Resume guide · Job Zone 4

Financial Managersresume guide.

Plan, direct, or coordinate accounting, investing, banking, insurance, securities, and other financial activities of a branch, office, or department of an A strong Financial Managers resume shows active listening, critical thinking and reading comprehension, and names the tools you have worked with, such as SAP software, Workday software and Microsoft Access.

See a sample Financial Managers resumeAnnotated against this guide · 3 templates↓
Sample resume

This guide, on a real page.

A Financial Managers resume built in ResumeXRays, annotated against the data below. Flip the pages, try a template, then make it yours.

  1. 1Give the size of what you manage.A $480M company and a team of seven tell a hiring manager the scale of the job. Financial Planning Manager is also a title this guide lists, so the summary matches the postings.
  2. 2Show you build the team, not just run it."Recruit staff members" and "Oversee training programs" are both core tasks in this guide. Saying who you hired and who you promoted proves Management of Personnel Resources.
  3. 3Put a number on cash."Oversee the flow of cash or financial instruments" is the second task this guide lists. Forecast accuracy and a loan paid down early show the result.
  4. 4Show the tools did real work.Alteryx software, Tableau and SQL are hot tools in this guide, and finance teams now want data and automation skills as much as accounting. Days saved on reporting proves you use them.
  5. 5Name your CPA license and its state.Write out Certified Public Accountant, the Texas board that issued it and that it is active. Many of these roles ask for a CPA or a similar credential on top of a degree.
  6. 6Keep education to one line.Most financial managers have a bachelor's degree, so the degree, school and year are all a reader needs.

Sample resume. The candidate is fictional; the layout and templates are real.

Bartholomew Quill

Financial Planning Manager, CPA

[email protected] / (214) 555-0134 / Dallas, TX

Summary

Financial planning manager with 12 years in corporate finance, the last five leading FP&A and financial reporting for a $480M distribution company. Run budgeting, cash forecasting and the monthly reporting pack with a team of seven. Recently automated reporting in Alteryx software and Tableau, giving leadership its numbers four days sooner.

Experience

Financial Planning Manager
Elmspire Distribution Co. / Dallas, TX
Mar 2021 - Present
Lead a team of 7 analysts and accountants across FP&A and reporting; hired 4 of them and ran a training plan in SQL and Tableau that moved 2 staff accountants into analyst roles.
Rebuilt the 13-week cash flow forecast in Microsoft Excel and SAP software, holding variance within 3% and giving treasury the confidence to pay down $15M of the revolving credit line a year early.
Automated the monthly reporting pack with Alteryx software and Tableau, cutting close-to-report time from 9 business days to 5 and retiring 40 manual spreadsheets.
Built a driver-based budget for 14 warehouses from labor, freight and fuel cost data, surfacing $3.2M in freight savings that operations captured in the first year.
Piloted an AI assistant to draft first-pass variance commentary that analysts review line by line, saving about 12 analyst hours a month.
Senior Financial Analyst
Sundial Table Restaurant Group / Fort Worth, TX
Jun 2016 - Mar 2021
Owned the annual budget and monthly forecast for 38 restaurants and flagged weak locations early; the menu and labor changes that followed lifted average restaurant margin 1.8 points.
Partnered with 6 regional directors on labor scheduling, cutting overtime cost 22% while guest scores held steady.
Helped move the company from Sage 50 Accounting to Workday software and closed the first month on the new system on schedule.
Audit Senior
Moravec Kildare LLP / Dallas, TX
Aug 2012 - Jun 2016
Led fieldwork for 15 middle-market manufacturing and distribution audits a year, delivering every engagement by its deadline.

Skills

Tools:Microsoft Excel, SAP software, Workday software, Tableau, Alteryx software, Structured query language SQL, Microsoft PowerPoint, Sage 50 Accounting
Finance:Budgeting and forecasting, cash flow management, financial reporting (GAAP), month-end close, variance analysis, cost analysis
Leadership:Team leadership, recruiting, training programs, executive presentations

Licenses & Certifications

Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Texas State Board of Public Accountancy, active
Certified Corporate FP&A Professional (FPAC), Association for Financial Professionals

Education

Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting
Sabinal State University
2012

01Also called

O*NET
Accounting SupervisorBanking Center Manager (BCM)Branch ManagerBusiness Banking ManagerCredit Administration ManagerCredit ManagerFinancial Center ManagerFinancial Planning ManagerFinancial Reporting ManagerFinancial Systems Manager

02Skills employers expect

O*NET

Importance is how much the skill matters to the job; level is how much of it the job demands. Both are worth naming on the resume, in this order.

