Finance Manager Job Description Template (2024)

Finance Manager Job Description

Intro Paragraph: Get highly qualified candidates excited about the position by beginning your job description with a brief pitch designed to make the role and your workplace as attractive as possible. This is also a great place to mention the size of the team the selected candidate will be managing, as well as opportunities for future career growth and advancement. You might phrase it:

“We are looking for a results-driven finance manager to lead our successful finance team. The ideal candidate has a passion for sound fiscal practices and strategic decision-making in a fast-growing environment and will helm a 20-person team.”

About Our Workplace: It’s important to describe the environment that your next finance team leader will be working in to attract applicants who are most likely to thrive in your workplace and help your organization succeed. You can use this section of your finance manager job description to summarize your organizational mission and values and explain what makes your workplace special.

Finance Manager Job Responsibilities: The following list of day-to-day tasks and functions may differ significantly depending on your industry or sector, the size of your finance and accounting team, and the scope of the role. Here are some common responsibilities you might include:

• Implements financial and accounting best practices and oversees critical accounting procedures to ensure legal compliance with financial reporting and banking regulations at the local, state, and federal level.
• Leads planning and forecasting activities with business partners to achieve investment and accounting goals.
• Hires, onboards, trains, supervises, coaches, assesses, and provides performance feedback to finance team members.
• Maintains and revises accounting systems as needed.
• Reviews financial reports and advises corrective action accordingly.
• Collects and analyzes data to prepare financial forecasts and suggest strategies to address challenges and leverage strengths.
• Analyzes revenue, expenses, cash flows, and balance sheets to optimize profitability and transparency.
• Assists and supports upper-level management to ensure sound financial decision-making that is in the long-term best interest of the organizational mission.
• Reviews and processes payments made to clients, vendors, and other business partners.
• Looks for ways to cut costs without impairing the long-term financial health of the organization.
• Studies market trends and section-specific data to maximize profits and growth.
• Maintains an accurate filing and record-keeping system for all financial statements and company documents.
• Executes revisions and updates to procedures, policies, and systems to facilitate the expansion and scaling of the business and increase transparency and compliance.
• Engages in sector-specific professional development opportunities to identify opportunities for continuous improvement in the financial operations of the business and encourages and enables direct reports and other staff to do the same.

Work Hours and Benefits: Next, you’ll want to include the work schedule and hours required for the role, including travel requirements. Use this section of your finance manager job description to mention benefits and perks likely to attract applicants with a finance background, such as 401(k) and other retirement benefits, performance-based bonuses, and company stock options. A salary tool like Monster’s, which allows you to input job titles and locations to calculate estimates for low, median, and high salaries, can help you determine a competitive compensation package.

Finance Manager Qualifications and Skills: Exhaustive lists of requirements tend to discourage women and applicants from other groups that have traditionally been underrepresented in fields like finance from applying. If one of your goals is to strengthen your diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and attract the most robust applicant pool possible, you may want to limit the number of required skills you include or divide your requirements between “required” and “preferred” qualifications. Here are some examples you can include, depending on your hiring needs:

• Knowledge of accounting, economics, and financial principles
• Leadership and team-building skills
• Administrative and management skills
• Strong quantitative skills
• Thoroughness, attention to detail, and organizational skills
• Risk management skills
• Process-driven
• Critical thinking
• Communication and presentation skills
• Working, up-to-date knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
• Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously
• Capacity to read and comprehend large amounts of information quickly
• Confidentiality and discretion
• Adept at analyzing data and information and recognizing patterns to build financial forecasting models
• Strategic decision making
• Financial modeling skills
• Facility with Microsoft Office Suite, Tableau, Essbase, or other data analytics software

Education, Experience, and Licensing Requirements:

• BA or BS in economics, finance, accounting, economics, or related field
• Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), or Financial Planning and Analysis Certification (FPAC) a plus
• Up-to-date Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license preferred
• 3-5 years of managerial experience

Call to Action: You will get more responses to your finance manager job description if you end it with a call to action that encourages qualified applicants to apply and provides instructions about how to do so.