Top 12 Finance Manager Skills to Put on Your Resume
Finance moves fast and punishes fuzziness. To stand out as a finance manager, you need crisp technical know-how and the kind of people skills that pull teams in the right direction. Put the right skills on your resume, and you signal command of the numbers, the systems, and the decisions that shape outcomes.
Finance Manager Skills
1. Excel
Excel is the finance manager’s multi-tool for analysis, modeling, budgeting, and reporting. It digests raw data. It returns clarity.
Why It's Important
Excel underpins forecasting, budgeting, and management reporting. It speeds analysis, reduces manual grind, and supports sharper decisions.
How to Improve Excel Skills
Level up with targeted practice and smart automation.
Advanced functions: Get fluent with XLOOKUP, XMATCH, SUMIFS, INDEX/MATCH, XNPV, XIRR, dynamic arrays, and LET.
Data shaping: Use PivotTables, Power Query, and Power Pivot to handle messy, multi-source datasets and model them cleanly.
Error-proof models: Build with named ranges, consistent layouts, and audit checks. Separate inputs, logic, and outputs.
Automation: Record macros for routine tasks; apply simple VBA where repeatability saves hours.
Visualization: Design readable charts and dashboards with sparing color, clear labeling, and layout that tells a story.
Speed: Learn keyboard shortcuts and formula debugging tools. Small wins add up.
How to Display Excel Skills on Your Resume
2. QuickBooks
QuickBooks is accounting software for small and midsize organizations, covering AP/AR, payroll, banking, and basic reporting.
Why It's Important
It centralizes day-to-day accounting, tightens accuracy, and provides timely visibility into cash, margins, and spend.
How to Improve QuickBooks Skills
Automation: Set recurring invoices, rules for bank feeds, scheduled reports, and automatic reminders.
Integrations: Connect payroll, payments, expense tools, and CRM to remove manual re-entry and reconcile faster.
Customization: Tailor the chart of accounts, classes, locations, and report layouts to match how the business operates.
Controls: Use user roles, closing dates, and approval workflows to protect data and reduce errors.
Data hygiene: Clean duplicates, standardize vendors/items, and reconcile bank/credit card accounts routinely.
Stay current: Keep the system updated and review new features that trim manual work.
How to Display QuickBooks Skills on Your Resume
3. SAP
SAP provides enterprise systems for finance, operations, and more. For finance managers, modules in S/4HANA and related tools cover accounting, controlling, consolidations, and compliance with real-time visibility.
Why It's Important
It standardizes processes, improves data quality, and unlocks live analytics across the business—vital for governance and action.
How to Improve SAP Skills
Streamline processes: Map procure-to-pay and order-to-cash flows; remove manual steps; enforce validation and approval rules.
Reporting: Configure reports and Fiori apps tailored to management KPIs, month-end, and audit needs.
Automation: Apply workflows, rules, and scheduled jobs to reduce manual postings and reconciliations.
Analytics: Pair S/4HANA with planning and analytics tools for driver-based forecasting and variance analysis.
Master data discipline: Define ownership, naming standards, and periodic reviews for vendors, customers, and cost objects.
Continuous learning: Stay current on S/4HANA finance features and best practices; iterate after each close.
How to Display SAP Skills on Your Resume
4. Oracle
Oracle provides cloud ERP, EPM, databases, and analytics. For finance, Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP and EPM deliver close, consolidation, planning, and compliance at scale.
Why It's Important
Robust controls, granular reporting, and strong audit trails enable cleaner closes and sharper performance management.
How to Improve Oracle Skills
Performance and health: Monitor job runtimes, error logs, and integrations. Tune schedules and parameters to cut bottlenecks.
Adopt cloud features: Use embedded automation, sandboxing, and frequent releases to improve continuously.
Automate: Build workflows for approvals, recurring entries, and allocations. Reduce swivel-chair work.
BI and dashboards: Create role-based dashboards with KPIs, variance bridges, and drill-through to transactions.
Controls and compliance: Tighten roles, segregation of duties, and audit evidence capture.
Upgrades: Apply updates on a cadence with testing scripts to harvest new functionality safely.
How to Display Oracle Skills on Your Resume
5. Tableau
Tableau turns raw financial data into interactive visuals, helping stakeholders grasp trends, risks, and opportunities at a glance.
Why It's Important
Speed to insight. Better storytelling. Cleaner decisions, less confusion.
How to Improve Tableau Skills
Foundations: Nail data types, joins, blends, and extracts. Keep sources tidy before you chart.
Calculations: Use table calcs, LOD expressions, and parameters for period-over-period, cohort, and contribution analyses.
Design: Build dashboards with intent—clear hierarchy, minimal clutter, guided interactivity.
Performance: Optimize data sources, limit quick filters, and use extracts when live connections drag.
Finance patterns: Create templates for P&L waterfalls, cash burn, working capital turns, and forecast vs. actuals.
Feedback loops: Share early, iterate fast. What confuses stakeholders gets fixed.
How to Display Tableau Skills on Your Resume
6. Hyperion
Oracle Hyperion (and Oracle EPM Cloud, its modern counterpart) supports planning, budgeting, forecasting, consolidations, and reporting.
Why It's Important
It standardizes planning and close cycles, strengthens data integrity, and accelerates management reporting.
How to Improve Hyperion Skills
Model design: Keep dimensions lean, metadata consistent, and business rules readable and versioned.
Automation: Schedule data loads, metadata updates, and routine consolidations to shrink cycle time.
Data quality: Enforce validations at load, reconcile to source ledgers, and document mappings.