SkillImportanceLevel
Active ListeningVery highAdvanced
Critical ThinkingVery highAdvanced
Reading ComprehensionVery highAdvanced
SpeakingVery highAdvanced
MonitoringHighAdvanced
WritingHighIntermediate
Complex Problem SolvingHighIntermediate
CoordinationHighIntermediate
Judgment and Decision MakingHighIntermediate
Management of Personnel ResourcesHighAdvanced

03Knowledge areas

O*NET
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Administration and Management
  • Economics and Accounting
  • Mathematics
  • Administrative
  • Law and Government
  • Personnel and Human Resources
  • Sales and Marketing
  • English Language
  • Education and Training

04Common responsibilities

O*NET

Ordered by importance. Each one is a bullet waiting for a result and a number.

  1. Establish and maintain relationships with individual or business customers or provide assistance with problems these customers may encounter.
  2. Oversee the flow of cash or financial instruments.
  3. Plan, direct, or coordinate the activities of workers in branches, offices, or departments of establishments, such as branch banks, brokerage firms, risk and insurance departments, or credit departments.
  4. Recruit staff members.
  5. Evaluate data pertaining to costs to plan budgets.
  6. Oversee training programs.

05Software and tools

O*NET

64 tools across 26 categories. The six largest categories are below; Hot marks a hot technology, In demand a tool employers ask for most often.

Enterprise resource planning ERP software11
  • SAP softwareHotIn demand
  • Workday softwareHotIn demand
  • Oracle PeopleSoftHot
  • Microsoft Dynamics
  • Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne
  • Oracle Hyperion
  • SAP Business Objects
  • Microsoft Dynamics GP
  • NetSuite ERP
  • Oracle PeopleSoft Financials
  • Oracle Fusion Applications
+ 6 more
Data base user interface and query software7
+ 2 more
Business intelligence and data analysis software6
  • TableauHotIn demand
  • Alteryx softwareHotIn demand
  • IBM Cognos Impromptu
  • Qlik Tech QlikView
  • MicroStrategy
  • Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition
+ 1 more
Accounting software5
  • Intuit QuickBooksHotIn demand
  • Tax softwareIn demand
  • Sage 50 Accounting
  • Fund accounting software
  • Accounts receivable software
Financial analysis software4
  • Oracle E-Business Suite Financials
  • Delphi Technology
  • ARES Corporation PRISM Project Estimator
  • Credit management software
Electronic mail software3
Human resources software3
  • ADP Workforce NowIn demand
  • Human resource management software HRMS
  • Human resource information system (HRIS)
Analytical or scientific software2
Customer relationship management CRM software2
Development environment software2
Document management software2
Project management software2
  • Microsoft ProjectHotIn demand
  • Oracle Primavera Enterprise Project Portfolio ManagementHot
Spreadsheet software2
Compliance software1
  • Tax compliance property tax management softwareIn demand
Data base management system software1
  • Teradata DatabaseHot
Data base reporting software1
  • SAP Crystal Reports
Enterprise system management software1
  • IBM Power Systems software
Information retrieval or search software1
  • LexisNexis
Medical software1
  • Healthcare common procedure coding system HCPCS
Object or component oriented development software1
  • RHotIn demand
Office suite software1
Operating system software1
Presentation software1
Process mapping and design software1
Sales and marketing software1
  • Marketo Marketing AutomationHot
Word processing software1

06Education and preparation

O*NET
Typical education
Bachelor's Degree
56% of surveyed workers. Others report Post-Baccalaureate Certificate (21%) and High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (14%).
Preparation level
Job Zone 4 · Considerable preparation
Usually a four-year degree and several years of related experience.

07Putting it on your resume

ResumeXRays guidance
BEE · How to show it

Lead with what you built. For a Job Zone 4 role, hiring managers and parsers both look for outcomes before credentials. Put two or three results at the top of each job entry, with the scale or effect stated plainly.

Name the tools exactly. This occupation is heavy on named software. A skills section that says "SAP software, Workday software, Microsoft Access, Structured query language SQL" matches more job descriptions than a general phrase. Use the spelling employers use.

Show critical thinking and reading comprehension, not just active listening. Critical thinking and reading comprehension rank close to active listening for this occupation. One bullet per role that shows a decision, a tradeoff or a result covers them.

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