Regardless of their goals, every business needs a financial manager. It could be a designated role or clubbed with another business role. They usually advise the upper management on financial steps that will benefit the company. Simply put, financial managers are accounting professionals responsible for the financial management of a business.
Know your terms:
Financial management is an important function of any business. Learn more about what is financial management.
Let’s take a closer look at what a financial manager does.
By definition, a financial manager is someone who oversees the financial health of an organisation and helps ensure financial sustainability. They supervise many important functions such as monitoring cash flow, managing expenses, producing accurate financial data, and strategising for profit.
What Does a Financial Manager Do?
Some of the various responsibilities of a financial manager are:
- Understanding a company’s economic condition and the working of the financial markets.
- Monitoring and analysing the cash flows and forecasting future trends.
- Analysing competitions and market trends and depending on the results creating financial reports.
- Designing financial management tools that would help minimise financial risk.
- Building a budget would help the company stick to certain specified limits.
- Researching for factors influencing the business performance and accordingly crafting strategic and long-term business goals.
- Arranging new sources of finance and keeping up to date with changes in financial laws and legislation.
In some companies, financial managers are titled, financial risk managers. Ideally, a financial risk manager (FRM) works for banks, accounting firms or insurance companies. Learn more about therole of the financial risk manager.
One of the fundamental responsibilities of any firm is managing its finances, as the wrong financial decision could lead the company to suffer significant financial casualties. Let’s get acquainted with the skills required to become a financial manager.
- Analytical skills for assisting, executing, and interpreting the decisions that would affect the organisation and finding solutions to problems.
- Accounting and Budgeting skills, to understand the methodologies related to cost and budget within the company and discuss them with co-workers.
- Decision-making and Leadership skills to determine the best course of action and have the team implement it.
- Excellent communication skills, for thoroughly explaining and justifying complex financial transactions. Also, to maintain better relationships with fellow mates.
- Mathematical skills, to analyse and interpret complex financial documents.
- The skill to adapt to the continuous transformations in the market and within the organisations for more effective outcomes.
- Basic technical skills help find, explore, and sort financial data easily.
Salary of a Financial Manager in India
Companies rely on finance managers to manage their budgets and help them accomplish their economic goals. Thus, they play an essential role in an organisation’s success.
Financial managers are in demand in different industries, including banks, asset firms, insurance companies, healthcare, EdTech, etc. Some of the top companies for a finance job are KPMG, HDFC, Barclays, State Bank of India, Morgan Stanley, and McKinsey & Co.
Coming to the salary, a finance manager’s salary in India starts from ₹ 3.5- ₹ 5 Lakhs and goes up to ₹ 28- ₹ 30.0 Lakhs [Source]. The average annual salary is somewhere around ₹ 12- ₹ 13.0 Lakhs [Source].
The salary, however, varies depending upon the.
- Location
- Experience
- Education Qualification
Financial managers play a key role in any company as they work towards growing the business, irrespective of the economic conditions. A career in finance management can be favourable and fruitful as its dimensions in India are expanding, increasing the demand for professional and skilled individuals.
How To Become a Finance Manager
If you are planning to become a finance manager, here are the steps.
Step 1: Acquire a bachelor’s degree
Your career as a finance manager starts with a bachelor’s degree. Thus, pursuing a four-year bachelor’s degree in economics, accounting, business administration, finance, or another related field is a must.
Step 2: Participate in an Internship
A degree will brace you with theoretical knowledge. To start your professional journey, a finance-related internship would be helpful. You can enrol on internships while pursuing your degree as well.
Step 3: Get Certified
It is not compulsory, but a certificate in some specific areas of finance can be an added advantage. Certifications help increase your expertise in a subject, further showcasing your preparation for a career in finance.
Step 4: Earn a master’s degree
You can proceed with your professional career with a bachelor’s degree. Though when we talk about finance managers, some companies prefer to go with the one having a master’s degree. You can opt for a master’s degree in finance, economics, accounting, or business.
Step 5: Upskilling
Taking financial courses to gain additional knowledge can help improve your chances of getting a job as a financial manager.
Emeritus India offers some of the top-notchfinancial management courses in collaboration with reputed universities like IIM, XLRI, and SPJIMR, that can help you get executive and post-graduation level certification and alumni status from respective universities.
These courses are designed to help you acquire in-demand skills and gain an in-depth understanding of the subject. This further helps you successfully transition to senior roles with competitive pay packages, thus, accelerating your career.
