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Job Description: Finance Director
As finance director you're top of the tree when it comes to making financially related business decisions.
Money is at the heart of all business decisions so it's important that everyone understands what the budgets are so they know what they can spend, how the company is performing and what needs to be achieved in the future. As the finance director you'll be the guru of all this information.
You'll work with all departments of the business to help them plan and manage their budgets. You'll also work closely with the CEO to help him/her manage the overall business so it makes the most money it can.
You might have a different title depending on where you work - financial manager, financial analyst for example.
Where you work will have an impact on the work you do. In a bigger company the role is often more strategic and involves a lot of analysis and you might be the finance director for a division rather than for the whole company. If you work for a smaller company you'll probably have to be a bit more hands on with general accounts matters too.
It's a broad and interesting role covering activities like:
- Monitoring business performance
- Monitoring cash flow
- Overseeing the budgets and that everyone is sticking to them
- Working with departments and teams
- Supervising your own accounts team
- Preparing accounts
- Developing financial models
- Planning for the future
- Competitor analysis
- Strategic planning
Hours and environment
You'll be scheduled to work 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, although you should be prepared to put in some extra time when there are big projects on the go or deadlines to be met.
You'll often find yourself in meetings with people all round the office. If you work for big company, then you'll probably have to travel between all the different sites, maybe even abroad, quite regularly.
There are not many part-time options but you could go freelance if you want more control over your workload and time.
Skills and interests
Finance director is a senior job, so you should have gained lots of relevant experience on your way up the career ladder. The most important skills that will help you bag the job you want include:
- Good commercial and business awareness
- Excellent people skills
- Strong maths skills
- Sound IT skills
- An analytical, enquiring mind
- Good problem solving skills
- Good management skills
- Good prioritisation
- An ability to make quick but good decisions
Entry
It's a top job so you'll need to be fully qualified and have lots of experience.
If you're just setting out on your financial career path then you'll usually need a degree to get started. It's better still if your degree is in business, economics, accountancy or maths. There are however a few training schemes out there that only ask for an HND.
You can get a flavour for the job by signing up for one of the work experience taster courses run by some employers.
Once you're on a training scheme you'll balance getting on the job experience with studying for your professional accountancy exams.
If you've already got a background in accountancy or have completed some of your exams then you should be able to get a job on the finance team, equivalent to your level, and work your way up through the ranks to become a Director.
Training
It's important that you enjoy studying if you're thinking about a career as a finance director, as exams go hand in hand with the profession.
Most financial directors will be fully qualified or nearly-qualified accountants. As part of your career progression to the role you'll have been training on the job to get one of the six major chartered accountancy body qualifications:
- Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
- Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)
- Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)
- Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
- Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI)
- Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)
You don't need to take them all. Which course you follow is usually decided by your employer who will also fund your studies.
Once you've qualified it's important you keep your skills up to date by attending short courses run by all the accountancy bodies and by attending networking events.
Opportunities
You should not expect to get the job title until you are nearly qualified or even after you've qualified.
By the time you've qualified you'll have an impressive CV, bank of skills and experience which will make you hot property in the job market - not just the financial market. Many financial directors use their knowledge of running a business to move into more general management, into a new industry entirely or even to set up their own business.
Finance is a good qualification to have if you want to become the top dog. About 20% of the chief executives of FTSE 100 companies are qualified accountants.
Annual income
As a trainee you'll probably earn around £17,000 to £25,000. Once you've qualified this will jump up to between £28,000 and £45,000.
With several years experience you could be on as much as £55,000 to £100,000 or even more.
If you're after the best salaries, you should focus your job search on the London area. Also look for bigger companies, turning over more than £100million, as they tend to pay more too.
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