About the Finance Manager role
A Finance Manager keeps a company's financial health visible and under control. They oversee daily accounting operations, prepare financial statements and management reports, lead budgeting and forecasting cycles, and monitor cash flow and working capital. The role turns raw transactions into the numbers leadership uses to make decisions, and it builds and enforces the internal controls that keep those numbers trustworthy, consistent, and audit-ready.
The role sits between detailed accounting work and strategic finance. A strong Finance Manager closes the books accurately and on time, but also explains variances, models scenarios, and challenges spending plans with data. In many companies they manage accountants or analysts, coordinate with external auditors and tax advisors, and own the financial systems and processes that must scale as the business grows.
In your posting, describe the size of the finance team, the accounting and ERP systems you use, whether the role owns month-end close, FP&A, or both, and who the manager reports to. Mention upcoming projects such as a system migration, a first audit, or international expansion. Finance candidates read scope carefully, and clarity about the split between accounting and planning work will attract better-matched applicants.
Finance Manager job description template
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Job brief
We are hiring a Finance Manager to keep our numbers accurate, timely, and useful. You will run the accounting operations and the close, produce the statements and management reporting, lead the budgeting and forecasting cycles, and hold the controls that keep all of it trustworthy.
This suits somebody who is genuinely comfortable in the detail and equally able to explain a variance to a colleague who does not read financial statements. Being right matters here; being able to say why matters just as much.
Responsibilities
- Oversee daily accounting operations and manage an accurate, timely month-end close
- Prepare monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements and management reports
- Lead the annual budgeting process and maintain rolling forecasts
- Monitor cash flow, working capital, and liquidity, and flag risks early
- Analyze variances against budget and explain drivers to leadership
- Develop and enforce internal controls, policies, and approval workflows
- Coordinate external audits and manage relationships with auditors, banks, and tax advisors
- Ensure compliance with accounting standards and tax and regulatory requirements
- Improve finance systems, automation, and reporting processes as the company scales
- Manage and develop finance team members
Requirements and skills
- Has run finance or accounting at a management level
- Knows the accounting framework we report under, and where it bites
- Has owned a month-end close, reporting, and consolidation end to end
- Builds budgets, forecasts, and models that hold up under questioning
- Strong in accounting or ERP software and advanced in spreadsheets
- Has built or improved internal controls rather than inherited them
- Analytical, and clear in writing and in the room
- A finance, accounting, or economics degree; a professional qualification is a real asset
Nice to have
- Experience supporting audits, fundraising, or due diligence processes
- Familiarity with BI tools for financial reporting and dashboards
- Experience in a multi-entity or multi-currency environment
- Prior experience managing a small finance or accounting team
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