What does a Finance Officer do?
A finance officer is responsible for monitoring the financial department and the transactions of an organization. Finance officers analyze financial reports, update account statements, and oversee the budget allocation for business operations. They also resolve billing discrepancies and banking issues, assist in cash statement release, and manage payroll disputes. A finance officer conducts data and statistical analysis to evaluate the company's financial performance and stability and identifying opportunities to increase revenues and grow more profits.
Finance officer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real finance officer resumes:
- Lead financial aspects of unit responsible for development and management of diverse company portfolio.
- Collaborate with insurance company representatives, case managers and physicians to obtain treatment authorization for potential kidney and kidney/pancreas transplant patients.
- Provide medical records to the division as needed while ensuring compliance with HIPAA guidelines.
- Review and sign CAPEX projects and perform payback calculations, ROI analysis, as well as impairment calculations.
- Develop targeted business plans for new business opportunities including profit projections, capital requirements, and require ROI and IRR targets.
- Review FAFSA information for verification requirements.
- Help implement several major PeopleSoft implementations.
- Process FAFSA information to determine eligibility determining need through the use of needs analysis.
- Test PeopleSoft functionality and participate in data cleansing as part of implementation.
- Perform a full spectrum of accounting functions including sub-ledger preparation, general ledger reconciliation, taxation, and auditing.
Finance officer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 29% of Finance Officers are proficient in Real Estate, Financial Data, and Origination. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Organizational skills, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Finance Officers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Real Estate, 29%
Performed accounting for real estate loans, commercial loans, consumer loans, auto loans and home equity lines of credit.
- Financial Data, 29%
Comply and report financial data and statistical, demographic reports in accordance with government and accrediting agency guidelines.
- Origination, 23%
Direct origination of transportation equipment * Establish vendor programs * Work directly with funding sources to analyze credit and maximize deal profitability
- Financial Procedures, 2%
Established & maintained Financial Procedures Manual.
- Financial Management, 2%
Provided ongoing financial management services including monitoring expenditures, reviewing budget changes, proposed expenditure amendments, and revenue revisions.
- Financial Analysis, 2%
Directed and coordinated the corporate-level budgeting, financial analysis and reporting systems ensuring compliance with appropriate GAAP standards and regulatory requirements.
Most finance officers use their skills in "real estate," "financial data," and "origination" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential finance officer responsibilities here:
Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a finance officer to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "financial managers must be able to explain and justify complex financial transactions." Additionally, a finance officer resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "maintained communication with nslds, selective service, cod, cps and processed transactions when needed. "
Organizational skills. Another essential skill to perform finance officer duties is organizational skills. Finance officers responsibilities require that "because financial managers deal with a range of information and documents, they must have structures in place to be effective in their work." Finance officers also use organizational skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "supported company events by creating powerpoint presentations, organizational charts, and financial spreadsheets. "
Analytical skills. A commonly-found skill in finance officer job descriptions, "analytical skills" is essential to what finance officers do. Finance officer responsibilities rely on this skill because "to assist executives in making decisions, financial managers need to evaluate data and information that affects their organization." You can also see how finance officer duties rely on analytical skills in this resume example: "implemented database/software solutions to improve labor efficiency consumed in collecting, developing, and communicating financial reports by 60%. "
Detail oriented. While "detail oriented" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to finance officer responsibilities. Much of what a finance officer does relies on this skill, seeing as "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." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of finance officers: "point of contact for external auditors; prepare schedules, detailed analytical reviews and narratives. "
The three companies that hire the most finance officers are:
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology11 finance officers jobs
- Citi6 finance officers jobs
- Securitas AB5 finance officers jobs
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Finance officer vs. Staff accountant
Staff accountants are employees who are part of the company's accounting department. They are usually certified public accountants (CPAs). Staff accountants should be familiar with accounting tasks. Previous accounting experiences play a huge advantage in their success. They perform a variety of accounting responsibilities such as information verification and analysis, financial report preparation and presentation, financial account reconciliation, billing and payment receiving activities, vendor database management, and invoice processing requirements. They should also know how to do bookkeeping. Staff accountants should have good communication skills, analytical skills, and decision-making skills. They should also be organized and trustworthy since they will be handling confidential information.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between finance officers and staff accountant. For instance, finance officer responsibilities require skills such as "origination," "financial procedures," "financial management," and "powerpoint." Whereas a staff accountant is skilled in "reconciliations," "account reconciliations," "balance sheet accounts," and "accruals." This is part of what separates the two careers.
The education levels that staff accountants earn slightly differ from finance officers. In particular, staff accountants are 5.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a finance officer. Additionally, they're 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Finance officer vs. Senior finance consultant
A senior finance consultant is responsible for helping clients manage their account portfolios, recommending investment options, and monitoring their finances. Senior finance consultants should have extensive knowledge of the financial industry, especially on working with clients and inform them of current financial services and strategize financial plans according to the clients' needs and best interests. They also respond to clients' inquiries and concerns regarding their account performance and financial discrepancies, resolving issues to achieve the clients' long-term financial goals and objectives.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that finance officer responsibilities requires skills like "financial procedures," "cpa," "powerpoint," and "general ledger accounts." But a senior finance consultant might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "project management," "financial services," "strong analytical," and "shared services."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Senior finance consultants tend to reach higher levels of education than finance officers. In fact, they're 5.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Finance Officers in the next 3-5 years?
Finance officer vs. Administrative & finance manager
An administrative and finance manager handles a company's expenditures, requests, invoices, and other financial documentation. Their primary duty is to oversee a finance team's daily work. Additionally, they must coordinate financial staff, ensure that orders from management are carried out, complete the company's financial statements, and provide tax data for the legal department.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, finance officers are more likely to have skills like "real estate," "origination," "financial procedures," and "powerpoint." But a administrative & finance manager is more likely to have skills like "payroll processing," "oversight," "administrative procedures," and "general ledger."
Most administrative & finance managers achieve a similar degree level compared to finance officers. For example, they're 3.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Finance officer vs. Finance analyst/accountant
In a company setting, a finance analyst/accountant is in charge of handling and monitoring financial activities, ensuring efficiency and accuracy. Their responsibilities revolve around preparing financial reports, performing audits and risk assessments, and identifying any errors and inconsistencies, resolving them promptly and efficiently. They also conduct research and analysis to identify new business opportunities, evaluate the existing procedures to determine its strengths and weaknesses, and recommend solutions to optimize operations for financial growth. Furthermore, as a finance analyst/accountant, it is essential to uphold the company's policies and regulations, including its vision and mission.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between finance officers and finance analyst/accountants, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a finance officer might have more use for skills like "real estate," "origination," "financial procedures," and "financial management." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of finance analyst/accountants require skills like "reconciliations," "payroll," "account reconciliations," and "balance sheet accounts. "
The average resume of finance analyst/accountants showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to finance officers. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 1.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.5%.Types of finance officer
Updated January 8, 2025