What Do Finance Professionals Do?

Your job descriptions detail the finance team functions and how they fit in your company’s culture. Your finance department needs to hire its staff carefully to ensure your company has a broad mix of experience and skills. The professional performance of your finances team will affect crucial business aspects such as legal compliance and the company’s financial health.

Depending on the company’s industry and role, finance teams have key responsibilities and oversee:

• Financial planning (Finance Leaders)
• Recording and analysing financial data (Finance Executive/Financial Analyst)
• Developing financial models
• Completing financial transactions
• Monitoring financial trends and the stock market
• Performing business administration
• Maintaining financial records
• Creating balance sheets
• Preparing cash flow statements
• Enforcing internal controls (Financial Controllers)
• Business accounting (Accounting Manager)
• Identify opportunities and recommend business investments
• Auditing a company’s finances (External Auditors)
• The expenditure of various departments

Finance Role

The roles of finance teams are completed by individuals in roles titled as:

• Financial Executive/Finance Officer
• Financial Analyst
• Finance Director
• Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
• Accounts Payable
• Accounts Receivable
• Personal Financial Advisor
• Investment Banker/Investment Bankers
• Fund Managers
• Mortgage Advisors
• Financial Project Managers
• Budget Analysts

Finance Responsibilities And Duties

A finance professional’s duties are the must-do and high-priority responsibilities of the role. These are the job aspects that you will likely govern the individual’s performance on, and as you can imagine, these vary significantly depending on the focus and seniority of the position.

Finance responsibilities and duties include:

• Inputting financial data into financial software
• Creating, printing, or emailing financial statements
• Following market trends
• Drafting or approving financial documents
• Maintaining balance sheets
• Furthering their professional qualifications and professional development
• Answering incoming calls, emails, or chat sessions
• Attending team meetings
• Liaising with accounting professionals
• Researching economic conditions
• Streamlining processes and procedures
• Reviewing paperwork to check it is in line with financial regulations
• Arranging business insurance
• Tracking KPI metrics
• Managing accounts receivable and the company ledger
• Investigation financial discrepancies
• Processing financial transactions
• Making bank deposits
• Conducting financial analysis
• Performing financial audits
• Financial reporting
• Business planning
• Generating financial reports
• Financial modelling
• Portfolio management
• Risk management/risk assessments
• Implementing and monitoring internal controls
• Setting and managing budgets

These duties are pretty generic, but you can make the job’s duties more engaging and meaningful by saying how the responsibility should be accomplished. For example, ‘You will perform financial audits, using data analysis to assess the company’s financial position.’

Finance Skills

To ensure your company’s financial operations are effectively performed, you are legally compliant, control costs, and pay the correct taxes; you need to hire financial executives with the relevant skills.

To complete their job requirements, a financial executive needs skills that include:

• Financial systems familiarity
• Excellent numeracy
• A strong understanding of financial law
• The ability to work long hours during peak times (end of month/end of financial year)
• Proficiency with C Suite, accounting software, financial software, and MS Office
• Reporting and presentation skills (executive level and senior roles)
• Organisation
• People management skills (manager and senior role)
• Analytical skills
• Critical thinking
• Strategic thinking
• Active listening
• Selling skills
• Written and verbal communication
• Interpersonal abilities/interpersonal skills
• Ability to make financial decisions/decision making
• Time management
• Team-working and collaboration
• Problem-solving skills
• Objectivity
• Committed and target-driven
• Adaptable
• Multitasking
• Data entry skills
• Detail-orientated/attention to detail
• Proactive questioning
• Motivational leadership (managers and senior executives)

Finance Qualifications And Education

The qualifications and education depend on the role and level of seniority, but might include:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Finance
• A Bachelor’s degree in Accounting
• A Master’s Accounting Degree
• Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) professional qualification
• Financial Risk Manager (FRM) professional qualification
• Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning (APFS)
• Advanced Diploma in Banking & Finance (bank managers)

Required Finance Experience And Finance Training

To further ensure your finance officer has the right level of experience, technical skills, and training, you should look for candidates who are accredited as:

• Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA)
• Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
• Associated Chartered Accountant (ACA) (senior accountant role)

Finance Job Description FAQs

Here we answer your questions on finance roles, job titles, and job descriptions.

WHAT ARE THE TOP 3 SKILLS FOR A FINANCIAL ANALYST?

The top skills your candidates should possess if they are to have a successful career include analytical thinking, attention to detail, and an aptitude for problem-solving.

WHAT ARE TYPICAL CREDENTIALS FOR FINANCIAL ANALYSTS?

Typical credentials for a financial analyst include a Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in Finance or Business Administration and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

WHAT DOES A FINANCIAL EXECUTIVE DO?

A Financial Executive works as part of the finance team and duties vary depending on the type of company and industry. They may process transactions, develop budgets, prepare banking, and control costs and expenditure.

WHAT IS A FINANCE TEAM?

A finance team is a group of individuals found in almost any company. Duties vary depending on the company but may include recommending company investments, issuing invoices, and processing payments.

