Finance Manager

A Finance Manager owns a finance function. Reporting is accurate and on time, cash is visible and controlled, budgets exist and are challenged, the audit closes cleanly, and the team can carry the workload without heroics. When any of those fail, it is the Finance Manager's failure.

The step up from Assistant Finance Manager is less technical than it appears. The new demands are prioritisation across competing deadlines, judgement about which risks to escalate, and enough commercial credibility that operational managers involve finance before a decision rather than after it.

In Singapore the title spans a wide range: an SME Finance Manager may be the most senior finance person in the company, while a regional group Finance Manager may be one of several reporting into a Financial Controller. Compensation and progression differ accordingly, so both sides should establish scope before discussing numbers.

Where this sits: the previous role is Assistant Finance Manager, and the next steps are Financial Controller or Head of Finance. The commercial alternative is an FP&A leadership track built on FP&A Analyst foundations.

• Own the monthly, quarterly and annual reporting cycle and the integrity of reported results.
• Lead the annual budget and rolling forecast process with business heads, including challenge on assumptions.
• Manage cash flow, working capital, banking relationships and treasury operations.
• Own the statutory audit, tax compliance and all regulatory filings for the entities in scope.
• Lead, develop and resource a finance team, including hiring and succession planning.
• Design and enforce internal controls, approval limits and finance policy.
• Partner with commercial, operations and leadership on pricing, margin, cost and investment decisions.
• Present financial performance and risks to senior management and, where applicable, the board.
• Sponsor finance systems and process transformation, including ERP change.

• A Degree in Accountancy or Finance plus a recognised professional qualification is the standard profile in Singapore.
• Qualified ACCA, Chartered Accountant of Singapore or CPA Australia is expected in almost all advertised roles at this level.
• Eight to fourteen years of experience including several years of direct people management.
• Evidence of owning a full annual cycle — budget, close, audit and tax — without supervision above you in the function.
• Regional or multi-entity experience is required for most group and listed-company mandates.

• Open with the function, not the ledger. Headcount, entities, revenue scale, systems and reporting lines frame everything else.
• Bring a cash story. A working capital or collections improvement is often more persuasive than a reporting achievement.
• Show commercial influence. A pricing, cost or investment decision that changed because of your analysis.
• Explain a hard people decision. Restructuring a team or exiting a underperformer tests leadership honestly.
• Interrogate the mandate. Ask why the role is open, what is broken, and what success looks like in twelve months.