How To Become A Finance Planning Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a finance planning manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Brian Meehan

If you have a keen eye for detailed budgeting, managing income and expenditure, and expanding the space and growth areas, you definitely have a knack for planning. You could choose to be a Finance Planning Manager to use your skills for the business community. For selecting the said job, you should be able to analyze and foresee risks, comprehend fiscal models, and analyze investments and budgets primarily.

Moreover, you should be an excellent negotiator, a statistical thinker, and have a strong motivation to drive you. If we talk about a professional degree required, you should possess the minimum of a first degree. However, many industries and companies now prefer a Master's Degree in areas of Finance, Administration, Accounting, or Business. Moreover, you must be skilled enough and be the master in your field to win an edge.

Talking about the income you could make, there's great money if you know your game. The pay can range anywhere between $55,000 to over $140,000 annually. It totally depends upon your analytical skills and qualifications, and if it meets the company requirements. Overall, it's an extremely interesting job to step into.

What general advice would you give to a finance planning manager?

Brian Meehan

Assistant Professor of Economics, Campbell School of Business, Berry College

My advice would be to apply broadly for jobs and take advantage of the robust set of career opportunities a degree in economics provides. It also gives you a better gauge of the opportunity cost (next best alternative) of accepting a job. Try to determine what that best alternative is. Additional training can also be a good option. Those individuals interested in graduate schools, professional schools, law schools, MBAs, etc. should look into these opportunities. Improving your human capital stock (via training and education), while weathering a recession, and then capitalizing on a healthier job market at the end of this training, is a pretty good route (assuming the recession is short).

ScoreFinance Planning ManagerUS Average

Salary

7.8

Avg. Salary $109,162

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.5

Growth rate 17%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.34%

Asian 10.00%

Black or African American 7.44%

Hispanic or Latino 14.20%

Unknown 4.10%

White 63.93%

Gender

female 30.21%

male 69.79%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

9.5

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.3

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a finance planning manager

Explore finance planning manager education requirements

Most common finance planning manager degrees

Bachelor's

73.1 %

Master's

23.8 %

Associate

1.6 %

Start to develop specific finance planning manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Financial Analysis	9.59%
Financial Planning Analysis	7.85%
Financial Models	7.48%
Financial Performance	5.81%
Hyperion	5.52%

Complete relevant finance planning manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New finance planning managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a finance planning manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real finance planning manager resumes.

Research finance planning manager duties and responsibilities

Manage international income tax, insurance and treasury functions.
Conduct evaluations of budgeting and forecasting tools and integration with PeopleSoft ERP system achieving more efficiency in the budgeting process.
Prepare payroll and manage all human resource functions including recruitment, training and performance reviews for all administrative and financial personnel.
Develop and assess profitability of product lines through interpretation of financial statements and KPIs.

Prepare your finance planning manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your finance planning manager resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a finance planning manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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