Senior Finance Specialist Vs Finance Manager

The differences between senior finance specialists and finance managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a senior finance specialist, becoming a finance manager takes usually requires 6-8 years. Additionally, a finance manager has an average salary of $101,374, which is higher than the $89,779 average annual salary of a senior finance specialist.

The top three skills for a senior finance specialist include financial statements, financial data and financial analysis. The most important skills for a finance manager are financial analysis, CPA, and customer service.

Senior finance specialist vs finance manager overview

Senior Finance SpecialistFinance Manager
Yearly Salary$89,779$101,374
Hourly rate$43.16$48.74
Growth Rate9%17%
Number Of Jobs71,214125,345
Job Satisfaction-5
Most Common DegreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average Age4046
Years Of Experience48

What does a Senior Finance Specialist do?

A finance specialist sells products and services at a financial institution. Finance specialists meet with customers to have a better understanding of their respective needs. The specialists offer insight into the trends in the financial market. They provide a suggestion on optimization strategies. It is expected of them to share their insight into the potential models in the business. The necessary skills for this job include strong communication, management experience, financial management, and analytical thinking.

What does a finance manager do?

A finance manager is responsible for monitoring the financial system of a company. Their tasks include handling their organization's financial status, generating cost estimates and budget goals, identifying business opportunities to increase revenues and profitability, improving financial strategies, reducing costs, analyzing account statements, processing invoice as needed, analyzing market trends, searching potential partnerships, and presenting reports. A finance manager must have excellent analytical skills and knowledge of the accounting and financial industry. They are responsible for providing the best recommendations for the organization's growth.

Senior finance specialist vs finance manager salary

Senior finance specialists and finance managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Senior Finance SpecialistFinance Manager
Average Salary$89,779$101,374
Salary RangeBetween $55,000 And $146,000Between $71,000 And $144,000
Highest Paying CityNew York, NYNew York, NY
Highest Paying StateNew YorkNew York
Best Paying CompanyZSBarclays
Best Paying IndustryTelecommunicationFinance

Differences between senior finance specialist and finance manager education

There are a few differences between a senior finance specialist and a finance manager in terms of educational background:

Senior Finance SpecialistFinance Manager
Most Common DegreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most Common MajorBusinessBusiness
Most Common CollegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Senior finance specialist vs finance manager demographics

Here are the differences between senior finance specialists' and finance managers' demographics:

Senior Finance SpecialistFinance Manager
Average Age4046
Gender RatioMale, 47.9% Female, 52.1%Male, 60.0% Female, 40.0%
Race RatioBlack or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.7% Asian, 14.1% White, 68.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 10.2% White, 63.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage7%11%

Differences between senior finance specialist and finance manager duties and responsibilities

Senior Finance Specialist Example Responsibilities.

  • Develop, maintain financial models/applications (VBA Excel/Access) to automate and streamline business processes and perform financial analysis.
  • Align all financial activity with the regulations of the GAAP.
  • Analyze technical financial problems and provide professional assistance and advice concerning their solutions using GAAP and GASB standards.
  • Administer accounts payable, accounts receivable, bank statements reconciliations and confirmations.
  • Monitor and maintain various account reconciliations for audit requirements, compliance controls, and other special analysis requests.
  • Handle the tasks of monitoring payroll activities and program components to ensure compliance with establish legal and administrative requirements.
  • Show More

Finance Manager Example Responsibilities.

  • Manage the preparation of monthly reporting packs and board presentations with robust variance analysis, commentaries and forward looking KPIs.
  • Manage a team of sales persons, business managers, sales manager, A/R, A/P, and general managers.
  • Lead successful sales team and provide direct oversight on overall dealership business profitability.
  • Manage accounts payable/receivable, deposits, payroll preparation, purchasing and inventory management, liaison to accountant.
  • Oversee financial analysis, financial audits, G/L, A/R, A/P and fixed-asset accounting in accordance with GAAP standards.
  • Execute simple SQL queries to validate data in tables.
  • Show More

Senior finance specialist vs finance manager skills

Common Senior Finance Specialist Skills
  • Financial Statements, 13%
  • Financial Data, 6%
  • Financial Analysis, 6%
  • Calculation, 4%
  • Strong Analytical, 4%
  • Financial Management, 3%
Common Finance Manager Skills
  • Financial Analysis, 7%
  • CPA, 7%
  • Customer Service, 6%
  • Hyperion, 4%
  • Financial Models, 4%
  • Strong Analytical, 4%

Browse business and financial jobs