Financial Managers
Sign In
OverviewSalaryAboutEducationWhere are the jobsEmploymentGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Plan, direct, or coordinate accounting, investing, banking, insurance, securities, and other financial activities of a branch, office, or department of an establishment.
Highlights
Undergraduate program resulting in the highest median salary ($95K): Computer Science
Largest undergraduate program (16.7% of workers): Accounting
Explore Pathways
Titles for this career often contain these words
ManagerFinancialControllerSupervisorCreditDirectorTreasurerPortfolioAccountingPresidentInstitutionFundViceInvestmentBankBankingCenterBranchCityComptrollerAccountsAssetAssistantCorporateCostFinanceOfficerFixedIncomeLoanRegionalRiskTaxAccountAccountantActuarialAnalysisATMAutomatedTellerMachineAuditingAuditorBCMBudgetCashCollectionsCountyAdministrationCollectionDepartmentOfficeUnionDistrictExchangeFloorFieldEngineerPlanningFinancierFiscalHedgeInstitutionalInternationalInvestmentsLeadMutualPaymasterPensionPlantProductionReimbursementRelationshipResidentialMortgageInsuranceManagementSchoolSeniorServiceStateTreasuryConsultantTrust
Share
Fewer details
Responsibilities and activities

Financial managers typically do the following:

  • Prepare financial statements, business activity reports, and forecasts
  • Monitor financial details to ensure that legal requirements are met
  • Supervise employees who do financial reporting and budgeting
  • Review financial reports and seek ways to reduce costs
  • Analyze market trends to maximize profits and find expansion opportunities
  • Help management make financial decisions

Financial managers spend much of their time analyzing data and advising senior managers on ways to maximize profits. They often work on teams, acting as advisors to top executives.

Financial managers must have knowledge of the topics, tax laws, and regulations that are specific to their organization or industry. For example, government financial managers must be experts on appropriations and budgeting processes; healthcare financial managers must understand billing, reimbursement, and other business matters related to healthcare.

The following are examples of types of financial managers:

Controllers direct the preparation of financial reports that summarize and forecast an organization’s financial position. These reports may include income statements, balance sheets, and analyses of future earnings or expenses. Controllers also are in charge of preparing reports required by governmental agencies that regulate businesses. Often, controllers oversee the accounting, audit, and budget departments of their organization.

Treasurers and finance officers direct an organization’s budgets to meet its financial goals. They oversee investments and other plans to raise capital, such as issuing stocks or bonds, to support their organization’s growth. They also develop financial plans for mergers (two companies joining together) and acquisitions (one company buying another).

Credit managers oversee an organization’s credit business. They set credit-rating standards, determine credit limits, and monitor the collections of past-due accounts.

Cash managers monitor and control the flow of money into and out of an organization to meet business and investment needs. For example, they must project whether the organization will have a shortage or surplus of cash.

Risk managers use strategies to limit or offset an organization’s chance of financial loss or exposure to financial uncertainty. Among the risks they try to limit are those arising from currency or commodity price changes.

Insurance managers decide how to limit an organization’s losses by protecting against risks, such as for disability payments to an employee who gets hurt on the job or for costs imposed by a lawsuit against the organization.

Salary
Median salary: $134,180 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $95,770 and $186,030.
$134K$0$50K$100K$150K$200K
Note: The salaries for financial managers have been top-coded by the BLS; in 2019, all annual salaries larger than # are recorded as #.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
Fewer details
Salary growth for financial managers
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
$79K$82K$32K$75K$78K$46K$82K$63K$80K$0$50K$100K$150K$200K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
Number employed
050K100K150K200K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
About Financial Managers
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of financial managers who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
  • Time Pressure (76%)
  • Consequence of Error (59%)
  • High Conflict Frequency (34%)
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Financial Managers? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Analytical skills
To assist executives in making decisions, financial managers need to evaluate data and information that affects their organization.
Communication skills
Financial managers must be able to explain and justify complex financial transactions.
Detail oriented
In preparing and analyzing reports, such as balance sheets and income statements, financial managers must be precise and attentive to their work in order to avoid errors.
Math skills
Financial managers need strong skills in certain branches of mathematics, including algebra. Ability to understand international finance and complex financial documents also is important.
Organizational skills
Because financial managers deal with a range of information and documents, they must have structures in place to be effective in their work.
Injury and Illness
About 25 financial managers become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 56% of other careers. The most common specific illnesses or injuries are detailed following.
All multiple traumatic injuries
Soreness and pain
Fractures
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by financial managers
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), financial managers typically hold a bachelor's degree.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as financial managers as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for financial managers

Financial managers typically need at least a bachelor's degree in finance, accounting, economics, or business administration. However, many employers prefer to hire candidates who have a master’s degree in those same fields. These disciplines help students learn analytical skills and methods.

