,633
46Alaska164$32,257
47Arkansas162$32,464
48Vermont125$40,447
49Wyoming124$31,945
50South Dakota121$30,137

Finance Assistant Education

Finance Assistant Majors

Business
30.8 %
Accounting
19.6 %
Finance
9.7 %

Finance Assistant Degrees

Bachelors

59.0 %

Associate

19.3 %

High School Diploma

8.3 %

Top Colleges for Finance Assistants

1. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

2. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

3. Western Carolina University

Cullowhee, NC • Private

In-State Tuition

$3,926

Enrollment

9,835

4. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

5. Baruch College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,262

Enrollment

14,629

6. SUNY at Binghamton

Vestal, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$9,808

Enrollment

13,990

7. Villanova University

Villanova, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,308

Enrollment

6,819

8. Boston College

Chestnut Hill, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,464

Enrollment

9,639

9. San Diego State University

San Diego, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,488

Enrollment

30,018

10. Ball State University

Muncie, IN • Private

In-State Tuition

$9,896

Enrollment

15,529

Top Skills For a Finance Assistant

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 20.6% of finance assistants listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as interpersonal skills and writing skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Finance Assistant Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Finance Assistant templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Finance Assistant resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

Finance Assistant Resume
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Finance Assistant diversity

Finance Assistant Gender Distribution

Female
Female
75%
Male
Male
25%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among finance assistants, 75.1% of them are women, while 24.9% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among finance assistants is White, which makes up 66.0% of all finance assistants.

  • The most common foreign language among finance assistants is Spanish at 43.3%.

Online Courses For Finance Assistant That You May Like

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Adjusting entry creation, posting adjusting entries to a worksheet, creating financial statements from the trial balance...

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Best States For a Finance Assistant

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a finance assistant. The best states for people in this position are Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. Finance assistants make the most in Connecticut with an average salary of $51,231. Whereas in New Jersey and New York, they would average $50,884 and $48,648, respectively. While finance assistants would only make an average of $47,642 in Virginia, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Connecticut

Total Finance Assistant Jobs: 663
Highest 10% Earn:
$76,000
Location Quotient:
1.14

$51,231

Avg. Salary

View 663 Finance Assistant Jobs In CT

2. New York

Total Finance Assistant Jobs: 3,337
Highest 10% Earn:
$74,000
Location Quotient:
1.48

$48,648

Avg. Salary

View 3,337 Finance Assistant Jobs In NY

3. Virginia

Total Finance Assistant Jobs: 1,916
Highest 10% Earn:
$74,000
Location Quotient:
1.16

$47,642

Avg. Salary

View 1,916 Finance Assistant Jobs In VA
Full List Of Best States For Finance Assistants

How Do Finance Assistants Rate Their Jobs?

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Top Finance Assistant Employers

Most Common Employers For Finance Assistant

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Citi$76,155$36.6141
2Columbia University in the City of New York$53,991$25.9623
3Northwestern Mutual$49,685$23.89180
4Northwestern University$46,255$22.2427
5Massachusetts Institute of Technology$44,390$21.3433
6Yale University$43,971$21.1426
7Ameriprise Financial$41,045$19.7323
8State Farm Insurance Agency$40,040$19.2543
9University of Houston$39,852$19.1643
10Hewlett Packard Enterprise$38,116$18.3229
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Updated April 6, 2023