Finance Manager Job Description

Finance jobs are ideal careers for logical, methodical and analytical people. Finance Manager jobs call for a combination of professional skills and experience in order to succeed. The role includes providing sound advice and implementation, in addition to managing any team members within the finance department.

If you have at least 5 years’ experience in finance and are looking for your next opportunity, becoming a Finance Manager is an attractive role to pursue.

Your acquired skills, working knowledge and experience can have a real impact on the future of business. It can be a diverse and challenging role that combines technical skills and diligence with strong leadership.

What does a Financial Manager do?

The role of a Finance Manager can be diverse, with Finance Manager opportunities all industries and in a range of companies, such as banks, building societies and insurance companies, manufacturing and service industries or health authorities.

As a Finance Manager you would be required to present complex data in a way that others can understand, take responsibility for a range of accounting duties, and oversee finance team members.

By maintaining high-quality accountancy practices and working procedures, coupled with financial stability and budgetary foresight, you can help to drive the company forward.

A varied list of duties would see you working alongside a diverse team of skilled professionals in departments across the business and supporting them in managing their budgets and financial planning.

While carrying out research and reporting on factors critical to business performance, your exceptional bookkeeping, problem-solving and analytical skills would be utilised to manage the financial accounting, monitoring and reporting systems.

Over the past year this role has seen an evolution that could impact the future of all Finance jobs. With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in more remote working, Finance Managers have evolved their job specification to involve tasks related to furlough and budget changes.

Is a Finance Manager job a good fit for you?

Your current financial career path could be as a Financial (ACCA) or Management Accountant (CIMA). The step up to Finance Manager will require a flair for leadership, fused with all your past experience and skills gained.

Honesty and integrity are required to build trust and instil confidence in your co-workers. To seek out innovative ways for the business to succeed, you will need to analyse historic data and predict the company’s financial future.

The duties of a Finance Manager include:

Manage internal financial accounting, monitoring and reporting systems.
Manage budgets and prepare forecasting reports.
Analyse financial reports and present findings to the board.
Supervise financial reporting and budgeting employees.
Review company financial reports and seek ways to reduce costs.
Analyse market trends to maximize profits and find expansion opportunities.
Identify risks, propose solutions and manage stakeholder expectations.
Research and report on business performance influences.
Prepare and present statutory accounts.
Lead the payroll, VAT and HMRC processes team.
Manage the purchase and sales ledger teams.
Responsibility for accounts receivable and payable ledgers.
Prepare monthly accruals, prepayments and accounting entries.
Manage audit processes of current systems.
Monitor financial details to ensure legal requirements are met.
Develop external relationships with Auditors, Solicitors, Bankers and Statutory Organisations.
Drive continuous improvement of accounting practices.

Are you a good fit for a Finance Manager job?

To succeed in the Finance Manager role, you will need more than just accounting skills and analytical experience:

The ability to turn complex data into understandable form.
Thorough attention to detail.
Commercial and business awareness.
Time management skills and the ability to prioritise.
Excellent communication and presentation skills.
An analytical approach to work.
Numeracy and technical skills.
Negotiation skills, problem-solving and initiative.
An investigative nature.
Positive and approachable manner.
A willingness to embrace new ideas and processes.
The ability to develop your own skills and knowledge, work well under pressure, accept criticism and be challenged on your advice.
The capacity to make quick but rational decisions.
Proficient I.T. skills.
Team player with good working relationships, strong team management and leadership qualities.
The ability to delegate and manage the work of others.
The ability to resolve conflicts between team members.

In the post COVID jobs market there is an expectation for those in leadership roles to possess transferrable soft skills, such as communication, organisation, prioritisation, research and analysis, time management, forward planning, strategic thinking, problem-solving and commercial awareness. These skills cannot be taught, it takes work experience over lengthy periods to master them.

Qualifications, licences and certifications

To become a Finance Manager, you will need a minimum of 5 years’ experience in a relevant Accountancy, Banking, Investment or Financial Analytics role and an accountancy qualification from an institution such as:

Association of Chartered Accountants (ACA).
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).
Institute of Financial Accountants (IFA).
Or a bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or Business Administration.

You should also possess management experience or qualifications to show you have a keen interest in working in a leadership role and developing your leadership skills.

To future-proof your career, formal management training programs such as this one from the BFC Group, can help develop highly motivated and skilled financial workers into exceptional Finance Managers.

In addition to the essential qualifications, employers will be looking for those who show:

Superior technical accounting knowledge.
Excellent skills in providing and interpreting financial information.
The ability to analyse change and advise co-workers and stakeholders accordingly.
Confidence in analysing competitors and market trends.
Experience in conducting reviews and evaluations for cost-reduction opportunities.
The ability to produce accurate financial reports to specific deadlines.
A good working knowledge of financial regulations and legislation.
The ability to monitor and interpret cash flows and predict future trends.
The ability to build, manage and maintain budgets.
The ability to use main accounting and office software packages competently such as- Sage, QuickBooks, Oracle, Zoho, Wave, Microsoft Excel, Access and Word.
Fluent level of spoken and written English.

If you want to gain the essential qualifications to become a Finance Manager, you can find more information about each of the institution qualifications and how to enrol here:

Association of Chartered Accountants (ACA).
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).
Institute of Financial Accountants (IFA).

Where can a Finance Manager job take you?

The expertise offered by a Finance Manager is extremely transferable, the knowledge and skills you gain in this position can be applied in other industry environments. A role such as a Financial Controller could be a possible next step for you after 2-3 years of working as a Finance Manager.