Hiring Guide
Finance Manager
Specific duties of a Finance Manager can vary from business to business — along with factors like company culture, work environment, and team dynamics — it’s vital to tailor any job description and interview content to your company’s needs and expectations.
Hiring Guide: Finance Manager
Finance Manager interview templates
Why you should hire a Finance Manager
Finance Managers help companies achieve business success by managing financial resources and providing financial advice to senior leadership to inform business decisions for the company. Financial Managers might serve internal stakeholders or external clients, depending on the type of business.
In this hiring guide, we'll provide everything you need to hire a great Finance Manager.
Top skills for Finance Managers
Internal/External Stakeholder Relationship Management
Team Management
Leadership and Navigation
Business Procurement
Sample Finance Manager job description
Finance Managers/Senior Finance Leaders play a critical role in a company’s financial performance. They are generally responsible for planning, organizing, and managing financial operations and processes across finance and accounting departments. They do so by developing strategies and reporting systems, managing performance of relevant teams/departments, and organizing financial audits or analyses as necessary. Finance Managers also provide advice and guidance to senior management on ways to improve profitability and/or identify business opportunities for expansions, mergers, and acquisitions for long-term business success.
Sample questions for Finance Managers
Question 1
Tell me about a time where your utilization margins were low so you sourced a new client and secured their business. What steps did you take to reach out and source that client, and how was your approach effective in securing their business?
Director, Mergers and Acquisitions - 12 years professional experience
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to secure business by marketing themselves and their services effectively
Answer tips
- Prepared by researching the industry trends, transactions, and major players in that segment
- Reached out to them and offered value by delivering helpful information (e.g., relevant industry trend report)
- Referenced their own expertise/ experience in the industry to establish trust
- Explained how the whole company could bring the client value (e.g., other areas of expertise such as tax or legal)
- Justifies their approach by referencing the client’s response and shares evidence that they secured business
Question 2
If senior leadership asked you to help them understand whether their business was financially solvent, what information would you need, and how would you calculate how much financial runway they have?
Alycia Damp, PhD IRHR
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to understand financial reporting and financial solvency
Answer tips
- Understands the relationship between financial reporting and financial solvency
- Highlights specific indicators that could help reflect financial solvency
- Discusses assumptions and other factors that could impact financial solvency
- Considers how the result will affect day-to-day business operations
Question 3
Think about an industry you like to work in or like to follow. Tell me 3 trends in this industry that you’re following, and explain how these trends are relevant and will impact financial deals occurring now or in the near future.
Director, Mergers and Acquisitions — 12 years professional experience
What does this question reveal?
Candidate exhibits financial knowledge of a particular industry and the ability to deliver a clear, concise, and comprehensive message
Answer tips
- Clearly identifies three market trends (e.g., inflation, interest rates)
- Explains the impact of market trends on their identified industry
- Explains how the trends will influence the value of financial deals
- Provides crisp, clear, and concise responses with impactful statements
- Communicates thoughts in a structured manner
