Finance Director
On this page
- What's it like to be a Finance Director?
- How to become a Finance Director
- Latest Finance Director jobs
- Top skills and experience for Finance Directors
What's it like to be a Finance Director?
A Finance Director is a professional in a leadership position tasked with ensuring a company’s financial stability, profitability, growth, and success. They oversee all financial aspects of a business and initiate projects that will ensure growth and mitigate risks and losses. They deal with department budgets, cash flow, and other major internal financial decisions. Finance Directors are also tasked with identifying opportunities, problems, and solutions to those problems.
Tasks and duties
- Initiating a company’s financial planning.
- Analysing a company’s performance, risks, opportunities, and growth.
- Monitoring a company’s financial position.
- Identifying problems before or when they arise and prescribing immediate solutions.
- Overseeing a company’s finance IT system.
- Setting financial targets for departments.
- Delegating tasks to Finance Managers, Accountants, Auditors, and other internal finance personnel.
- Creating financial reports for senior management on a quarterly or annual basis.
- Overseeing all audits and control operations.
- Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer and carrying out any tasks assigned by the CFO.
- Managing relationships with financial partners and investors.
- Forecasting financial growth.
- Complying with financial laws, regulations, and guidelines.
Finance Directors report to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), consulting them on certain decisions, providing information and reports as requested and updating them on the financial status of the company. A Finance Director works closely with their team of Finance Managers while reporting to the CFO.
How to become a Finance Director
To become a Finance Director, you will need many years of experience in the finance industry.
Pursue a bachelor degree in business, finance, financial management, accounting, or any other related field.
Complete an internship at an established financial company.
Consider pursuing a masters degree in finance, accounting, or a similar field.
Gain at least two years of experience in an entry level job in finance, business, or accounting.
Attain accounting certification, such as qualification from Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), or Chartered Accountant (CA).
Gain at least five to ten years of experience at a middle management job or leadership position in a company’s finance department.
Get a job as a Finance Director after years of study, certification, and experience.
