A Manager’s Guide to Finance and Accounting PDF
As a manager, every decision you make has financial implications. An intuitive understanding of finance and accounting can take you from simply performing your job duties to understanding the greater impact your actions have on your organization’s financial health.
It can benefit you no matter your industry, whether it’s:
Engineering: Engineering is a project-based field, in which attention to detail is highly valued. Understanding the costs and benefits of each component of a project can make you a more effective manager.
Marketing: Whether you’re projecting future traffic flow to your company’s website or tracking the number of new customers driven by your latest blog post, you’re using financial skills and concepts to excel as a marketer.
Sales: As a sales manager, knowing how to read a financial statement and use financial terminology can help you understand the rationale behind your company’s goals.
Human Resources: If you’re an HR manager, a familiarity with finance and accounting can enable you to facilitate meaningful cross-departmental conversations and advocate for your budget to hire or train employees.
Healthcare: A foundational knowledge of financial principles and concepts can inform decisions to purchase emerging technologies or fund new research that equips your organization to better support its patients.
These are just a handful of ways financial literacy can pay off in your profession. Throughout this guide, you’ll expand your knowledge of finance and accounting by learning about the differences between the two disciplines, the financial skills all managers need, and how taking an online course can help you achieve your educational goals and accelerate your career.
Finance vs. Accounting: What’s the Difference?
Finance and accounting are terms often used interchangeably. While both are related to the administration and management of an organization’s assets, each has a different scope and focus. When it comes to evaluating the financial health of your company or department and making strategic financial decisions, it’s important to have a working knowledge of both disciplines.
Financial Skills All Managers Should Have
Practical knowledge of finance and accounting is an indispensable part of any manager’s toolkit. With well-developed financial skills, you can understand how your actions impact your organization and advocate for yourself and your team when weighing in on company-wide financial decisions.
Here are five financial skills you need to be a better manager and decision-maker.
- Financial Statement Analysis
- Financial Fluency
- ROI Calculation
- Budgeting
- Financial Performance Measurement
