INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Finance Officer positions are at a 5% growth rate, which is slower than average. With that said, there are currently 275,200 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 12,600 to 287,800 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Finance Officer jobs was $89,330 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $44,100, and the highest 10% more than $208,000.
Our conclusion? The Finance Officer job market is wide open for candidates.
Top finance officer sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a finance officer resume experience section
Finance officer resume's job experience checklist:
- Use 4-6 bullet points per job title;
- Don’t go further than a decade behind when describing your job history, unless you’re applying for an executive position;
- Combine job responsibilities as well as achievements with numbers in results when you describe your past work;
- Start each sentence with a power verb and avoid overused buzzwords;
- Use either C-A-R or S-T-A-R methodology, when describing your experience.
The work experience samples below come from real Finance Officer resumes that got people hired at top companies. You can use them as an inspiration to build your own resume:
- Implementation of a new Business intelligence system that helped to Improve company's efficiency and revenues
- Successful budgeting and forecast that reduced running costs by 20% for the years 2014-15
- Management and coordination of a 10+ Team of people
- Successful budgeting and project management of major upgrade without costs overrun and in time
- Effective and productive implementation of a distant online work platform
- Prepare and Maintain all the Admin, HR, Finance, and Logistic Documents/Filling of Documents.
- Prepare monthly, quarterly and annual reports of admin and financial.
- Procurement of goods/equipment for training and Health Facilities according to the procurement procedure/manual.
- Maintain personnel file of all the project staff.
- Prepare and Maintain the Attendance and leave records of the staff.
- Prepare and Maintain Bank Book, Cash Book, Journal and Issue and Follow up of Bank Checks.
- Prepare of Request/Budgeting the funds for training and supplies to health facilities.
- Supervise and control all expenses related to vehicle maintenance and fuel consumption.
- Obtain GRN (Goods Received Notice) and Delivery of Goods to the clinics.
- Assist the Provincial Officer in maintaining project and finance controlling tools.
- Review vendors and local subcontract invoices and ensure all supporting documents are in accordance with Chemonics and client policies.
- Ensure that all outstanding questions are resolved before the payments are submitted for approval.
- Ensure that all transactions are entered into the Chemonics financial accounting system in accordance with the Chemonics Chart of Accounts.
- Prepare payroll trackers and transactions for distribution each month.
- Finalize monthly bank reconciliations and submit them for review to senior finance staff in a timely manner.
- Assist in preparation of different financial reports for Chemonics headquarters and for Afghan tax authorities.
- Maintain the finance department filling system for physical and electronic files in accordance with Chemonics policies.
- Ensure all financial documents are scanned and uploaded in on a monthly basis and that proper back-up documentation is maintained.
- Issue and follow up of bank checks for payment more than AFN 20,000.
- Prepare and submission of monthly reports in Kandahar Office.
- Administration role.
- Assisting Manager Finance and Operations in budget preparation.
- Bookkeeping and Vouchers preparation on bi-monthly basis.
- Managing records and receipts.
- Preparation and reconciliation of transaction and liaising with the auditors.
- Assisting Manager Finance in the budget preparation.
- Arranged all the incoming and outgoing movements (Cars + Flights) in close collaboration with the Logistics Officer.
- Responsible for all the Contracts like Guest house, Office building, Flight bookings.
- Responsible for all the administrative duties and to maintain records for Contracts, Training's and all the project inventories.
- To liaison with the Government officials and other actors regarding the meetings and new strategies.
- To help the HR officer in recruitment & orientations of new staff.
- To work closely with the Finance manager on Budgeting.
- Complete payment process within 2 weeks, excluding exceptional cases.
- Analyse and verify the expenses of departments. To identify and advise respective departments on cost efficient on duty travel costs including expenses occur with alternative especially for key high value items.
- To ensure all supporting document and charges are correct by cross checking against agreement/quotations & document meeting audit requirement at all time
- Complete prepare supporting document for Hotel Invoices, Allowance and Travel Ticket.
- To ensure timely issuance of Allowance and Travel Ticket
- To ensure compatible prices for hotel choices and matches the needs of staff
- Ensure company updates account payable and ensure vendor receives payment advise on time.
