Finance Team Roles & Responsibilities: Every Position Explained (2026)

The precise differences between seemingly similar finance roles can be tricky to figure out. A Finance Director and a Head of Finance might appear to be the same thing. And sometimes, they are.

Evolving job descriptions and company structures have meant that titles shift depending on the business, the market, and the stage of growth. But even so, there are typical expectations for each key finance position — and clear ways they are distinguished from one another.

Below is a complete guide to every finance team role: what each person does, how they fit into the team hierarchy, and how they differ from similar roles. This glossary is continually updated with input from the CFO Connect community.

Finance Team Structure: How the Roles Fit Together

Before diving into individual roles, here is how a typical finance team hierarchy looks across a scaling business:

CFO (Chief Financial Officer) ├── VP Finance / Finance Director │ ├── FP&A Manager / Finance Manager │ │ └── FP&A Analyst │ ├── Financial Controller / Chief Accounting Officer │ │ ├── Accountants & Bookkeepers │ │ ├── Tax Manager │ │ └── Internal Auditor │ ├── Finance Business Partner │ ├── Corporate Treasurer │ └── Payroll Manager └── Procurement Manager

In early-stage companies, one person often covers several of these roles. As the business scales, each function separates into dedicated headcount. The sections below explain what each role does and when a company typically needs it.

What does a CFO do?

The CFO (Chief Financial Officer) is the highest-ranking finance leader in the business, responsible for overall financial strategy, investor relations, and the performance of the entire finance function.

In a typical large organisation, the CFO ranks third in the executive hierarchy, behind the CEO and COO. In smaller companies, these roles are sometimes combined into a CFOO (Chief Finance and Operations Officer), though this is increasingly uncommon given the complexity each role carries individually.

A CFO's day-to-day responsibilities depend heavily on the company's size and stage. In early-stage businesses, CFOs may still be hands-on with bookkeeping and payroll. In mature organisations, the role is almost entirely strategic.

Core CFO responsibilities:

• Overall financial strategy and long-range planning

• Investor relations and board reporting

• Capital allocation and investment portfolio management

• Managing the broader finance function (and in many companies, HR and legal)

• Strategies to increase revenue, manage costs, and protect margin

How the CFO role has changed

The CFO was once primarily a risk manager and compliance officer — the person who made sure the numbers were right and the auditors were satisfied. Today, the role is a strategic co-pilot to the CEO. While technical financial skills remain essential, CFOs are now expected to drive growth, lead commercial decisions, and represent the company externally.

What does a VP Finance do?

A VP Finance is a senior finance leader responsible for building and running the day-to-day finance function — typically more operationally focused than a CFO.

The VP Finance role is common in US-headquartered or US-influenced organisations. In European companies, the equivalent title is often Finance Director. When both a CFO and VP Finance exist in the same organisation, the CFO is the more senior, externally-facing role.

Core VP Finance responsibilities:

• Building and managing the finance team

• Ensuring financial data accuracy and integrity

• Overseeing reporting cycles and close processes

• Risk management and internal controls

• Delivering management accounts and board packs

VP Finance vs CFO: what is the difference?

CFO:

• C-Suite level, reports to CEO

• Externally facing — board, investors, press

• Focuses on company-level strategy and capital

• Common from Series B onwards

VP Finance:

• Senior leadership, reports to CFO

• Internally facing — operations, processes, reporting

• Focuses on running the finance function day-to-day

• Common from Seed to Series B, or alongside a CFO at scale

In many scaling companies, the VP Finance role is a stepping stone to CFO, or the functional equivalent of CFO until the business needs a true C-Suite hire.

What is a Finance Director?

A Finance Director (FD) is a senior finance leader who oversees the finance function and ensures the business operates with accurate data, strong controls, and timely reporting — typically reporting to a CFO where one exists.

In the UK, Finance Director has historically been used interchangeably with CFO. As business language has internationalised, the two titles have diverged in many organisations: the CFO sits in the C-Suite and faces outward, while the Finance Director manages the internal finance operation and reports to them.

Where no CFO exists — common in SMEs and mid-market businesses — the Finance Director is the most senior finance professional in the company and carries the full strategic and operational weight of the role.

CFO vs Finance Director: what is the difference?

CFO:

• C-Suite with a board seat

• High external visibility — investors, press, board

• Focuses on strategy, capital allocation, and growth

• Typical in Series B+ and enterprise companies

Finance Director:

• Senior role, typically reports to the CFO

• Low to medium external visibility

• Focuses on internal operations, controls, and reporting

• Typical in SME to mid-market companies

Qualities of a strong Finance Director

• Excellent communication skills — trust is built on clarity

• Sharp attention to cash flow and working capital

• Commercial acumen beyond pure finance

• Strong relationship-building with department heads

• Willingness to challenge assumptions and bring a growth mindset

What does a Finance Manager do?

