INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Financial Controller positions are at a 6% growth rate, which is as fast as average. With that said, there are currently 492,100 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 31,300 to 523,400 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Financial Controller jobs was $83,660 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $48,760, and the highest 10% more than $159,560.
Our conclusion? The Financial Controller job market is wide open for candidates.
Top financial controller sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a financial controller resume experience section
Financial controller resume experience: checklist
- Use either chronological or reverse-chronological format when listing your previous jobs;
- Mention only relevant positions that add value to your resume;
- Briefly state the challenges you’ve faced and how you’ve overcome them;
- Highlight the results from your efforts (for bonus points, add numbers, percentage rates, etc.);
- Forget about buzzwords! Use power verbs instead.
Use the examples below to build your own experience section!
- Finance Controller of Orange Mobile Enterprise - global organization focused on M2M IoT Connectivity and Mobility Value Added Services.
- Responsible for full P&L, mostly focused on accounting, budgeting, controlling and reporting
- Cooperating with international Sales Controllers to secure correct revenue recognition.
- Controlling gross margin by customers and businesses
- Key activities on cost side: Managing multiple cost flows between Orange Mobile Enterprise and various Orange intragroup entities and external suppliers. Components of production costs are typically related to technical telecommunication platforms owned by Orange intragroup entities or purchased from external suppliers where Orange Mobile Enterprise acts as re-seller to end customers. Maintaining proper cost accounting, controlling the budget spend and reporting results to management on monthly business reviews.
- Acting as point of contact for auditors
- Analyzing and reporting P&L key Items in order to give adequate visibility to the BU organization of substantive issues through variance analysis, forecast recommendations and KPIs calculation
- Managing and supporting all the commercial offers from both strategic and financial point of view
- Supporting and developing the financial planning and budgeting process, taking into consideration actual performance, previous expenditures and estimated expenses and income, by maintaining accurate spending records following internal guidelines for budgetary control;
- Producing financial analysis in order to verify profit-and-loss income statements, generating forecasts and analysing trends in Sales and other areas of business; production of reports and recommendations (based on the results of financial analysis) to Company and/or Regional management in an accurate and timely manner;
- Producing the CAPEX control budgeting and planning.
- P&L analysis for investments requests.
- Producing the Balance Sheets for every shops, discussing them with the commercial director in order to identify critical situations and/or best practices.
- Set up tools to help the Commercial Area to optimize the productivity of the working hours of each shop.
- Set up tools to help the Logistic Area to identify the stock's ruptures for the best seller products;
- Producing financial reporting for the International board of managements.
- Supervision of a team of controllers responsible for financial analysis and reporting (on both Balance Sheet and P&L) to the Group and Insurance Business Units
- Oversight of general ledger integration following merger; MT Finance integration reporting
- Finance process design related to the continuous acquisition of new business systems; coordination of finance reporting automation and RPA activities
- Monitoring of the financial close operations for Group and Insurance, including analytical reviews
- Monitoring of financial close operations including analytical reviews; periodic financial reporting to Group and Insurance Business Units
- Coordination of process analysis and alignment within Group Finance
- Chain-wide analysis and reporting to Insurance BUs
- Group Risk management - control and reporting to internal and external stakeholders
- TASKS
- Complete review and analysis of finance and accounting function
- Redress issues in payments, collections, billing and purchasing
- Development of growth strategy for LATAM expansion
- SUCCESSES
- Negotiated new Partnership Agreement for office in Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Implementation of new 12-person finance team structure
- Implementation of Patricia IP management software
- AUFGABEN
- Bestandsanalyse des Bereichs Finance/Accounting
- Neuaufstellung Rechnungswesen (Invoicing, Payments, Collections and Purchasing) inkl. Cashflow Planung
- Erarbeitung der strategischen Planung in Lateinamerika
- BESONDERE ERFOLGE
- Kooperationsvertrag mit Partnerbüro in Sao Paulo neu verhandelt
- Neuaufstellung des Finanzteams mit 12 Mitarbeitern
- Koordination der Einführung von Patricia IP Management Software
- Report to the board of director and the CEO, responsible for all matters relating to the Group’s and subsidiaries’ finance, tax, audit, insurance, risk management, human resource, corporate secretary matters, and general management of the subsidiaries.
- Prepare regular finance and management reports to highlight issues for management’s attention and assist management in decision-making.
- Liaising with banks for financing and responsible for annual budgeting exercise and rolling forecasts.
- Created a cluster of shared accounting services in the business units in Frankfurt
- Supporting the Director of Operations making strategic decisions for the region.
- Developing operating procedures for the business unit opening (Meliá Frankfurt City)
- Responsible for compilation, review & analyse the financial reports from Hotels & units of Diagnostic centres Pan India.