WHAT ARE THE NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS?

Senior financial employees often have a degree, however, other team members in junior roles may enter the profession with on on the job training. There are many diplomas and online courses that can validate the skills and knowledge of candidates.

Qualifications to look out for when hiring for your finance team include:

– L– Level 2 Certificate in Bookkeeping
– Level 2 Certificate in Accounting
– Level 3 Certificate in Financial Studies
– T Level in Accounting

HOW DO I HIRE FINANCE EXECUTIVES?

Job advertising for finance executives will differ based on the job skills and financial position. Larger companies may be seeking financial executives with a speciality, whereas smaller companies may be seeking to employ a generalist financial executive.

It will help to deploy a hiring strategy that encompasses job advertising on general and specialist financial job boards, social media, and word of mouth/employee referrals. Your hiring strategy may also include having a presence at industry or leadership conferences and online with financial organisations or professional bodies.

Important elements that will affect company hiring success include writing an effective job description and selecting an appropriate job title. Your job description should define what the financial executive is responsible for, the average salary range, and the application path forward (an email address to send a CV to or a link to an application form or career page).

WHAT IS A FINANCE JOB DESCRIPTION?

A finance job description is a document that sets out the role’s duties, tasks, and key skills. Putting these in black and white is vital and will help you find the ideal candidate for a position that directly affects the financial health and performance of your business and that of clients and customers as well.

The job description should be transparent and clearly set out who you are, who you want, what they will do, and why a finance professional or finance managers might want to work for you. It helps tremendously to use language and jargon that connects with and engages your audience.

When you get all of this right and include the best words to use when writing finance job descriptions, you will get job applications from qualified candidates that closely match your ideal person specification.

HOW DO I WRITE A FINANCE JOB DESCRIPTION?

When writing a job description either for advertising a financial analyst job or an internal job specification you need to focus on 5 main criteria:

1. What are the key job requirements, tasks, and duties required for a finance position
2. Consider all the job responsibilities required for a finance role
3. What skills the person must have for the job
4. What personality traits the person must have to work in finance
5. Appropriate and relevant education and qualifications

These five criteria should help you build a picture of your ideal candidate. Good questions to consider that will help you write a concise company job description that stands apart from others (essential in the current competitive job market), and attracts candidates of a high calibre, include:

• What value does this role bring to your organisation, retail banking business, or financial services company?
• How does the role align with your company culture, values, and mission?
• How does this role differ from other positions?
• How is this role similar to other positions?
• What are the minimum financial skills or transferable skills?
• What are examples of your standards, risks, and targets?

Suppose you are not hands-on in the finance department or highly familiar with the company’s financial practices, products, or services. In that case, it can help to interview one of your finance managers or an experienced financial analyst to gain a greater understanding.

A word about jargon: The phrase ‘jargon’ has good and bad connotations, and if it isn’t carefully considered, it may deter candidates from applying. Ask yourself if words and phrases are company exclusive or recognisable by individuals in the industry or by professionals who may have valuable transferable skills refined in alternative business sectors.

Furthermore, if you are hiring for senior-level or financial management positions, you might expect candidates to have a greater vocabulary and understanding of jargon and financial regulations. However, if you are hiring for a junior-level finance position, consider being as straightforward and transparent as possible.

WHAT FINANCE TASKS SHOULD I INCLUDE IN A JOB DESCRIPTION?

The tasks of financial analysts and finance managers are any other activities that they complete occasionally or on a daily basis. These are usually subsidiary tasks such as entering financial data into accounting software and responding to client emails and enquiries.

It is tempting to leave some of the more ‘mundane’ tasks out to make your jobs sound more attractive, but this can lead to trouble down the road as you may recruit individuals that are not a perfect match. If you hire the wrong finance staff or financial analysts for your business or accountancy firm, co-workers, customers, and your company’s financial health may suffer. The employee might leave your company, and you are back to square one, requiring another investment in recruitment and training.

If you get to the end of the process outlined here and find that your job description is too long and concise has gone out the window, it is time to review your first draft. To bring things back into line, you should delete unnecessary phrases and fluff, remove prepositional phrases, focus on what is role critical, and refrain from putting your entire ‘about us’ page in your content.

HOW DO I ENGAGE FINANCE CANDIDATES?

As a final note for employers and recruiters, it is crucial to remember that while a job description is about what and who you want, describing this alone will not create an inbox full of eager candidates willing to comply. A financial analyst or finance officer job description and job advert must go beyond the duties, skills, education, qualifications, traits, and tasks that you want and communicate the position’s value to job seekers.

Your business should convey its employee value propositions to engage candidates, highlighting both monetary and other benefits. Benefits that will entice qualified job seekers to apply might include:

• Stating the financial manager or financial analyst salary or average salary range
• Focusing on work-life balance
• Flexible working – are hours flexible, or is the role remote/work from home?
• Opportunities to gain additional qualifications (such as a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting)
• Career development opportunities
• The quality of facilities, equipment, services, or products
• How the company’s values align with those of customers and employees