What does a finance specialist do?
A financial or finance specialist is the person who sells products and services at financial institutions. Finance specialists are financial professionals who use knowledge of accounting, tax laws, and finance for financial assistance. They may assist clients with corporate or personal finances. The primary skills they must have include interpersonal skills, formal accounting, excellent communication skills, management experience, and financial reporting. They should be equipped with vital customer service and analytical skills.
Finance specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real finance specialist resumes:
- Lead lease of aircraft including analysis and coordination of treasury, legal, tax and insurance reviews.
- Manage client relationship by presenting solutions for customers state and unstate needs while cross-selling company products.
- Ensure the highest standards of SOX compliance by conducting internal audits and annual SOX testing with external auditors.
- Compare the closed month and calendar month reports in Hyperion.
- Prepare work papers for annual audit and tax filings and coordinate with external CPA.
- Prepare and audit coworker contract development of insurance provider contracts, SOX testing and publishing system wide contract updates.
- Organize and implement any/all paperwork for financial spreadsheets pertaining to quarterly report package and reconcile for distribution to outside CPA firm.
- Perform various accounting functions and would supervise and direct accounting and payroll clerical positions.
- Complete daily functions to include cash reconciliation, dividend calculation, and commission payment management.
- Develop PowerPoint presentations, daily and weekly reports that are praised for their quality, comprehensiveness and timeliness.
- Perform accounting duties in preparation, processing, and maintenance of payroll and salary administration, calculation and distribution.
- Monitor reconciliation processes by ensuring adequate controls are in place to support complete and accurate balance sheet account reconciliations.
- Design and prepare PowerPoint presentations for briefing university staff and faculty on matters pertaining to the university's financial aid administration.
- Finance participant for Hyperion systems financial application modifications/changes/request updates.
- Produce and review accounting documents that support the treasury and reporting function for pool investor funds.
Finance specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 23% of Finance Specialists are proficient in Customer Service, Phone Calls, and Cash Handling. They’re also known for soft skills such as Computer skills, Customer-service skills, and Initiative.
We break down the percentage of Finance Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 23%
Foster a more cohesive operational environment, leading to better customer service communication and more successful collection efforts.
- Phone Calls, 16%
Processed phone and fax registrations for courses; fielded and answered multiple phone calls regarding course offerings and programs.
- Cash Handling, 10%
Cash handling of cash drawers, filing and organization of work section.
- Customer Inquiries, 9%
Determined solutions to customer inquiries, promoted new product information, and maintained internal account records through documentation of customer interactions.
- Patients, 6%
Conducted telephonic outreach to patients and provided education on available community programs, which resulted in prevention of Emergency Room visits.
- Financial Reports, 6%
Prepared financial reports of the Student Union business activities comparing actual revenues and expenses against budgeted expectations identifying variances.
Most finance specialists use their skills in "customer service," "phone calls," and "cash handling" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential finance specialist responsibilities here:
Customer-service skills. Many finance specialist duties rely on customer-service skills. "securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents must be persuasive and make clients feel comfortable with the agent’s recommendations.," so a finance specialist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways finance specialist responsibilities rely on customer-service skills: "negotiate payment arrangements with customers on a variety of auto portfolios including high-balance accounts and high-risk delinquencies. "
Initiative. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of finance specialists is initiative. This skill is critical to many everyday finance specialist duties, as "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." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "led process/workflows and automation initiatives to streamline financial reports and improve data accuracy and integrity. "
Analytical skills. finance specialist responsibilities often require "analytical skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "to judge the profitability of potential deals, securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents must have strong analytical skills." This resume example shows what finance specialists do with analytical skills on a typical day: "assisted customers with making payments and/or payment arrangements input data into computer assisted customer with any billing related requests"
Detail oriented. Another crucial skill for a finance specialist to carry out their responsibilities is "detail oriented." A big part of what finance specialists relies on this skill, since "investment bankers must pay close attention to the details of initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions because small changes can have large consequences." How this skill relates to finance specialist duties can be seen in an example from a finance specialist resume snippet: "prepared detailed financial reports and projection models on a monthly basis. "
Math skills. While "math skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to finance specialist responsibilities. Much of what a finance specialist does relies on this skill, seeing as "securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents need to be familiar with mathematical tools, including investment formulas." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of finance specialists: "keep track of financial transactions bring company statistics performed monthly economic reports"
The three companies that hire the most finance specialists are:
- Lincoln Financial Group197 finance specialists jobs
- Regions Bank135 finance specialists jobs
- ICF55 finance specialists jobs
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Compare different finance specialists
Finance specialist vs. Bail bondsman
Finance advising interns help with the marketing of finance packages offered by firms and banks. They assist in creating plans to increase clientele and work with clientele to succeed in their financial goals. They provide advice to clients, answer their queries, and assist them in fulfilling goals. They may also assist in creating seminars for financial consultants. Under the supervision of a finance director, interns gain experience and learn to apply their knowledge.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a finance specialist are more likely to require skills like "customer service," "phone calls," "cash handling," and "customer inquiries." On the other hand, a job as a bail bondsman requires skills like "court dates," "bonds," "law enforcement agencies," and "bail bonds." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
On average, bail bondsmen reach lower levels of education than finance specialists. Bail bondsmen are 7.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Finance specialist vs. Finance advising internship
A finance intern generally provides basic assistance on the financial institution while learning of its operations and complexities. Finance interns should be highly attentive on observing processes, assessing financial reports, familiarizing on records management, and supporting data entry procedures. Financial internships provide the best training grounds for interns who wanted to pursue a career in the financial industry. Financial interns, depending on the organization, will be given regular work assignments to practice their analytical and statistical skills which are very crucial in the financial system industry.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that finance specialist responsibilities requires skills like "customer service," "phone calls," "cash handling," and "customer inquiries." But a finance advising internship might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "client portfolios," "student athletes," "client data," and "wealth management."
Finance advising interns earn similar levels of education than finance specialists in general. They're 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for finance specialists in the next 3-5 years?
Heather Antanavica
Adjunct Instructor, Bay Path University
Finance specialist vs. Finance internship
A financial service representative typically works for a bank or a similar establishment. One of their primary responsibilities is to reach out to clients and offer financial advice, services, or products such as insurance and credit cards. They can also set appointments, meet with clients to discuss benefits, and even gather applications. Furthermore, a financial service representative needs to have extensive knowledge of the products and services and be equipped with communication skills to build a rapport that will be essential in securing trust and sales.
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 specialist resumes include skills like "customer service," "phone calls," "cash handling," and "customer inquiries," whereas a finance internship is more likely to list skills in "risk management," "internal audit," "power bi," and "math. "
Finance interns make a very good living in the telecommunication industry with an average annual salary of $40,365. On the other hand, finance specialists are paid the highest salary in the finance industry, with average annual pay of $68,798.finance interns typically earn similar educational levels compared to finance specialists. Specifically, they're 1.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Finance specialist vs. Finance service representative
Types of finance specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
