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

What is a finance/sales manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Bill Thorne

A finance/sales manager is primarily responsible for overseeing a company's financial activities and sales progress. They need to manage different teams, set goals and guidelines, perform audits, coordinate staff, and develop strategies to optimize operations. It is also essential for them to lead and encourage groups to reach goals while implementing its policies and regulations.

They may require a minimum education of a bachelor's degree in finance, accounting, economics, or business administration. However, employers now seek candidates with a master's degree, preferably in business administration, finance, accounting, or economics.

The finance manager makes $105,477 per year and $50.71 per hour. They might have a lot of responsibility, and the position can be stressful. Additionally, they may need to travel to national, regional, and local offices and dealers' and distributors' offices.

What general advice would you give to a finance/sales manager?

Bill Thorne

Executive Director of the NRF Foundation and Senior Vice President of Communication and Public Affairs of NRF, National Retail Federation

Retail is the largest private-sector employer in the country, directly employing 32 million people and supporting 52 million jobs overall - roughly one-quarter of the U.S. workforce. While COVID-19 has presented new and unexpected challenges, retailers have continued to showcase the industry's resilience and adaptability time and again. The safety and security of customers and employees remains our greatest priority. It is no doubt that the professional environment has changed this year, but retail continues to offer a plethora of career opportunities for graduates and seasoned veterans alike.

ScoreFinance/Sales ManagerUS Average

Salary

7.9

Avg. Salary $110,604

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.4

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.24%

Asian 4.07%

Black or African American 3.24%

Hispanic or Latino 9.82%

Unknown 4.41%

White 78.23%

Gender

female 15.99%

male 84.01%

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

6.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a finance/sales manager

Explore finance/sales manager education requirements

Most common finance/sales manager degrees

Bachelor's

54.6 %

Associate

18.4 %

High School Diploma

13.8 %

Start to develop specific finance/sales manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	18.42%
Sales Professionals	12.31%
Vehicle Inventory	8.41%
Dealer Track	7.33%
Financial Institutions	6.87%

Complete relevant finance/sales manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New finance/sales 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/sales manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real finance/sales manager resumes.

Research finance/sales manager duties and responsibilities

Control all leads for Mazda and Hyundai.
Manage the search engine optimization (SEO) team, and social media (SM) i.e.
Manage Facebook accounts and company website.
Leverage other sales office resources and administrative/support staff to achieve personal and team relate revenue goals.

Prepare your finance/sales manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your finance/sales 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/sales manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable finance/sales manager resume templates

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