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Plan, direct, or coordinate accounting, investing, banking, insurance, securities, and other financial activities of a branch, office, or department of an establishment.
Analytical skills. To assist executives in making decisions, financial managers need to evaluate data and information that affects their organization.
Communication skills. Financial managers must be able to explain and justify complex financial transactions.
Detail oriented. In preparing and analyzing reports, such as balance sheets and income statements, financial managers must be precise and attentive to their work in order to avoid errors.
Math skills. Financial managers need strong skills in certain branches of mathematics, including algebra. Ability to understand international finance and complex financial documents also is important.
Organizational skills. Because financial managers deal with a range of information and documents, they must have structures in place to be effective in their work.
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Characteristics of this Career |
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92% | Attention to Detail - Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks. | |
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89% | Integrity - Job requires being honest and ethical. | |
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87% | Leadership - Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction. | |
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87% | Cooperation - Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude. | |
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83% | Dependability - Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations. | |
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83% | Concern for Others - Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job. | |
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80% | Stress Tolerance - Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations. | |
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80% | Analytical Thinking - Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems. | |
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79% | Adaptability/Flexibility - Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace. | |
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77% | Self-Control - Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations. | |
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77% | Initiative - Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges. | |
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76% | Achievement/Effort - Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks. | |
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76% | Independence - Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done. | |
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75% | Social Orientation - Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job. | |
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73% | Persistence - Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles. | |
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68% | Innovation - Job requires creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Strengths |
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100% | Enterprising - Work involves managing, negotiating, marketing, or selling, typically in a business setting, or leading or advising people in political and legal situations. Enterprising occupations are often associated with business initiatives, sales, marketing/advertising, finance, management/administration, professional advising, public speaking, politics, or law. | |
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67% | Conventional - Work involves following procedures and regulations to organize information or data, typically in a business setting. Conventional occupations are often associated with office work, accounting, mathematics/statistics, information technology, finance, or human resources. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Values of the Work Environment |
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83% | Working Conditions - Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions. Corresponding needs are Activity, Compensation, Independence, Security, Variety and Working Conditions. | |
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83% | Independence - Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy. | |
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78% | Recognition - Occupations that satisfy this work value offer advancement, potential for leadership, and are often considered prestigious. Corresponding needs are Advancement, Authority, Recognition and Social Status. | |
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72% | Achievement - Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement. | |
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67% | Relationships - Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service. | |
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67% | Support - Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Abilities | Cognitive, Physical, Personality |
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78% | Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences. | |
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78% | Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. | |
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78% | Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand. | |
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75% | Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you. | |
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75% | Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense. | |
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72% | Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand. | |
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72% | Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events). | |
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72% | Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem. | |
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69% | Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer). | |
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69% | Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations). | |
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69% | Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person. | |
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63% | Mathematical Reasoning - The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem. | |
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63% | Number Facility - The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly. | |
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60% | Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity). | |
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56% | Flexibility of Closure - The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material. | |
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53% | Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Skills | Cognitive, Physical, Personality |
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63% | Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times. | |
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63% | Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. | |
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61% | Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems. | |
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59% | Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively. | |
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59% | Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action. | |
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57% | Management of Personnel Resources - Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job. | |
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57% | Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making. | |
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55% | Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one. | |
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55% | Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions. | |
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54% | Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions. | |
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54% | Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences. | |
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54% | Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do. | |
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54% | Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior. | |
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54% | Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others. | |
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52% | Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience. | |
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52% | Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people. | |
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52% | Management of Financial Resources - Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures. | |
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52% | Mathematics - Using mathematics to solve problems. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Attributes & Percentage of Time Spent |
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100% | Electronic Mail - How often do you use electronic mail in this job? | |
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98% | Face-to-Face Discussions - How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job? | |
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94% | Work With Work Group or Team - How important is it to work with others in a group or team in this job? | |
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93% | Indoors, Environmentally Controlled - How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions? | |
