The roles you choose now could shape your career.
What's involved in a selection of finance roles open to CIMA members, from financial analyst to CFO, and what are the career prospects of each?
Management accountant
This is a core role for CIMA members. Chartered management accountants provide business data and analysis to managers to contribute to business decision making and control.
This is a highly commercial role and you will be expected to offer your opinion and insight into business performance.
There are two main paths for a chartered management accountant. Progressing to head of financial planning and analysis means involvement in a more sophisticated reporting and analysis environment. The alternative for many management accountants is to ultimately progress to financial controller and finance director. If this is your aim, consider a role in financial accounting as well.
In common with all the following roles, management accounting requires good soft skills such as communication, team-working/influencing, strategic skills and entrepreneurial flair. You will need these regardless of which career path you choose.
Business/commercial analyst
Business analysts work at the forefront of the business, aiming to maximise commercial development by controlling financial information.
They track profitability, cash flow and working capital to help determine an organisation's ability to grow, remain solvent and provide revenue for shareholders.
There are a variety of roles sitting under the analyst title, from management accounting with elements of project work to pure analyst focusing solely on project based work.
It's a high profile role liaising with all areas of finance and also with non-finance employees. It offers excellent commercial exposure and is a fantastic route to becoming finance director or managing director.
Financial analyst
Financial accounting is a more technical role involving the collection, recording and extraction of financial information. Financial accountants then summarise this information in periodic profit and loss accounts, a balance sheet and a cash flow statement.
Financial accountants are responsible for the production of the statement of accounts and are heavily involved in the interim and year end results reporting process. Liaising with external auditors to ensure a smooth and efficient running of the audit process and optimising tax effectiveness is also part of this role.
This is an ideal role for someone wishing to pursue a career in commerce and industry. It offers a clear career structure as you progress down a core financial route, opening up opportunities to either financial controller or finance director.
Financial controller
This is a key position within finance, typically with responsibility for the regulatory financial reporting and compliance of the company.
Typically reporting to the finance director, the financial controller is accountable for the robustness and integrity of internal controls, providing senior management with the required information and confidence to make informed business decisions.
Often the financial controller will lead large teams of staff, requiring excellent interpersonal skills in addition to technical competence. The FC will support (and sometimes lead) the budgeting, forecasting and business planning process. Commercial acumen is often a key requisite sought by companies recruiting financial controllers.
Director of business planning
A head of business planning will be at the hub of the business. They typically report to the finance director but work with the senior management team, engaging and challenging them about the business direction and strategy, and ensuring that the commercial aims of the business are achieved while maintaining prudence in terms of financial control and asset protection.
Planning directors need to have a deep understanding of a business, its customers and market dynamics ' it is possibly one of the most commercially facing roles in finance. They also need exceptional business analysis and financial control expertise.
Finance director
Finance directors hold the most senior finance post within a specific entity, company or division of a group. The finance team (and at times other functions like information technology, logistics and human resources) will report to and seek guidance from this executive.
The finance director signs off the statutory accounts of the business and must ensure controls are in place to ensure the organisation is operating in an efficient and ethical manner. They generally operate on elevated matters, such as process change and operational investment decisions and will provide guidance on growth or contraction strategies.
Chief financial officer
The main distinction between a finance director and chief financial officer is whether they are responsible for a single entity or multiple entities. CFOs oversee a group of companies or entities, with multiple FDs reporting into this function. CFOs hold a post on the board of directors, reporting to the chief executive officer.
They are involved in controlling, managing and developing the financial performance of the group of companies and they influence the strategic direction across all the businesses.
For more on all these roles, please see the profiles section of CIMA MY JOBS.
This content was originally supplied by Robert Walters.
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