Reporting: Build report packs with drill-downs, commentary, and driver-based variance views.
Performance tuning: Review calc scripts, indexing, and aggregation options as volumes grow.
Cloud migration: Where appropriate, phase to EPM Cloud for faster releases and easier maintenance.
How to Display Hyperion Skills on Your Resume
7. SQL
SQL queries the source of truth. It retrieves, joins, reshapes, and aggregates financial data for analysis and reporting.
Why It's Important
Direct database access cuts latency, improves accuracy, and enables deeper analytics than spreadsheets alone.
How to Improve SQL Skills
Core queries: Master SELECT, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING, ORDER BY. Get comfortable with NULL behavior.
Joins and CTEs: Use INNER/LEFT joins, subqueries, and CTEs to model complex relationships cleanly.
Window functions: Apply OVER(), PARTITION BY, and ROW_NUMBER for period comparisons and running totals.
Data shaping: Pivot/unpivot, conditional aggregation, and case expressions for tidy reporting tables.
Performance: Read execution plans, index wisely, reduce scans, and avoid unnecessary DISTINCT.
Safety: Parameterize inputs, limit permissions, and protect sensitive fields through views and roles.
Automation: Schedule scripts for recurring reports and reconciliation checks.
How to Display SQL Skills on Your Resume
8. Power BI
Power BI turns data into live dashboards and reports. In many organizations it now sits within the Microsoft Fabric ecosystem.
Why It's Important
It delivers real-time insight, controlled access, and repeatable reporting—great for forecast reviews and exec updates.
How to Improve Power BI Skills
DAX depth: Build robust measures with CALCULATE, FILTER, time intelligence, and variables.
Power Query: Automate transformations, document steps, and keep data lineage transparent.
Data modeling: Star schemas, proper relationships, and surrogate keys for clean, fast models.
Security: Implement row-level security and tested roles to safeguard sensitive finance data.
Lifecycle: Use dataflows, incremental refresh, deployment pipelines, and scheduled refreshes.
Storytelling: Design layouts for execs: KPIs up front, drill-throughs for detail, filters constrained.
How to Display Power BI Skills on Your Resume
9. Bloomberg Terminal
Bloomberg Terminal delivers real-time market data, analytics, and news in one place—indispensable for market-facing finance roles.
Why It's Important
Speed and depth. You see prices, liquidity, and news as they move, and you act with context.
How to Improve Bloomberg Terminal Skills
Workspace setup: Build function groups and monitors tailored to your asset classes and watchlists.
Excel integration: Use the Excel add-in for live data pulls, models, and reporting that refresh automatically.
Shortcuts and functions: Learn core screens (WEI, HP, FA, RV, SPLC, ECO, and more) and create custom mnemonics.
Alerts: Configure news and price alerts tied to portfolios and risk thresholds.
Research: Tap into sector primers, company pages, and analytics to ground investment memos and forecasts.
Ongoing learning: Complete Bloomberg Market Concepts and keep notes on workflows that save time.
How to Display Bloomberg Terminal Skills on Your Resume
10. VBA
VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) automates work inside Excel and other Office apps—batch processes, validations, and custom models.
Why It's Important
Automation trims hours from closes and reporting, lowers error rates, and frees time for analysis.
How to Improve VBA Skills
Programming basics: Variables, data types, control flow, and modular procedures.
Excel object model: Workbooks, worksheets, ranges, charts—manipulate them deliberately.
Robust code: Add error handling, input validation, and logging; avoid hard-coded references.
Practical macros: Automate reconciliations, report assembly, and file operations.
Performance: Turn off screen updating, minimize select/activate, and use arrays where helpful.
Documentation: Comment intent, version scripts, and keep a small library of reusable utilities.
How to Display VBA Skills on Your Resume
11. Salesforce
Salesforce is a cloud CRM that centralizes customer data, pipeline activity, service cases, and revenue operations signals for finance and GTM teams.
Why It's Important
Cleaner pipeline data drives better revenue forecasts, faster billing, tighter cash collections, and better unit economics.
How to Improve Salesforce Skills
Finance dashboards: Build executive views for ARR/MRR, churn, pipeline coverage, conversion, and cohort health.
Integrations: Connect ERP, billing, and CPQ to unify orders, invoices, and cash. Reduce reconciliation friction.
Automation: Use Flow for approvals, credit checks, and exception routing across quote-to-cash.
Data quality: Enforce required fields, validation rules, and duplicate management on accounts and opportunities.
Security: Apply permission sets and field-level security to protect sensitive pricing and revenue data.
Ecosystem: Leverage finance-focused apps (e.g., Certinia, formerly FinancialForce) where they add value.
How to Display Salesforce Skills on Your Resume
12. Xero
Xero is cloud accounting for small and midsize businesses, covering invoicing, bank feeds, payroll, expenses, and financial reporting.
Why It's Important
Real-time books, tidy reconciliations, and easy collaboration keep decisions grounded in current numbers.
How to Improve Xero Skills
Automation: Create bank rules, repeating invoices, and scheduled statements to speed the close.
Add-ons: Extend with apps from the Xero marketplace for expenses, cash flow forecasting, and inventory where needed.
Reporting: Customize management reports, tracking categories, and budget vs. actual packs.
Integrations: Connect payments, POS, and payroll to cut manual entries and strengthen controls.
Security: Enforce two-factor authentication and role-based access; review user lists regularly.
Training: Standardize workflows for reconciliations, month-end checklists, and document storage.
How to Display Xero Skills on Your Resume