- Maintaining day to day branch operation
- Preparing financial reports
- Analyzing branch revenue reports
- Preparing Board papers for micro finance
- Handling HR operations of micro department
- Maintaining micro finance operations.
- Preparing branch wise financial reports
- Analyzing company balance sheet
- Motivation speaker - Tamil & Sinhala
- Handling branch wise recovery issues.
- Budget Planning
- Cash Book and General Ledger
- Petty Cash
- Invoicing
- Balance Sheet and Income Statement
- Managing and oversee accounts payable/receivables, cash disbursement to achieve reporting deadline.
- Reconciliations of cash, credit and bank accounts.
- End of Month processes.
- Maintenance of balance sheet, profit and loss reporting, annual budgeting and forecasting.
- Producing monthly and annual financial reports, analysis for the various programs and management team.
- Developing and implementing improvements to financial process and procedure.
- Preparing external auditing.
- Ad-hoc projects as and when required.
- Assisting and providing support in preparation and monitoring Budget estimate of Rodrigues Regional Assembly
- Providing support in the mechanism of Finance Division; Preparation, computation, examination and input of Other Charges, Store Forms and Invoices in the Treasury Accounting System
- Providing support at the Payroll Section; Preparation and input of Payroll
- Providing support in the computation of Tax Deduction at Source (TDS), Statement of Purchases, VAT INPUT and PAYE
- Providing support in the adjustment of items and reconciliation account in Payable Section
- Bookkeeping and General Ledger
- Invoice processing
- VAT Computation
- Preparation of Financial Statements
- Preparation of Cash Flow Statements
- Budget preparation
- General Administration
- General reporting of budget and financial planning both short and long term.
- Developing the processes, reports and guidelines needed to build and maintain the financial system of the organisation.
- Preparing income statements, balance sheets among other accounting statements.
- Preparing and administering payroll to employees.
- Created and implemented financial policies to guarantee operational efficiency.
- Prepared balance sheets and invoices.
- Ensured that financial records are kept up-to-date with the latest transactions and changes.
- Monitored all bank deposits and payments.
- Performed periodic financial analysis to detect and resolve problems.
- Perform periodic financial analysis to detect and resolve problems
- Import Documentation
- Trade Finance Documentation
- Reconciling daily, monthly and yearly transactions
- Meeting with financial institutions for loan management
- Working on commission.
- Monthly customer wise margin analysis.
- coordinating with vendors and branches all over India.
- Bank reconciliation.
- Keeping track of all invoices has been entered in our system(SUN SYSTEM).
- Creating code to process the payment.
- Preparing MIS report as specified by management.
- To decrease the expenditures.
- To present the weekly and monthly reports from related activities.
- To regulate and finalize the yearly taxes affairs between SW and government taxes departments (Most fiat).
- Processed weekly payments to suppliers and completed bank reconciliations every month.
- Sent budget reports to internal departments and budget holders.
- Processed payroll in a timely and accurate manner while coordinating with HR departments both locally and in London.
- Lead on internal projects like Digitisation and the move in financial systems and trained staff on the usage of the software.
- Updated policies and revamped procedures for a better workflow and communicated the same with staff and externals contractors.
- Daily review and analysis of stores sales with customer and basket trend
- Analyzing daily margins and promotions department wise and section wise
- Negative margin analysis and reporting it to management
- Analyzing daily waste value, percentage and collecting the feedback from the respective departments if above standard
PRO TIP
Check the Finance Officer job description for inspiration. Look for similarities between your employer’s values and your experience.
Action verbs for your finance officer resume
Recommended reads:
Finance Officer Resume Skills’ Tips & Tricks to Impress Recruiters
Resume skills section checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top skills for your finance officer resume
Microsoft Office
SAP
Excel
Salesforce
Data Entry
Quickbooks
Project Management
Customer Service
CRM
Communication
Negotiation
Critical thinking
Problem solving
Collaboration
Flexibitly
Resilience
Dedication
Empathy
PRO TIP
When describing your experience, don’t go too far from its terminology. Recruiters use ATS systems to filter resumes based on them having certain keywords, so make sure you use at least a few keywords mentioned in the job description.
