How do I become a Finance Director?

Contents

Course

How do I get to be a Finance Director?

The CFO is responsible for the sound financial management of the company in which he or she operates. He or she occupies a strategic position, overseeing a number of areas such as finance, human resources and management, and legal affairs. To reach this position, you need to be meticulous, good with figures and have a 5-year degree in Finance.

What does a CFO do?

The CFO is responsible not only for finance, but also for human resources and compliance with legislation within a company. He or she puts strategies in place and oversees the implementation of the necessary actions: financing plans, monitoring their implementation, managing the company’s cash flow to raise funds while ensuring that the money is used as efficiently and wisely as possible.

As part of a group made up of several companies or subsidiaries, the CFO may have to work on a more global basis. In this environment, he or she sets the working methods. He or she collects and checks the accounting information of the companies and subsidiaries and prepares the overall accounting results.

As far as his duties are concerned, it is up to him to allocate the various tasks to his staff and to take responsibility for them:

monitor the company’s accounts and cash management
validate the company’s profitability
develop decision-making tools
validate the company’s solvency and ability to repay its debts
anticipating the company’s finances
anticipate the company’s development strategy and the various investments and financing required; validate the strategy
monitor regulations relating to the company’s sector of activity
communicating with tax and social services
if necessary, provide legal and social support and participate in personnel administration

What are the qualities of a CFO?

The profession of financial director requires a great deal of rigour and organisation, as well as a great capacity for work. You need to have a great deal of patience and not lose your cool in order to follow up internal and external meetings, write reports, monitor the implementation of projects and, lastly, supervise staff.

They also need to be available, so that they can react quickly to peaks in activity linked to budgetary arbitration or accounting closures. Last but not least, the CFO needs to have good interpersonal skills and soft skills such as listening skills, oral fluency and the ability to convince, persuade and lead, all of which are essential in this profession. What’s more, fluency in English and a second foreign language is essential, as more and more companies these days have branches and subsidiaries outside France.

Studies

How do you become a financial director?

You can become a financial director with a Diplôme Supérieur de Comptabilité et Gestion (DSCG). The course starts after a Bac +3 and leads to a Bac +5 level qualification. Students with a Master’s degree in economics, finance or management (Bac +5) can also become financial directors.

Students can also turn to business and management schools, which offer specialist finance degrees and training.

Within the OMNES Education Groups, several of our schools offer these courses.

Why choose a Grande Ecole programme?

The Grande Ecole Programme, which is designed to give our students a professional edge and transfer technical skills.

It offers the opportunity to specialise in 3 different majors from Master 2 onwards.

The first is ‘Finance for 21st Century’. The second is ‘Corporate Finance and Risk’, which focuses on the business world, and the last is ‘Finance, Audit & Control’, which focuses on control and analysis.

Why do a Bachelor’s degree in Finance?

The Bachelor’s degree in Finance trains students for professions in finance management and accounting. These professions require an ability to handle figures as well as information technology (dashboards, financial monitoring and technical analyses). Commercial, interpersonal and digital skills have also become essential for progressing in complex and evolving roles, particularly in the banking sector.

Training

Why do an MSc in International Financial Analysis?

The MScInternational Financial Analysis, which can be taken with a BAC+3 or 4, is another possible course of study. The teaching content of the programme is designed to provide participants with the technical and professional skills needed to work in financial analysis. An analyst is eager to gather and interpret company data. This is why financial analysts are in great demand, whether they specialise in a particular business sector or geographical area.

Take a look at our other courses on our page, which lists our specialisations and career opportunities.

Salary

How much does a CFO earn?

To calculate a CFO’s salary, several criteria need to be taken into account: skills (controlling, credit management, budget management, etc.), initial training, professional experience and soft skills.

A CFO’s remuneration will also depend on the structure in which he or she works, and salaries are generally commensurate with the complexity of the job.

Based on what is currently available on the job market, we estimate that a finance director with less than five years’ experience will be paid between 62,000 and 71,000 euros. Then between 71,000 and 84,000 euros gross per annum with five to ten years’ experience, while a senior profile with more than ten years’ experience could earn between 84,000 and 122,000 euros on average.

FAQ