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.
Finance manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real finance manager resumes:
- 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.
- Help formulate and pilot PMO initiatives, improving project tracking and control.
- Create formulas to reconcile the constantly changing interest rates on the mortgage back securities.
- Work on batch scheduling in Autosys for SQL task and define JCL/libraries for data load.
- Focus on PMO mentoring, HIPAA standards, onshore/offshore integration, vendor management, and technical execution.
- Assist DoD contractors with charging guidance for incur costs claims and review submit vouchers including labor and material audits.
- Coordinate and communicate with outside auditors, IRS, state and local authorities, securities and exchange and lending institutions.
- Work close with the CPA firm to clean up the fixed asset register to reflect the accurate assets of the company.
- Co-developed a SharePoint site for collecting all project-relate information incl.
- Design and implement projects in SharePoint to track judicial appointments and nominations.
Finance manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 7% of Finance Managers are proficient in Financial Analysis, CPA, and Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Organizational skills, Analytical skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Finance Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Financial Analysis, 7%
Lead a team of up to 3 analysts with responsibility for financial analysis related to National Brand and College/Professional Affinity portfolios.
- CPA, 7%
Maintain financial and personnel time records, work with CPA for annual audit and take quarterly Board Meeting minutes as directed.
- Customer Service, 6%
Promoted at least 12 highly qualified employees while maintaining a high-level business effectiveness in strategy execution and quality customer service.
- Hyperion, 4%
Strengthened the distribution division by leading implementation of Hyperion software and the development of financial reporting and Key Performance Indicator metrics.
- Financial Models, 4%
Led development of financial models during negotiations of contracts exceeding 100M with governments of Australia and Qatar while planning international expansion.
- Strong Analytical, 4%
Demonstrated strong analytical skills including trend analysis and the ability to develop innovative tactics to resolve automobile investment issues.
"financial analysis," "cpa," and "customer service" are among the most common skills that finance managers use at work. You can find even more finance manager responsibilities below, including:
Organizational skills. The most essential soft skill for a finance manager to carry out their responsibilities is organizational skills. This skill is important for the role because "because financial managers deal with a range of information and documents, they must have structures in place to be effective in their work." Additionally, a finance manager resume shows how their duties depend on organizational skills: "assess competitive impact to division resulting from erp induced organizational/categorization changes. "
Analytical skills. Another essential skill to perform finance manager duties is analytical skills. Finance managers responsibilities require that "to assist executives in making decisions, financial managers need to evaluate data and information that affects their organization." Finance managers also use analytical skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "spearheaded financial planning and analysis, business controls implementation, erp implementation, general accounting functions, and financial reporting. "
Communication skills. finance managers are also known for communication skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to finance manager responsibilities, because "financial managers must be able to explain and justify complex financial transactions." A finance manager resume example shows how communication skills is used in the workplace: "collaborated in the implementation of erp system, resulting in increased productivity and better communication. "
Detail oriented. finance manager responsibilities often require "detail oriented." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "in preparing and analyzing reports, such as balance sheets and income statements, financial managers must be precise and attentive to their work in order to avoid errors." This resume example shows what finance managers do with detail oriented on a typical day: "developed detailed knowledge of all software modules for a highly integrated, repetitive manufacturing erp system. "
Math skills. A commonly-found skill in finance manager job descriptions, "math skills" is essential to what finance managers do. Finance manager responsibilities rely on this skill because "financial managers need strong skills in certain branches of mathematics, including algebra." You can also see how finance manager duties rely on math skills in this resume example: "report company financial data to china statistics bureau. "
The three companies that hire the most finance managers are:
- Deloitte346 finance managers jobs
- KPMG LLP332 finance managers jobs
- Pwc221 finance managers jobs
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Compare different finance managers
Finance manager 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.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, finance manager responsibilities require skills like "customer service," "hyperion," "financial models," and "strong analytical." Meanwhile a typical director of administration & finance has skills in areas such as "oversight," "administrative functions," "risk management," and "human resource functions." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Directors of administration & finance earn the highest salaries when working in the health care industry, with an average yearly salary of $117,977. On the other hand, finance managers are paid more in the finance industry with an average salary of $118,926.The education levels that directors of administration & finance earn slightly differ from finance managers. In particular, directors of administration & finance are 3.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a finance manager. Additionally, they're 0.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Finance manager vs. Director of operations and finance
A director of operations and finance is in charge of overseeing and spearheading business and financial operations, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Their responsibilities revolve around performing research and analysis to identify the best practices to optimize operations, coordinating with different departments to gather data, conducting research and analysis to identify new business and investment opportunities, and monitoring the progress of various projects and programs. Furthermore, as a director, it is essential to lead and encourage the workforce to reach goals, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that finance manager responsibilities requires skills like "customer service," "strong analytical," "work ethic," and "strong work ethic." But a director of operations and finance might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "oversight," "project management," "business processes," and "lean six sigma."
Directors of operations and finance may earn a higher salary than finance managers, but directors of operations and finance earn the most pay in the automotive industry with an average salary of $126,734. On the other hand, finance managers receive higher pay in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $118,926.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Directors of operations and finance tend to reach higher levels of education than finance managers. In fact, they're 5.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for finance managers in the next 3-5 years?
Nate Peach Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Economics, George Fox University
Finance manager vs. Assistant director of finance
An assistant director of finance is responsible for overseeing the financial activities of a company, ensuring accuracy and smooth workflow. They are also in charge of implementing company policies and regulations, creating new ones as needed while coordinating with the director. Moreover, an assistant director of finance may perform audits and risk assessments, allocate budgets and schedules, coordinate with different departments to gather necessary data, and create new strategies to optimize the workflow and the performance of the workforce.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a finance manager is likely to be skilled in "cpa," "hyperion," "financial models," and "strong analytical," while a typical assistant director of finance is skilled in "cash control," "financial aid programs," "hr," and "balance sheet accounts."
Assistant directors of finance earn the highest salary when working in the utilities industry, where they receive an average salary of $103,042. Comparatively, finance managers have the highest earning potential in the finance industry, with an average salary of $118,926.assistant directors of finance typically earn similar educational levels compared to finance managers. Specifically, they're 1.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Finance manager 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.
Types of finance manager
Updated January 8, 2025
