What does a Financial Manager do?

Plan, direct, or coordinate accounting, investing, banking, insurance, securities, and other financial activities of a branch, office, or department of an establishment. Day to day that includes work like establish and maintain relationships with individual or business customers or provide assistance with problems these customers may encounter and Oversee the flow of cash or financial instruments.

What skills should a Financial Manager put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, and Monitoring among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Financial Manager list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Accounting software, Accounts receivable software, Adobe Acrobat, ADP Workforce Now, and Alteryx software. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Financial Manager work?

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Banking Center Manager, BCM, Branch Manager, and Credit Administration Manager. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Financial Manager need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 56% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Financial Manager role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Financial Manager resume example

A resume for a Financial Manager needs to show the work itself: plan, direct, or coordinate accounting, investing, banking, insurance, securities, and other financial activities of a branch, office, or department of an establishment. Day to day that means work like this: establish and maintain relationships with individual or business customers or provide assistance with problems these customers may encounter; oversee the flow of cash or financial instruments. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Banking Center Manager
BCM
Branch Manager
Credit Administration Manager
Financial Center Manager
Accounting Supervisor
Business Banking Manager
Credit Manager
Financial Planning Manager
Financial Reporting Manager
Financial Systems Manager
ATM Manager
Accountant Supervisor
Accounting Director
Accounting Manager
Accounts Manager
Accounts Supervisor
Actuarial Manager

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Establish and maintain relationships with individual or business customers or provide assistance with problems these customers may encounter.
Oversee the flow of cash or financial instruments.
Plan, direct, or coordinate the activities of workers in branches, offices, or departments of establishments, such as branch banks, brokerage firms, risk and insurance departments, or credit departments.
Recruit staff members.
Evaluate data pertaining to costs to plan budgets.
Oversee training programs.
Establish procedures for custody or control of assets, records, loan collateral, or securities to ensure safekeeping.
Communicate with stockholders or other investors to provide information or to raise capital.
Develop or analyze information to assess the current or future financial status of firms.
Approve, reject, or coordinate the approval or rejection of lines of credit or commercial, real estate, or personal loans.
Prepare financial or regulatory reports required by laws, regulations, or boards of directors.
Examine, evaluate, or process loan applications.

17 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Establish and maintain relationships with individual or business customers or provide assistance with problems these customers may encounter, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Oversee the flow of cash or financial instruments, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Plan, direct, or coordinate the activities of workers in branches, offices, or departments of establishments, such as branch banks, brokerage firms, risk and insurance departments, or credit departments, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Recruit staff members, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Accounting software
Accounts receivable software
Adobe Acrobat
ADP Workforce Now
Alteryx software
ARES Corporation PRISM Project Estimator
Blackbaud The Raiser's Edge
Credit management software
Database software
Delphi Technology
FileMaker Pro
Fund accounting software
Healthcare common procedure coding system HCPCS
Human resource information system (HRIS)

67 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

10-key calculators
Desktop computers
Notebook computers
Personal computers
Personal digital assistants PDA
Scanners
Tablet computers

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

budgeting
forecasting
financial reporting
GAAP
cash flow
risk management
SAP
supervise employees
recruit personnel

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Active Listening
02Critical Thinking
03Reading Comprehension
04Speaking
05Monitoring
06Writing
07Complex Problem Solving
08Coordination
09Judgment and Decision Making
10Management of Personnel Resources

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Customer and Personal Service
Administration and Management
Economics and Accounting
Mathematics
Administrative
Law and Government
Personnel and Human Resources
Sales and Marketing

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

56%Bachelor's Degree
21%Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.
14%High School Diploma, or the equivalent

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Considerable Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Common questions

What does a Financial Manager do?: Plan, direct, or coordinate accounting, investing, banking, insurance, securities, and other financial activities of a branch, office, or department of an establishment. Day to day that includes work like establish and maintain relationships with individual or business customers or provide assistance with problems these customers may encounter and Oversee the flow of cash or financial instruments.
What skills should a Financial Manager put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, and Monitoring among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Financial Manager list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Accounting software, Accounts receivable software, Adobe Acrobat, ADP Workforce Now, and Alteryx software. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Financial Manager work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Banking Center Manager, BCM, Branch Manager, and Credit Administration Manager. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Financial Manager need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 56% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Financial Manager role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.