What does a finance associate do?
Finance associates perform various financial tasks for a company. These include managing accounting records, preparing payroll documents as well as financial and budget reports, and handling payments. Additionally, finance associates help with tax preparation, audits and reviews, and help with developing and implementing procedures, best practices, and policies for financial and accounting operations. The skills and qualifications for this role may include a bachelor's degree in finance or accounting, excellent communication skills, and attention to detail.
Finance associate responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real finance associate resumes:
- Lead team of volunteers and paid staff to help fulfill their person and ministry relate goals.
- Manage administration of SalesForce accounts as well as creating and automating various business specific reports.
- Administer loan closings, home mortgage loan origination, and loan counseling.
- Prepare tag and title documents and legal transfer documents for the DMV and MVA.
- Assist finance manager, company CPA, clinic staff/supervisors, and hr maintaining company finances.
- Monitor, develop strategies, and execute plan orders via Fidessa equities algorithmic trading strategy.
- Perform all basic clerical work, and work directly with the DMV on titling situations.
- Research and recommend specific investments, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and annuities.
- Conduct individual and group seminars on retirement plans including 457 , 403b , 401k, IRA, and annuities.
- Perform monthly/quarterly GAAP basis accounting and reporting.
- Resolve payroll discrepancies, reviewing and analyzing payroll reports.
- Maintain and process international payroll, working with in-country payroll vendors.
- Process claim documents electronically to industrial insurance companies utilizing CPT coding.
- Bill for Medicare and most commercial insurances including auto and workers compensation.
- Perform accounting functions including preparation and review of journal vouchers, accruals, expense transactions and reconciliations.
Finance associate skills and personality traits
We calculated that 9% of Finance Associates are proficient in Financial Statements, PowerPoint, and Financial Services. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Initiative, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Finance Associates that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Financial Statements, 9%
Performed testing to evaluate internal controls to detect and prevent any material misstatements in accounting transactions reported in the financial statements.
- PowerPoint, 8%
Created PowerPoint presentations to assist Manager in compiling data related to financial modeling.
- Financial Services, 6%
Worked as an associate creating an independent financial advisory practice within the premiere not-for-profit financial services organization.
- Work Ethic, 5%
Recognized for ability to communicate with an international audience and superior work ethic.
- Phone Calls, 4%
Played an integral role in managing business administration functions including drafting and filing banking documents, and fielding customer phone calls.
- Financial Models, 4%
Performed extensive financial analysis and built, manipulated and analyzed comprehensive financial models for new and existing transactions.
Most finance associates use their skills in "financial statements," "powerpoint," and "financial services" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential finance associate responsibilities here:
Customer-service skills. The most essential soft skill for a finance associate to carry out their responsibilities is customer-service skills. This skill is important for the role because "securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents must be persuasive and make clients feel comfortable with the agent’s recommendations." Additionally, a finance associate resume shows how their duties depend on customer-service skills: "engage customers requiring advanced financial service needs including account consolidation and long term retirement planning. "
Initiative. Many finance associate duties rely on initiative. "securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents must create their own client base by making “cold” sales calls to people to whom they have not been referred and to people not expecting the call.," so a finance associate will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways finance associate responsibilities rely on initiative: "created customized reports for special action initiatives and other ad hoc financial analysis for cfo. "
Detail oriented. This is an important skill for finance associates to perform their duties. For an example of how finance associate responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "investment bankers must pay close attention to the details of initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions because small changes can have large consequences." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a finance associate: "filtered and extracted detail within financial data through use of vba code, macros, and excel formulas. ".