Details: Licensing and certification recommended for financial managers

Although it is not required, professional certification indicates competence for financial managers who have it. The Association of Government Accountants (AGA) offers the Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM) designation to financial managers working with federal, state, or local government. To earn this certification, candidates must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, pass examinations, and have professional-level experience in government financial management. To keep the certification, CGFMs must complete continuing professional education.

The CFA Institute confers the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification to investment professionals who have at least a bachelor’s degree or 4 years of work experience, or a combination of experience and education, and who pass three exams. The Association for Financial Professionals confers the Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) credential to those who have at least 2 years of relevant experience or 1 year of experience and a graduate degree in business, finance, or a related field. This association also confers the Certified Corporate Financial Planning Analysis Professional (FP&A) credential to those who have a bachelor’s degree or who are currently enrolled in an undergraduate program with a finance-related major and will graduate within 2 years. Both credentials require passing an exam.

Certified public accountants (CPAs) are licensed by their state’s board of accountancy and must pass an exam administered by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

Education level of Financial Managers
About 63% of financial managers have at least a bachelor's degree.
Education attained by financial managers
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
Top college degrees
Here are the top college degrees held by the 62% of people in this job who have at least a bachelor's degree. Some of degrees may link to multiple programs due to the way Census classifies college majors. Click on a program to learn more about career opportunities for people who major in that field.
  1. Accounting
  2. Business Management and Administration
  3. Finance
  4. Business/Commerce
  5. Economics
Fewer details
College majors held by financial managers
This table shows the college majors held by people working as financial managers. If you see "**" before the name of a degree/program, that means this field is one that the Department of Education believes is preparatory for this career. However, you can see from this list that those recommendations are far from your only path to this job!
Salary comparison for bachelor's only
Higher
Similar
Lower
Career salary (tail) versus Career/Major salary (dot)
Does the bachelor's-only salary rise or fall with this major?
$39K$116K
Salary for bachelor's-only
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Salary for all workers
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Education for Career and Major
Bachelor's
Master's
Professional
Doctorate
Workers with this career/major
Percentage in this career with this major
Not so much?
The link between degrees and this career
With the following sankey diagram, you can follow the top ten bachelor's degrees held by people working as financial managers, and then, in turn, you can see the 10 occupations that hire the most of each degree's graduates. We hope this provides ideas for similar jobs and similar fields of study.
Expand degrees
AccountingBusiness Management ...FinanceGeneral BusinessEconomicsMarketingPsychologyPolitical Science an...CommunicationsEnglish Language and...All other degreesThis jobTop 10 majors
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Financial Managers per 1,000 workers (ACS)
AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
Fewer details
Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most financial managers? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as financial managers. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where financial managers earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
  • In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for financial managers compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
  • Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for financial managers.
We hope the ratio allows perspective about how salaries may compare to the regional cost-of-living.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which financial managers earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Financial Managers (ACS)
AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
Employment
4% of Financial managers are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 4% part-time workers, this occupation has a lower percentage of part-time workers than 83% of careers.
4%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
Fewer details
Distribution: Salaries of financial managers by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
$70K$88K$69K$70K$72K$75K$54K$70K$0$50,000$100,000$150,000$200,000Self-employed not incorporatedSelf-employed incorporatedFederal governmentState governmentLocal governmentPrivate not-for-profitPrivate for-profitAll
Gender
Financial managers and gender
With 53% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 64% of careers.
Gender of Financial managers
Men (47%)
Women (53%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
$62K$85K$0$100K$200K$300KWomenMen
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
Fewer details
Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
53%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Context: Salary inequity
The median (middle) salary for all full-time male workers in the US exceeds the full-time median salary for women by 19%, and the difference for financial managers tops that, with the median salary for men 37% higher than the median salary for women.
37%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Financial managers
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Financial managers.
Race/origin of financial managers
White (79% )
Black (8% )
Asian (7% )
Other (2% )
Multiracial (2% )
Hispanic (1% )
American Indian (0% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
$47K$50K$55K$58K$63K$72K$85K$0$50K$100K$150K$200KAmerican IndianOtherHispanicBlackMultiracialWhiteAsian
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.