Five to 10 years of experience in lower-level financial management positions of increasing responsibility is required for top financial management jobs.
Financial professionals have a reputation as “bean counters,” but there’s a lot more to a successful career than just crunching numbers. Yes, you should have excellent finance, mathematical, and computational skills, but you also need strong analytical and critical-thinking skills because you'll no longer be asked to just collect financial information, but also analyze this data and devise financial strategies and plans for your firm and advise partners regarding financial and business issues. A quote from Changing Economy/Evolving CFO, a report from the finance and accounting staffing firm Accounting Principles, nicely summarizes the evolving skill set for CFOs and other financial professionals: “Today’s most effective CFOs are those that have a breadth of business experience in addition to finance—from operations management, to business development, to even Information Technology and human resources.” Financial managers also must be highly ethical and honest—especially when preparing reports for government regulators and investors)and have organizational and leadership ability, strong communication and interpersonal skills, a detail-oriented personality, and proficiency with technology (including the ability to use financial-related software and databases such as Oracle PeopleSoft, Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains, and SAP, as well as data management software such as Microsoft Excel).
- Investment Underwriters
- Private Equity Accountants and Auditors
- Private Equity Business Development Directors
- Private Equity Chief Dealmakers
- Private Equity Compliance Professionals
- Private Equity Investor Relations Specialists
- Private Equity Lawyers
- Private Equity Marketing Specialists
- Private Equity Research Analysts and Associates
- Private Equity Risk Managers