- Overseeing the financial reports & analysis of 198-keys fully operational hotel "Courtyard by Marriott Gurugram Downtown"in the interest of Owner corporate
- Responsible for compilation & finalization of books of accounts, and preparation of financial statements
- Leading the internal audits for Hotels & units of diagnostic centres.
- Finalizing the budgets,incentives,financial schedules & notes and conducting variance analysis to determine difference between projected and actual results and assisting in implementing corrective actions
- Preparing of financial models for funding of new / ongoing projects with feasible Debt servicing.
- Assisting management in financial planning, budgeting, reporting and investment management process
- Updated company material to ISO9001 Compliance Quality standards
- Managed a team of 20 auditors who consistently received excellent client feedback
- Designed and led the implementation of a program that resulted in a +7% improvement in financial margin over 3 years
- Promoted early after 5 months of top performance in key metrics
- Forecasted financial statements and applied Sum-of-The-Parts valuation model (SOTP) for 2 clients
- Consistently produced 300+ reports per year with no loss of data integrity
- Acquired Vesta Ecommerce Entity (US and NZ based) to drive strategic growth $12M to $35M in 2 years.
- Ochestrated the integration of sub-entity Vesta to the Group, streamlined finance, payroll and human resource, saving $500K in operation costs.
- Optimise the Government's Research and Development Grants ($800K), through streamlining the process between IT and Deloitte R&D team.
- Developed Complex Financial Models for the Group, increasing revenue (ARR) by 100% through expansion strategy.
- Superior time management skills in aligning external audit, R&D grant, tax compliance, company acquisition and integration within 3 months.
- Analysed and optimised revenue projections of 6+ subsidiaries globally.
- Preparation of financial reports for investors presentations.
- Cooperated with the CEO and VP of Strategic Development to develop the company's strategic roadmap for FY22 & FY23.
- Engineered a Cash Flow Foecast tool to facilitate high cash-flow demands ($84M), ensuring seamless continuation of capital projects.
- Produced a 3-year budget ($350M) to align mine development
- Negotiation of insurance policies which resulted in savings of $100K.
- Established travel policy, which reduced overall travel expense by 40%.
- Managed company-wide global payroll operations for 30 employees.
- Creation of a new Management Entity to provide resources across all Asset portfolios, increased, resulted in a reduction of overhead cost by $500K.
- Superior management of Deloitte Audit saving 15% in external audit fees.
- Financial reporting to local management and HQ
- Monthly closing – group purposes
- KPIs reporting & monitoring monthly results against budget
- Online & offline participation and preparing of annual and monthly planning, budgeting & forecasting
- Cash-flow management
- Revision & improvement of financial – related business processes
- Supervising part of the Financial Department
- Internal & external audit activities coordination
- Joint CEE projects with Group Controlling
- Rapidly taking ownership of the FRS 102 project and producing the Financial Statements for 2015, in compliance with the new standard, to the full satisfaction of the auditors, the Board and all other parties involved;
- Taking over the Solvency II project, successfully setting up the new reporting process and delivering the reporting set on time and to the highest standards;
- Gaining immediate recognition while representing the finance department at Board Committee meetings and presenting updates, projects advancement and recommendations.
- Conceived and implemented extensive reform of the finance department during a phase of radical expansion, gaining increasing responsibilities in the process;
- Recruited and trained new staff members and built a cooperative and focused team;
- Project-managed the selection and implementation of a new integrated accounting system (Microsoft Dynamics)
- Designed and continuously streamlined most of the processes, whilst setting stronger control procedures;
- Maintenance SAP master data.
- Controlling industrial cost and variances analysis (actual vs. previous year, actual vs. budget, actual vs standart).
- Calculation of cost for current products and new project feasibility analysis.
- Preparing monthly managerial and financial reports in accordance with IFRS
- Follow-up of production KPI’s.
- Controlling industrial cost and variances analysis (actual vs. previous year, actual vs. budget, actual vs standart).
- Calculation of cost for current products and new project feasibility analysis.
- Preparing monthly managerial and financial reports in accordance with IFRS
- Follow-up of production KPI’s.
- Maintenance SAP master data
- Act as the integrator and navigator for the group
- Lead HK and PRC accounting teams, covering budgeting, accounting, tax, internal control, auditing
- Set up internal audit department overseeing all businesses
- Restructure the subsidiaries for the group purposes
- Establish banking relationships and ensure compliance with accounting and auditing policies
- Anticipate and address financial management issues
PRO TIP
In writing your Financial Controller resume, you will no doubt want to list your previous duties - as you should. But steer clear of just listing your duties, instead of your achievements. Make your resume stand out by communicating what you have done, and not merely what the job needed you to do.
