Skills
Financial Manager Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in financial managers, and how to build and show them.
What skills do financial managers need?
Financial Managers need technical skills such as financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting, and cash management, plus people skills like leadership and integrity. They also use tools such as ERP systems and Excel.
Technical (hard) skills
- Financial reporting
- Budgeting and forecasting
- Cash management
- Accounting standards
- Financial modeling
- Risk management
People (soft) skills
- Leadership
- Integrity
- Communication
- Analytical thinking
Tools, equipment and technology
- ERP systems
- Excel
- FP&A software
- Business intelligence tools
- Treasury systems
- Accounting software
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how financial managers put their skills to work:
- How to speed up the month-end close
- How to build a 13-week cash forecast
- How to evaluate a capital investment request
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Financial reporting” and “Budgeting and forecasting.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “leadership,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as CPA near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our financial manager glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Financial Manager training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.