Analytical skills. A big part of what finance associates do relies on "analytical skills." You can see how essential it is to finance associate responsibilities because "to judge the profitability of potential deals, securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents must have strong analytical skills." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical finance associate tasks: "analyzed various financial services and solutions to ensure achievement of all financial targets. "
Math skills. A commonly-found skill in finance associate job descriptions, "math skills" is essential to what finance associates do. Finance associate responsibilities rely on this skill because "securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents need to be familiar with mathematical tools, including investment formulas." You can also see how finance associate duties rely on math skills in this resume example: "conducted quantitative analysis of financial data to support the roll out of the 2011 and 2012 americas region budgets. "
The three companies that hire the most finance associates are:
- JPMorgan Chase & Co.102 finance associates jobs
- Regions Bank97 finance associates jobs
- Pwc82 finance associates jobs
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Compare different finance associates
Finance associate vs. Trader
A trader is responsible for buying and selling financial instruments for a firm or an individual, monitoring stock movements, and analyzing price fluctuations. Traders focus on short-term and long-term trades, depending on their customers' demands and best interests. In some cases, traders also act as financial advisors to their clients, providing financial management support, and handling their account investments. A trader must have excellent knowledge of the financial industry and must be highly-analytical, dealing with consistent changes in the stock market and maintain smart decisions to achieve their clients' financial goals.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, finance associate responsibilities require skills like "powerpoint," "financial services," "work ethic," and "strong customer service." Meanwhile a typical trader has skills in areas such as "portfolio," "financial markets," "fixed income," and "bloomberg." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Traders really shine in the finance industry with an average salary of $108,107. Comparatively, finance associates tend to make the most money in the professional industry with an average salary of $95,092.On average, traders reach similar levels of education than finance associates. Traders are 0.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Finance associate vs. Personal banker
A personal banker is responsible for managing the customers' financial records and assisting them in various banking transactions. Personal bankers' duties also include handling customers' inquiries for financial plans, understanding the banking and financial industry principles, processing applications, verifying account details, and offering bank products based on the customers' needs. A personal banker must have excellent customer service and communication skills, providing the best options for the customers, and helping them achieve their financial goals.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, finance associate responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "financial statements," "powerpoint," "work ethic," and "financial models." Meanwhile, a personal banker has duties that require skills in areas such as "customer relationships," "cross-sell," "customer satisfaction," and "nmls." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Personal bankers earn a lower average salary than finance associates. But personal bankers earn the highest pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $37,146. Additionally, finance associates earn the highest salaries in the professional with average pay of $95,092 annually.personal bankers earn lower levels of education than finance associates in general. They're 7.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for finance associates in the next 3-5 years?
Nate Peach Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Economics, George Fox University
Finance associate vs. Banker
A banker is primarily responsible for assisting clients with their banking needs, particularly when withdrawing, depositing, and paying. Aside from handling transactions, bankers are also mainly responsible for opening and closing accounts, processing requirements, verifying the validity of documentation, recommending services and other financial options to clients, and resolving inquiries and concerns. A banker may answer calls and correspondence, coordinate with other banking personnel, maintain accurate data, and discuss conditions to clients thoroughly. Furthermore, because a banker mainly works with clients, it is essential to attain customer satisfaction.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from finance associate resumes include skills like "financial statements," "powerpoint," "work ethic," and "phone calls," whereas a banker is more likely to list skills in "taking care," "nmls," "upselling," and "financial solutions. "
Bankers earn the highest salary when working in the finance industry, where they receive an average salary of $55,656. Comparatively, finance associates have the highest earning potential in the professional industry, with an average salary of $95,092.When it comes to education, bankers tend to earn lower degree levels compared to finance associates. In fact, they're 5.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.8% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Finance associate vs. Relationship banker
A relationship banker is responsible for providing financial advice by applying financial disciplines in the banking industry. Relationship bankers process financial transactions on their clients' bank accounts, generate account statements, and reiterate bank policies to support clients' financial goals and objectives. They also research the current financial industry, identify new bank services opportunities to gain more clients, and increase profits for the business. A relationship banker must have excellent communication and customer service skills, responding to the clients' inquiries and concerns regarding their bank accounts, and resolving complaints timely and efficiently.
Types of finance associate
Updated January 8, 2025