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92% | Importance of Being Exact or Accurate - How important is being very exact or highly accurate in performing this job? | |
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90% | Telephone - How often do you have telephone conversations in this job? | |
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89% | Time Pressure - How often does this job require the worker to meet strict deadlines? | |
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88% | Responsibility for Outcomes and Results - How responsible is the worker for work outcomes and results of other workers? | |
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88% | Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results - What results do your decisions usually have on other people or the image or reputation or financial resources of your employer? | |
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86% | Structured versus Unstructured Work - To what extent is this job structured for the worker, rather than allowing the worker to determine tasks, priorities, and goals? | |
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86% | Spend Time Sitting - How much does this job require sitting? | |
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84% | Importance of Repeating Same Tasks - How important is repeating the same physical activities (e.g., key entry) or mental activities (e.g., checking entries in a ledger) over and over, without stopping, to performing this job? | |
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82% | Frequency of Decision Making - How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization? | |
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80% | Contact With Others - How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it? | |
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78% | Freedom to Make Decisions - How much decision making freedom, without supervision, does the job offer? | |
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71% | Coordinate or Lead Others - How important is it to coordinate or lead others in accomplishing work activities in this job? | |
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63% | Letters and Memos - How often does the job require written letters and memos? | |
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59% | Level of Competition - To what extent does this job require the worker to compete or to be aware of competitive pressures? | |
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59% | Deal With External Customers - How important is it to work with external customers or the public in this job? | |
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52% | Frequency of Conflict Situations - How often are there conflict situations the employee has to face in this job? | |
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51% | Responsible for Others' Health and Safety - How much responsibility is there for the health and safety of others in this job? | |
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87% | Duration of Typical Work Week - Number of hours typically worked in one week. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Tasks & Values |
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84% | Working with Computers - Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information. | |
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83% | Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships - Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time. | |
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82% | Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates - Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person. | |
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82% | Processing Information - Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data. | |
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81% | Getting Information - Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources. | |
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81% | Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards - Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards. | |
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81% | Making Decisions and Solving Problems - Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems. | |
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79% | Coaching and Developing Others - Identifying the developmental needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or skills. | |
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77% | Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates - Providing guidance and direction to subordinates, including setting performance standards and monitoring performance. | |
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76% | Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work - Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work. | |
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75% | Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others - Getting members of a group to work together to accomplish tasks. | |
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74% | Analyzing Data or Information - Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts. | |
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70% | Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge - Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job. | |
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68% | Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People - Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people. | |
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68% | Developing and Building Teams - Encouraging and building mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members. | |
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66% | Scheduling Work and Activities - Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others. | |
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65% | Documenting/Recording Information - Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form. | |
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65% | Developing Objectives and Strategies - Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them. | |
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64% | Communicating with People Outside the Organization - Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail. | |
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62% | Training and Teaching Others - Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others. | |
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60% | Providing Consultation and Advice to Others - Providing guidance and expert advice to management or other groups on technical, systems-, or process-related topics. | |
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59% | Performing Administrative Activities - Performing day-to-day administrative tasks such as maintaining information files and processing paperwork. | |
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59% | Performing for or Working Directly with the Public - Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests. | |
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58% | Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events - Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events. | |
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57% | Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others - Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used. | |
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53% | Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others - Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others. | |
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53% | Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings - Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems. | |
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52% | Thinking Creatively - Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions. |
Financial managers are responsible for the financial health of an organization. They create financial reports, direct investment activities, and develop plans for the long-term financial goals of their organization.
Financial managers typically do the following:
Financial managers spend much of their time analyzing data and advising senior managers on ways to maximize profits. They often work on teams, acting as advisors to top executives.
Financial managers must have knowledge of the topics, tax laws, and regulations that are specific to their organization or industry. For example, government financial managers must be experts on appropriations and budgeting processes; healthcare financial managers must understand billing, reimbursement, and other business matters related to healthcare.
The following are examples of types of financial managers:
Controllers direct the preparation of financial reports that summarize and forecast an organization’s financial position. These reports may include income statements, balance sheets, and analyses of future earnings or expenses. Controllers also are in charge of preparing reports required by governmental agencies that regulate businesses. Often, controllers oversee the accounting, audit, and budget departments of their organization.
Treasurers and finance officers direct an organization’s budgets to meet its financial goals. They oversee investments and other plans to raise capital, such as issuing stocks or bonds, to support their organization’s growth. They also develop financial plans for mergers (two companies joining together) and acquisitions (one company buying another).
Credit managers oversee an organization’s credit business. They set credit-rating standards, determine credit limits, and monitor the collections of past-due accounts.
Cash managers monitor and control the flow of money into and out of an organization to meet business and investment needs. For example, they must project whether the organization will have a shortage or surplus of cash.
Risk managers use strategies to limit or offset an organization’s chance of financial loss or exposure to financial uncertainty. Among the risks they try to limit are those arising from currency or commodity price changes.
