Financial Manager - How to become a Financial Manager

Financial Manager some time also known as Financial Analysts or Business Analysts is considered as the most important professional in an organisations management because the finances of an organisation are supposed to be its life line.

As business administration has acquired the reputation of one of the most glorious and highly paid professions of twenty first century after the onset of globalisation and opening up of the world markets during last couple of decades with a wide range of specialized fields like, Finance, Production, Human Resources and Marketing to name a few of them.

Business administration provides a lot of opportunities for today’s younger generation and finance is considered as the back bone of the industry which makes the role of financial managers as he most challenging and rewarding as well.

To manage this aspect of the business highly skilled professionals known as Financial Managers are required. These professionals are responsible for managing every aspect of the finance of the company they are working in. Thus financial managers are supposed to be clearly aware of the budgeting of the company.

It is a career that needs highly professional skills. Earlier a career in Financial management was considered as a male dominated field but with the passage of time it has become woman friendly and now more and more females are getting into this profession. Now-a-days well-trained, skilled and highly talented Financial Managers are required for the growth of the of an organization/company to compete in world markets. For this to achieve Finanical Mangers are bound to understand well the appropriate budgetary needs for all the aspects of the business administration whether it is cost of production, placements or marketing requirements etc.

To discharge his duties in the most result oriented manner a financial manager require special kind of knowledge and practical training that he can gain by doing some specific courses of 2 to 3 years duration.

So to be a able to become an efficient Financial Manager one has to follow the below given path.

Eligibility to become a Financial Manager

To be a Financial Manager one should have Masters Degree in Financial Management ie MBA (Finance).

The courses specifically meant for Financial Management are:

1. Master of Business Administration (Finance)
2. Master of Financial Controls (MFC)
3. Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Management (PGDFM)

Eligibility condition for joining Master Degree/Diploma

The eligibility criteria for applying to these courses is graduation in any discipline.  he master’s programme will be of 2 years duration and PG Diploma programmes will be of 1 year duration.

Basically admission to these programmes will be based on aptitude test, GD and interview.

The selection procedure may vary depending on the institutes. Most institutes admit students on the basis of marks scored in exams like CAT by IIMs, MAT by All India Management Association, XAT by Xavier Institute etc.

However some institutes conduct their own exam to these courses.

Many Management collages offer Finance as a specialization to the major course. In MBA, the specialization will be offered in the 2nd year.

How to become a Financial Manager

Step 1

To be a successful Financial Manager one should first attain the essential education. It can be a Master’s degree in Management or Diploma course as given above.

Step 2

After acquiring the minimum required qualification one can apply for the job of a Financial Manager whenever there is some vacancy for the post of Financial Manager.

Financial Manager Job Description and Career Prospects

The role and responsibilities of a financial manager vary significantly depending largely on the size of the organization he is working in. Like in larger companies the role of a financial manager is largely concerned with strategic analysis where as in smaller organizations a financial manager might also work as a controller with job responsibilities as preparation of financial reports, balance sheets, income reports, and analysis of present and future costs and revenues.

Financial manager job profile may also include the responsibility of collection and preparation of accounts. Besides this a financial manager is also supposed to arrange new sources of finance for a company's debt facilities, supervising staff and keeping abreast of changes in financial regulations and legislation.

Financial Manager Salary

Salary of a financial manager varies depending on the type of organization, economic activity and  geographic location of the organisation. It also depends upon the personal skills of the individual concerned as it is a hundred percent performance oriented field of the business administration. However new Incumbents are offered anywhere near Rs.25,000 to Rs.30,000 per month as an average but for the experienced and successful Financial Manager there is no upper limit of the pay package.