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Senior finance analyst vs finance manager

The differences between senior finance analysts and finance managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a senior finance analyst, becoming a finance manager takes usually requires 6-8 years. Additionally, a finance manager has an average salary of $101,374, which is higher than the $83,222 average annual salary of a senior finance analyst.

The top three skills for a senior finance analyst include financial analysis, hyperion and financial models. The most important skills for a finance manager are financial analysis, CPA, and customer service.

Senior finance analyst vs finance manager overview

Senior Finance AnalystFinance Manager
Yearly salary$83,222$101,374
Hourly rate$40.01$48.74
Growth rate9%17%
Number of jobs117,609125,345
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age4046
Years of experience48

What does a senior finance analyst do?

A Senior Financial Analyst's role is to oversee the financial aspects and manage fellow analysts in a company. Among the tasks of a Senior Financial Analyst include conducting research and analysis, providing forecast in revenue and expenditures, creating financial models that would suit the company and project more sales, and take part in the planning of finances. Moreover, being a Senior Financial Analyst means leading a team of skilled professionals in the same field of expertise.

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.

Senior finance analyst vs finance manager salary

Senior finance analysts and finance managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Senior Finance AnalystFinance Manager
Average salary$83,222$101,374
Salary rangeBetween $62,000 And $110,000Between $71,000 And $144,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CANew York, NY
Highest paying stateCaliforniaNew York
Best paying companyGoogleBarclays
Best paying industryTechnologyFinance

Differences between senior finance analyst and finance manager education

There are a few differences between a senior finance analyst and a finance manager in terms of educational background:

Senior Finance AnalystFinance Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common majorAccountingBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Senior finance analyst vs finance manager demographics

Here are the differences between senior finance analysts' and finance managers' demographics:

Senior Finance AnalystFinance Manager
Average age4046
Gender ratioMale, 61.7% Female, 38.3%Male, 60.0% Female, 40.0%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.7% Asian, 14.1% White, 68.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%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 Percentage7%11%

Differences between senior finance analyst and finance manager duties and responsibilities

Senior finance analyst example responsibilities.

  • Used SharePoint repository to manage all project documents.
  • Manage deployment of SQL databases across multiple platforms within a secure environment focusing on security and data integrity.
  • Leverage and improve key performance indicators to drive portfolio management to core business team leads and executive sponsors.
  • Develop, maintain financial models/applications (VBA Excel/Access) to automate and streamline business processes and perform financial analysis.
  • Validate data in Hyperion EssBase for implementation.
  • Perform month end accounting close activities including preparation of accruals and monthly financial analysis reports for business unit management.
  • Show more

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.
  • Show more

Senior finance analyst vs finance manager skills

Common senior finance analyst skills
  • Financial Analysis, 12%
  • Hyperion, 5%
  • Financial Models, 5%
  • Strong Analytical, 4%
  • Variance Analysis, 4%
  • Ad-Hoc 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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