Action verbs for your financial controller resume
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Financial controller resume: The skills section!
How to write a strong financial controller resume skills section?
- Make sure to include all types of skills - soft, hard, technical;
- Focus on skills that show your expertise in the field;
- Check the job description for keywords and make sure to add them to your resume – this will help you pass ATS;
- Leave room for discussion – elaborate on some of your strongest skills in other sections of your resume
Top skills for your financial controller 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
Don’t feel obliged to spend a separate section for your soft skills - you can weave them throughout your job experience or career summary. But, don’t just write empty words - back them with examples.
Recommended reads:
Financial controller resume header: tips, red flags, and best practices
Checklist for your financial controller 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
Include a link to your portfolio in your Financial Controller 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.
A career summary for your financial controller resume
Things to include in your financial controller resume summary:
- Your total years of experience in the industry;
- 2-3 of your most remarkable achievements so far;
- How your experience relates to the position you’re applying for;
- A very brief description of your strengths.
resume summary formula:
PRO TIP
Your summary section should act as a brief but informative introduction to your experience section. In this section you should go into more depth about what you have done, and how you did it.
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Financial controller resume: the education section
Things to include in your resume's education section:
- Your highest education degree – including course, year of graduation, institution;
- Awards received as part of your education;
- Extracurricular activities that have helped you gain relevant skills;
- Certifications that have helped you master new skills and increase your expertise;
- Entry-level applicants only: relevant courses and projects.
Top certifications for your financial controller resume
Introduction to Financial and Business Controlling
Useful concepts and practical exercises to help you becoming a solid Controller and succeed in your career in Finance
The Complete Financial Analyst Course 2022
Excel, Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis, Business Analysis, Financial Math, PowerPoint: Everything is Included!
Financial and Economic Modeling and Investments
Financial Statement Analysis, Business Analysis, Investments, Finance, Financial modeling, Financial Ratio Analysis,MBA
Accounting & Financial Statement Analysis: Complete Training
Accounting & Financial Ratio Analysis made easy. Learn important accounting skills that will get your foot in the door!
Beginner to Pro in Excel: Financial Modeling and Valuation
Financial Modeling in Excel that would allow you to walk into a job and be a rockstar from day one!
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
If you hold a certain major and a minor, your majors should be mentioned first.
Choosing the right format for your financial controller resume
In general, there are three basic formats for your resume:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional skills-based resume format;
- Combination (or Hybrid) resume format.
Some things to consider when choosing the right format for your Financial Controller resume include the stage of your career, whether you have all the right skills required for the job or are looking for an industry change, and what field you’re looking to grow in.
The reverse-chronological resume format is the most common one. It lets you describe your most recent job and then move backward. This makes it great for people who have around or less than 10 years of experience and are looking to highlight only their work-related skills and qualities.
If you’re just starting your career journey and reverse-chronological resumes sound too demanding, go for the functional resume format. It’s ideal for showcasing your strengths, personal qualities, skills, education, and the courses you’ve taken, without putting too much pressure on experience and expertise.
Don’t worry if neither of these sounds suitable for you – the hybrid or combination resume format will surely match your needs. It’s similar to the reverse-chronological, but with a catchy twist. Combination or hybrid resumes are great for showcasing both your experience and work-related skills and your personal qualities. Add a “What my day looks like” section for enhancing the jaw-dropping experience!
Here are some more things worth remembering when it comes to formatting your Financial Controller resume:
- Choose standard 1-inch resume margins;
- Go for traditional resume fonts sized 10-12p;
- Match the length of your Financial Controller resume with your experience – choose a one-page template if you have less than 10 years of experience, and be careful with two-page templates – use them only when applying for executive positions;
- Save your resume in PDF to avoid formatting issues and potential unauthorized editing.
Tired of getting rejected? Check out this article on how to craft a resume that stands out!
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Sometimes you’ll want to go after a job which requires more experience than you have. Instead of using a typical Financial Controller resume layout, you can use a creative layout. Getting noticed is the most important challenge and a creative resume layout might help you get invited for an interview as most of other accountants have boring resume designs.
Other sections suitable for your financial controller resume
Depending on the position and the industry, you can spice your resume up by adding some more sections. They will help the recruiter get a glimpse of who you are as a person, besides all your job-related skills and qualities.
Here are some examples:
How to add creativity to your financial controller resume
Gone are the days when creative resumes were frowned upon by recruiters!
What’s more, the right amount of creativity will make recruiters remember you and want to learn more about who you are – both as an individual and as a professional.
There are two ways to build a creative resume - add creative sections or go for a more creative design approach in general. Go for whatever suits you, the position, and the industry most!
What Makes a Great Financial Controller 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.