Insurance managers decide how to limit an organization’s losses by protecting against risks, such as for disability payments to an employee who gets hurt on the job or for costs imposed by a lawsuit against the organization.
Financial managers held about 792,600 jobs in 2022. The largest employers of financial managers were as follows:
| Finance and insurance | 30% |
| Professional, scientific, and technical services | 14 |
| Management of companies and enterprises | 10 |
| Government | 6 |
| Manufacturing | 6 |
Financial managers work closely with top executives and with departments that develop data needed for analysis.
Most financial managers work full time, and some work more than 40 hours per week.
Financial managers typically need a bachelor’s degree and 5 years or more of experience in another business or financial occupation, such as an accountant, securities sales agent, or financial analyst.
Financial managers typically need at least a bachelor's degree in business, economics, or a related field. These disciplines help students learn analytical skills and methods.
Although it is not required, professional certification indicates competence for financial managers who have it. The Association of Government Accountants (AGA) offers the Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM) designation to financial managers working with federal, state, or local government. To earn this certification, candidates must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, pass examinations, and have professional-level experience in government financial management. To keep the certification, CGFMs must complete continuing professional education.
The CFA Institute confers the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification to investment professionals who have at least a bachelor’s degree or 4 years of work experience, or a combination of experience and education, and who pass three exams. The Association for Financial Professionals confers the Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) credential to those who have at least 2 years of relevant experience or 1 year of experience and a graduate degree in business, finance, or a related field. This association also confers the Certified Corporate Financial Planning Analysis Professional (FP&A) credential to those who have a bachelor’s degree or who are currently enrolled in an undergraduate program with a finance-related major and will graduate within 2 years. Both credentials require passing an exam.
Certified public accountants (CPAs) are licensed by their state’s board of accountancy and must pass an exam administered by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
Financial managers usually have experience in another business or financial occupation. For example, they may have worked as a loan officer, accountant, securities sales agent, or financial analyst.
In some cases, companies provide management training to help prepare motivated, skilled financial workers to become managers.
Experienced financial managers may advance to become chief financial officers (CFOs). These executives are responsible for the accuracy of an organization’s financial reporting.
Employment of financial managers is projected to grow 16 percent from 2022 to 2032, much faster than the average for all occupations.
About 69,600 openings for financial managers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
Services provided by financial managers, such as planning, directing, and coordinating investments, are likely to stay in demand as the economy grows. In addition, several specialties within financial management, particularly cash management and risk management, are expected to be in high demand over the decade.
Companies, particularly those with operations in foreign countries, have accumulated more cash on their balance sheets in recent years. As globalization continues, this trend is likely to persist. This practice should lead to demand for financial managers, as companies will need expertise in managing cash.
There has been an increased emphasis on risk management within the financial industry, and this trend is expected to continue. Banking institutions are expected to emphasize stability and managing risk over profits. This emphasis is expected to lead to employment growth for risk managers.
For more information about financial managers, including certification, visit
Global Academy of Finance and Management
For information about the Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM) designation, visit
Association of Government Accountants
For information about the Certified Treasury Professional and the Financial Planning and Analysis Professional designations, visit
Association for Financial Professionals
For information about the Chartered Financial Analyst program, visit
For more information about the certified public accountant designation, visit
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
This table shows a list of occupations with job duties that are similar to those of financial managers.
| Occupation | Job Duties | Entry-Level Education | Median Annual Pay, May 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Accountants and Auditors |
Accountants and auditors prepare and examine financial records. |
Bachelor's degree | $78,000 |
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Budget Analysts |
Budget analysts help public and private organizations plan their finances. |
Bachelor's degree | $82,260 |
|
Financial Analysts |
Financial analysts guide businesses and individuals in decisions about expending money to attain profit. |
Bachelor's degree | $96,220 |
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Insurance Sales Agents |
Insurance sales agents contact potential customers and sell one or more types of insurance. |
High school diploma or equivalent | $57,860 |
|
Insurance Underwriters |
Insurance underwriters evaluate insurance applications and decide whether to approve them. |
Bachelor's degree | $76,230 |
|
Loan Officers |
Loan officers evaluate, authorize, or recommend approval of loan applications. |
Bachelor's degree | $65,740 |
|
Personal Financial Advisors |
Personal financial advisors provide advice to help individuals manage their money and plan for their financial future. |
Bachelor's degree | $95,390 |