Plant controller vs finance manager

The differences between plant controllers and finance managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both a plant controller and a finance manager. Additionally, a finance manager has an average salary of $101,374, which is higher than the $99,550 average annual salary of a plant controller.

The top three skills for a plant controller include internal controls, GAAP and plant management. The most important skills for a finance manager are financial analysis, CPA, and customer service.

Plant controller vs finance manager overview

	Plant Controller	Finance Manager
Yearly salary	$99,550	$101,374
Hourly rate	$47.86	$48.74
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	47,555	125,345
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age	46	46
Years of experience	8	8

What does a plant controller do?

A plant controller works at factories where they are primarily in charge of administrative duties and ensuring that operations adhere to budgets, schedules, and standards. As a plant controller, they are also responsible for gathering and analyzing financial data, analyzing cost reports, preparing financial statements, maintaining databases, performing audits and risk assessments, and overseeing the accounting team procedures. Additionally, they also supervise staff operations and address issues and concerns while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

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.

Plant controller vs finance manager salary

Plant controllers and finance managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Plant Controller	Finance Manager
Average salary	$99,550	$101,374
Salary range	Between $72,000 And $136,000	Between $71,000 And $144,000
Highest paying City	Reno, NV	New York, NY
Highest paying state	Nevada	New York
Best paying company	Arkema	Barclays
Best paying industry	Finance	Finance

Differences between plant controller and finance manager education

There are a few differences between a plant controller and a finance manager in terms of educational background:

	Plant Controller	Finance Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common major	Accounting	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Plant controller vs finance manager demographics

Here are the differences between plant controllers' and finance managers' demographics:

	Plant Controller	Finance Manager
Average age	46	46
Gender ratio	Male, 75.9% Female, 24.1%	Male, 60.0% Female, 40.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.7% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 13.4% Asian, 7.9% White, 65.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 10.2% White, 63.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between plant controller and finance manager duties and responsibilities

Plant controller example responsibilities.

Manage and correct balance sheet issues including property taxes, miscellaneous accruals, inventories, and capital work- in-progress accounts.
Implement Sarbanes-Oxley internal control policy and procedures which lead to successful annual internal and external audits.
Manage general accounting functions, including monthly financial statements and audit reports, and monthly account reconciliations.
Manage monthly closing process including, account reconciliations, account analysis, preparation of monthly financial statements and other management reports.
Participate in the implementation of an ERP system that accomplish key strategic initiatives including job costing and a perpetual inventory system.
SAP (at the plant level) and Hyperion (at the corporate level) are used in financial reporting.

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Finance manager example responsibilities.

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.

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Plant controller vs finance manager skills

Common plant controller skills

Internal Controls, 6%
GAAP, 5%
Plant Management, 5%
Continuous Improvement, 5%
Reconciliations, 4%
Financial Analysis, 4%

Common finance manager skills

Financial Analysis, 7%
CPA, 7%
Customer Service, 6%
Hyperion, 4%
Financial Models, 4%
Strong Analytical, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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