Finance officer resume header: tips, red flags, and best practices
Checklist for your finance officer resume header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
Recommended reads.":
PRO TIP
Some companies, states, and countries have policies about identifying information like photos on your Finance Officer resume. Be sure to check all the relevant rules before submitting yours. If you’re in doubt, you can always try contacting the company’s HR department to ask for their policy.
Finance officer resume summary best practices
Checklist: What to include in your Finance Officer resume summary:
- Years of experience;
- Highlight top 3 skills and proficiencies;
- One big professional accomplishment you’re most proud of, that you can tie with the aforementioned skills;
- Use short, direct sentences - but no more than three - to keep the HRs interested.
resume summary formula:
PRO TIP
Include a link to your portfolio in your resume header. Most companies will require that you include one in your resume, and even if they don’t, it’s an excellent opportunity to directly show them your proudest projects.
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Listing your education, certifications and courses
Resume Education Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top certifications for your finance officer resume
Introduction to Finance, Accounting, Modeling and Valuation
Learn Finance & Accounting from Scratch by an Award Winning MBA Professor, Ivy Grad, worked @ Goldman & VC
The Complete Finance Manager Course 2022
Financial Management, ERP systems, Accounting, Capital budgeting, Presentation design, Management, and Negotiation
Chief Wealth Officer
The Money Management & Small Business Finance Course For Every Small Business Owner
Finance for Non-Finance: Learn Quick and Easy
Obtain Suplemental Skills to Get a Raise, Better Job or Improve Your Own Business
Export Finance, Priority Sector, Retail Loan & Documentation
Guide to Certified Credit Professional Course Exam of IIBF to become Credit Officer - Part 3/4
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
There are dozens of certifications that you can claim as a Finance Officer. But, some are more effective than others. That’s why you mustn’t include every certificate other applicants might have. Try instead to earn and list a few of the difficult ones.
How to write a finance officer resume
There are three basic resume formats you can choose from:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional resume format;
- Hybrid (or Combination) resume format;
The most optimal format for your particular case will depend on your years of experience, as well as whether you’re switching industries or not.
Reverse chronological resumes are best suited for experienced individuals who are sticking to their industry. The experience section takes a central place, and its bullets contain your responsibilities and achievements, coupled with numbers and results.
Functional resumes are used by less experienced jobseekers or career changers. Note that it’s not a format that recruiters prefer, as most are used to the classic chronological alignment. Instead of a list of job titles, functional resumes focus on your skills, and through what experiences you gained them.
Hybrid resumes are great for both experienced and entry-level candidates, as well as career changers. They combine the best of both worlds - most often in a double column format, where one side of the content is focused on your experience, whereas the other - on your skills, strengths, and proudest moments.
Here are more resume tips regarding your layout and style:
- Clear and legible 12p resume font size;
- Use 10’’ resume margins - that’s default for a great resume design;
- Use a one-page template resume length if you’ve got less than 10 years of experience; otherwise, opt for a two-page resume;
- Save your resume as PDF before sending it to the recruiter.
To take it a step further, check out how your resume can stand out without leaning too much on the creative side.
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PRO TIP
If you feel that you don’t have high chances in a particular company, due to lack of relevant experience, then you can still consider using a creative layout. That might help you get noticed and invited for an interview, as most of the other applicants will have boring resume designs.
Other Sections to Include in Your Resume
Depending on the type of company (corporation or start-up; innovative or traditional), job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your Finance Officer resume:
Finance officer resume: How to make yours more creative & stand out
When you send your resume to a potential employer, chances are it's the fiftieth one they've seen that day. That's why you need to make your Finance Officer resume stand out for the right reasons. That means showing your personality, not just your professional experience. Employers are far more likely to remember a candidate who seems like a genuine person and not a robot. Do this by including your passions (which is also a great place to demonstrate skills on a resume), share your favorite books, or even what your usual day looks like.
What makes a great finance officer resume: key takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
