In short
A finance manager's resume is read by someone who distrusts anything they can't check. They look for your qualification first, then how much you look after, then whether the numbers are right and on time because of you. Exact figures help. Adjectives hurt: a finance reader takes "dynamic" and "strategic" as a sign someone has nothing firmer to say. The example below is a senior Finance Manager's resume with notes on each section, then her headline, letter opening and first contacts.
Priya is fictional, and her resume is put together as FutureDay would do it: from the work she actually did, with every figure as exact as she gave it. It reads quietly on purpose. In finance, quiet and precise is what credible sounds like.
A finance manager's resume, section by section
PRIYA RAMAN
CPA | Finance Manager | Food Manufacturing, 4 entities, $185M revenue
Adelaide SA · priya.raman@email.com · 0400 000 000 · linkedin.com/in/priyaraman
Summary
CPA and finance manager for a privately owned food manufacturer: four entities, $185M revenue, three production sites and a finance team of seven. Closes the month in four working days, has taken the group through three audits with no findings, and prepares the numbers the board makes its decisions on.
Most useful where the books have fallen behind the business: a new system, an acquisition, or a reporting pack nobody trusts. Fixes the process first, then the pack.
Career highlights
- Cut group month-end close from eleven working days to four across four entities by rebuilding the reconciliation calendar and moving consolidation into NetSuite, with no audit findings in the three years since.
- Brought an acquired bakery business into group reporting within one quarter of settlement, including payroll for 140 staff, and found $640K a year of duplicated supplier spend along the way.
- Tightened forecast accuracy at group EBITDA from plus or minus 9% to plus or minus 2.5% by building a driver-based budget and a monthly reforecast with the site managers.
Experience
Finance Manager, Saltbush Food Group 2021 to now
Four entities, $185M revenue, three production sites, finance team of seven. Reports to the Chief Financial Officer and presents monthly to the audit and risk committee.
- Led the move from MYOB to NetSuite across all four entities, live on the planned date with opening balances reconciled to the cent.
- Used the new cash forecast to renegotiate the group's working capital facility, reducing the limit by $8M and saving $210K a year in fees and interest.
- Reduced debtor days from 52 to 38 by setting a credit limit for every customer and running a weekly collections meeting with the sales team.
- Built the first product-level margin report, which led the business to exit two product lines losing $1.1M a year between them.
Senior Financial Accountant, Corella Medical Supplies 2017 to 2021
National medical distributor, $70M revenue, two warehouses.
- Owned statutory reporting and the year-end audit for three years; each set of accounts signed with no audit adjustments.
- Cut accounts payable processing from nine days to three by moving 1,800 invoices a month onto automated three-way matching.
- Rebuilt the fixed asset register, writing off $420K of assets no longer in use and correcting depreciation from that year on.
Earlier career
Audit and accounting roles, including Audit Senior at Pryor Lund Chartered Accountants and Assistant Accountant at Fenwick Freight.
Qualifications
CPA, CPA Australia
Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting)
Graduate Certificate in Business Analytics
Systems and skills
NetSuite, MYOB, Xero, Power BI, Excel modelling · Group consolidation · Statutory reporting · Cash flow forecasting · Banking facilities · Audit management · ERP implementation
- HeadlineThe credential comes first. CPA is the one claim on the page a reader can check, so it goes before the job title. Then the industry and the size of what she looks after. No adjective anywhere.
- SummaryCalm and exact. Four working days and three clean audits say more about her than any description could. The second paragraph says where she's most useful, which tells a reader when to call her.
- HighlightsExact numbers, not round ones. Eleven days to four, $640K, 9% to 2.5%. A finance reader treats precision as a sign of someone who checks things. "Significantly improved" would make them wonder what she's hiding.
- Scope lineThe seat, in one line. Entities, revenue, sites, team, and who she reports to. "Presents monthly to the audit and risk committee" tells the reader the level she works at without a bigger title.
- BulletsWhat the numbers made possible. Building a margin report is a task. The business exiting two lines losing $1.1M because of it is a result. That's the difference between keeping the books and running finance.
- Earlier careerThe audit years, briefly. Her audit years show where her rigour comes from. One line with no dates keeps the page on the last ten years, where the detail matters.
- SystemsName the systems. Finance job descriptions name their ERP, and screening software often searches for it. She lists the ones she has run, including the move between two of them.
What does a CFO look for in a finance manager?
A CFO reading your resume is asking whether they can stop checking your work. Are you qualified? Are the numbers on time and right? Did you make the process tighter, or just keep it running? A resume that shows a close time, an audit record and one decision your numbers led to answers all three.
Before: "Responsible for month-end reporting and liaising with external auditors."
After: "Cut group month-end close from eleven working days to four across four entities by rebuilding the reconciliation calendar and moving consolidation into NetSuite, with no audit findings in the three years since."
How should a finance manager write a LinkedIn headline?
Credential, role, then the kind of business. A recruiter filling a finance role often searches the qualification before the title. Priya uses:
"CPA | Finance Manager | Manufacturing, multi-entity reporting and ERP"
Not "Strategic finance professional passionate about driving value". A finance reader will skip straight past it.
How should a finance manager's cover letter open?
Measured and specific. Name what they need, then the one thing you've done that matches it:
"Your advertisement mentions a new ERP and a close that still takes two weeks. In the year after a four-entity group moved to NetSuite, I took its close from eleven working days to four, and the three audits since have closed with no findings."
Then close on reliability and fit. Enthusiasm reads oddly in a finance letter. Steadiness doesn't.
Who should a finance manager talk to, and how?
Finance roles at this level often go to someone the CFO already knows, or someone their auditor or adviser suggests. Priya's resume is for after that first conversation. The work is having it.
A Finance Manager should start with:
- Auditors from a past job. Not your current audit team, but the partner and manager who audited a previous employer. They see the inside of dozens of finance teams a year. They know which CFO is stretched, which business just bought another, and who needs a close fixed.
- Your bank and your advisers. The relationship manager who looks after your facility, and your tax and insurance advisers, hear about growth and acquisitions before any hiring starts.
- The CFO at mid-sized businesses in your industry. That's who would hire you. In a private company it's often the owner or managing director.
Her first note is brief and asks very little. This one goes to someone who knows her work but has never been her colleague:
"Hi Michael, it's been a while since you looked after the audit at my last company. I hope the firm is treating you well. A personal note: I'm starting to look at my next role, ideally finance manager or financial controller in a manufacturing or distribution business around Adelaide. You see more finance teams than anyone I know, so if you come across one that needs its close fixed or a new system bedded in, I'd be grateful for a mention."
She's still employed, so she asks quietly and only people she trusts. Here's how to look quietly while you still have the job.
What FutureDay does for a finance manager
FutureDay starts from your own work history, as Priya's resume does, and never puts a figure on it you didn't give. It tailors the resume to each job description, then shows you each day who to contact, what to say, and what to do next.
In summary
Credential first, then the size of what you look after.
Exact numbers read as credible; adjectives read as a warning.
Show what your numbers led the business to do.
Recent roles in detail; everything older in one undated line.
Auditors and advisers see inside more finance teams than anyone. Talk to them.