A wide range of institutions and organizations hire finance manager including insurance companies, charities, manufacturers, utilities, local government, industrial organizations, health authorities, and financial institutions.
Engineering firms and IT companies also hire finance managers. It is highly important that you know the job desc of finance manager to ensure that you will be hired for the position from your first interview.
Majority of finance managers starts with their careers as accountants and have undertaken professional accounting training before they qualify for the position.
However, without the knowledge on job desc of finance manager, most of them fail to perform their duties well, and lead to unpleasant result. Below are the lists of job desc of finance manager.
Job Desc of Finance Manager: Main Duties of a Financial Manager
Financial managers must contribute to the direction and strategic planning of the organization through making financial and commercial inputs both operational and strategic as a member of the Senior Management Team.
Financial managers must also engage in implementing the necessary financial aspects based on the strategic plan, and dedicated to achieving relevant objectives. They must also help in managing and maintaining an in-close working relationships with the company Managing Director. In addition, financial managers must also provide attention to business planning as well as budgetary processes including budget monitoring, re forecast, and capital expenditure.
The job desc of finance manager also entails that he/she must ensure that the company has an effective financial system and control, and processes take in place so that the company can make use of them.
Job Desc of Finance Manager: Specific Duties
Financial managers must review the company’s proposing action plan, financial target, and performance levels in order for the organization to generate additional profit, or revenue, and deflect pitfalls. If you’re a financial manager, you must understand that continuously evaluating the company’s financial performance is highly important. You must take a better look on the organization’s treasury management and make sure that it’s working efficiently.
Financial managers must be able to provide the organization’s managing director and board of directors with the up to date and accurate management information, both comparative and individualized as in terms of the performance of the company’s products or service, territories, operational units, and financial terms.
Furthermore, financial manager must be capable of developing a strong commercial insight and better understanding of the key supplier and clients. You must also ensure that timely development and maintenance of high quality reports will take place. Meeting the deadlines for financial reporting is as highly important as of the other aspects of the organization.
A finance manager must lead the entire financial team, setting professional and personal standards. You must exercise effective control and leadership over your finance team with consistent communication, appraisal, objective setting, and proper identification of staff training, as well as the development needs.
It is also the duty of a finance manager to liaise closely with colleagues at the company to make sure those financial targets, disciplines, and commercial priorities are well understood and adhered to. A finance manager must also support the Managing Director to proposing capital and financial strategies as well as in assisting with other financial aspects including those related to leases and properties. To support the Managing Director in developing the business care for products, and in market development both domestic and abroad.
Another responsibility of a financial manager is to ensure that the organization meets its statutory, fiscal and corporate obligations in a cost-effective and timely manner. You must also ensure that the financial arrangements are in place to give way for effective auditing; both internal and external as well as secure clean auditing.
You must also ensure that the organization or company you’re working at is covered for all reasonable risks, adequately.
Make sure that insurance policies are in place, and subject to renewal and regular review. It is also your duty to review, an update the company’s financial scale of charges. When appropriate, you can also recommend revising these scales of charges in respect with both domestic market and international market.
It is the duty of the finance manager to support the preparation to giving financial authorization, and final approval, and signing off the pricing and costing of all the tenders and quotations to customers before is agreed or entered into. It has to be noted that finance managers plays an important role to helping introduce acceptable pension scheme for co-workers in line it the organization’s legislative requirements.
It is also included in the duties of financial managers to ensure that the currency conversions are managed efficiently. When needed, they must also attend client presentations and briefings as an act of support.
Job Desc of Finance Manager: Qualifications and Trainings Required
Organizations and financial institutions hire applicants who are graduates of any degree. However, it is your advantage if you have qualifications in statistics, accounting, mathematics, economics, and business or management subjects.
A relevant college degree can reduce the length of time to obtain professional qualifications with any accountancy bodies, allowing you to obtain exemptions from undertaking examinations.
Usually, applicants with at least five years of working experience with previous management responsibility take the job. Financial managers will carry the responsibility for handling and supervising accounting, financial reports, and other forms of financial analysis. In addition, they will also oversee financial legislation and registration, cash management that why employers prefer to hire applicants with work experience related to accounting.
Financial managers are also responsible in managing cash flows for the company by supervising the income statements and balance sheets. They must also have comprehensive knowledge on accounting principles. Candidates who have these qualifications will normally qualify for the position.
Employers prefer to look for applicants with good written and oral communication skills, commercial awareness, self-motivation, initiative, and ability to work as part of a group or team. In addition, excellent analytical, numerical, problem-solving, technical, and IT abilities are critical.
Finance manager vacancies are advertised on the internet by special recruitment agencies, and career services. You can also read publications and newspapers to look for vacancies for employment. In addition, professional accounting bodies also post vacancy lists along with training opportunities. Opportunity to work abroad as finance manager is also possible as employers from other countries are widely available.
If you want to land the position, submission of early applications to employers is recommended.