The following article discusses the career path of Director of Finance. Learn about how to become one, education requirements, job duties, traits and qualities, national salary outlook as well as top national employers of Director of Finances.
Job Duties
Directors of finance have numerous general management duties, including performance evaluation, hiring, scheduling, and so on. They head the finance team, ensuring that strategic plans are in place to meet the financial objectives of the company. As such, they must conduct financial analyses, projections, and accounting duties. They also have to identify financial risks and areas that can be improved on, thereby avoiding mistakes and increasing profits.
They also periodically create financial reports, presenting those to the rest of the management team. They may have to identify financial markets that can be tapped into, including potential mergers and acquisitions, in an effort to grow the company. A director of finance will usually work in an office environment with occasional travel, particularly if the business has multiple branches.
Other job duties of a director of finance are:
- To manage budget preparation, accounting activities, and forecasts
- To direct business planning, staff operations, compliance, and budget development in the finance department
- To oversee the financial reporting and regulatory preparation, ensuring full compliance
- To create strategies and policies and procedures in relation to financial data and reports
Where We Work
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 580,400 financial managers in 2016. The largest employers of these professionals were:
- Finance and insurance: 29%
- Professional, scientific, and technical services: 12%
- Management of companies and enterprises: 11%
- Government: 7%
- Manufacturing: 7%
How to Become
It is generally expected that a director of finance holds a graduate degree, preferable the master of business administration (MBA), although finance or economics are also accepted. Some employers will accept those with only a bachelor’s degree if they have sufficient experience and are willing to complete a graduate degree at a later stage.
Education Requirements
Directors of finance will typically have at least five years of experience at management level in a financial field, as well as holding a graduate degree. They often have a background as a financial analyst, securities sales agent, or accountant.
The most acceptable master’s degree is the MBA, although those in economics, accounting, and finance are also acceptable. These graduate degrees demonstrate that an individual has the necessary analytical skills and understanding of software and financial analysis.
There is no requirement for a director of finance to be certified, but a certification can improve career prospects. The Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) is a highly respected certification, and so with the Certified Treasury Professional offered by the Association for Financial Professionals. Some directors of finance are licensed as a Chartered Public Accountant (CPA), which is provided by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
Traits & Qualities
The most effective directors of finance have the following traits to some degree or other:
- Strong analytical skills
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, with a particular focus on report writing
- Detail oriented
- Great mathematical skills
- Very organized
- Strong team workers
Minimum Education
Master’s Degree
The national average salary estimate for Director of Finance was $99,996. This number is estimated from over 1,624,824 employees, users past and present job advertisements from Indeed.com. This equates to an hourly salary of $52.08 and monthly of $8,333.
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$23,000
$229,000
The following section lists Director of Finance salaries in each state around the country. The figures are based on the total number of job postings through Indeed.com. For example, New York had the largest quoted salary of $125,213 while North Dakota had the smallest quoted salary of $62,645.
According to Indeed.com, the following states had employers looking to hire a Director of Finance. The quoted salary figure represents the average salary from all job postings by this employer.
| Employer Name | Location | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Merrill Lynch | New York | $269,064 |
| Marcum Search LLC | New York | $250,000 |
| Prestige Ford | Arizona | $240,000 |
| Michael Page | Massachusetts | $227,460 |
| Fiat Chrysler Automobiles | Kansas | $225,000 |
| Midwest Dealer Group | Missouri | $225,000 |
| Resume Library | New York | $215,000 |
| Selby Jennings | Washington | $213,454 |
| Kforce Finance and Accounting | Michigan | $211,406 |
| Microsoft | Washington | $195,268 |
| JWM Group, LLC | Florida | $190,324 |
| Parker+Lynch | New York | $189,010 |
| The Odyssey Group | New York | $188,628 |
| CFS Inc. | Illinois | $184,045 |
| Trinity Health | Ohio | $180,000 |
| SystemsAccountants | New York | $179,270 |
| MOORE Executive Search | Texas | $175,000 |
Learn More
- City Of Baltimore – Payments Main Page
- Chief financial officer – Wikipedia
- Director of Finance and Administration (Small Organization …
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