A Finance Manager is responsible for managing company cash, investments, and budgets at a team or division level — translating the CFO or Finance Director's strategy into hands-on financial management.

The Finance Manager is the bridge between senior leadership and the transactional accounting team. Where a CFO sets the financial strategy, the Finance Manager executes it: building forecasts, managing departmental budgets, and analysing performance against plan.

Core Finance Manager responsibilities:

• Preparing financial reports and rolling forecasts

• Managing cash assets and analysing investment options

• Budgeting at the department or business unit level

• Monitoring debts and ensuring collections

• Identifying cost savings and efficiency opportunities

Finance Manager vs Financial Controller: what is the difference?

Finance Manager:

• Focuses on planning and analysis (FP&A)

• Thinks about how to optimise money flow

• Key outputs: budgets, forecasts, variance analysis

• Example task: advising Marketing on their ad spend budget

Financial Controller:

• Focuses on transactional accounting and control

• Thinks about how to record money flow accurately

• Key outputs: month-end close, financial statements, audits

• Example task: ensuring Marketing's ad receipts are booked correctly

In short: the Finance Manager plans. The Financial Controller records and controls. Both are essential — they just operate at different layers of the finance function.

What is a Financial Controller?

A Financial Controller is the company's chief accountant — responsible for ensuring all financial transactions are recorded accurately, on time, and in compliance with accounting standards.

The Financial Controller owns the month-end and year-end close process, manages the accounting team, and is ultimately responsible for the integrity of the company's financial statements. In many organisations, the Controller is also responsible for expense management, credit card controls, and ensuring that every transaction has appropriate documentation.

Core Financial Controller responsibilities:

• Managing the full accounting function and close process

• Producing accurate financial statements (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow)

• Overseeing expense claims and credit card management

• Ensuring compliance with local accounting standards and regulations

• Managing the external audit relationship

• Building and maintaining internal financial controls

For a deeper look at the Financial Controller role — including what makes an effective one and how the position evolves as a company scales — read Spendesk's full guide to the Financial Controller.

What is a Chief Accounting Officer (CAO)?

In larger organisations, a Chief Accounting Officer sits above the Financial Controller and is responsible for all accounting policy, technical compliance, and financial reporting at the group level. The CAO typically reports to the CFO and manages Controllers across business units or geographies. In smaller companies, the Controller performs this role without the separate title.

What does an FP&A Manager do?

An FP&A (Financial Planning and Analysis) Manager is responsible for the company's budgeting, forecasting, and performance reporting — translating financial data into business intelligence that supports decision-making.

FP&A is one of the fastest-growing specialisms within finance. Where the Controller looks backwards (ensuring the past is recorded correctly), the FP&A Manager looks forwards: building the financial model, running scenarios, and providing the analysis that helps leaders make better commercial decisions.

Core FP&A Manager responsibilities:

• Building and maintaining the annual budget and rolling forecast

• Producing the monthly management accounts and variance commentary

• Financial modelling and scenario analysis

• Business partnering with department heads on performance

• KPI tracking and dashboard management

FP&A Analyst

An FP&A Analyst supports the FP&A Manager with data gathering, model-building, and reporting. It is typically an early-career role that develops into FP&A Manager, Finance Manager, or Finance Business Partner over time.

For finance leaders exploring how AI is changing the FP&A function — including how teams are using Claude Code to build custom FP&A tools — read our Claude for Finance Teams playbook.

What is a Finance Business Partner?

A Finance Business Partner is an embedded finance professional who works alongside a specific business function — such as Sales, Marketing, or Operations — to provide financial analysis, challenge assumptions, and support commercial decision-making.

The Finance Business Partner role has grown significantly over the past decade as CFOs have pushed finance closer to the business. Rather than sitting in a centralised finance team and producing reports from a distance, the Business Partner is a day-to-day presence in the commercial teams they support.

Core Finance Business Partner responsibilities:

• Translating financial data into commercial insight for non-finance stakeholders

• Challenging spend decisions and investment cases

• Supporting pricing, margin, and resource allocation decisions

• Building relationships with department heads and acting as a trusted adviser

• Feeding commercial intelligence back into the central FP&A process

The role requires strong interpersonal skills alongside technical finance competence — it is as much about influence as analysis.

What does a Corporate Treasurer do?

A Corporate Treasurer is the company's financial risk guardian — responsible for managing cash, liquidity, currency exposure, and funding decisions.

The Treasurer role typically appears in larger, more complex organisations — particularly those with multi-currency operations, significant debt, or exposure to commodity or interest rate risk. In smaller companies, the CFO or Controller absorbs these responsibilities.

Core Corporate Treasurer responsibilities:

• Overseeing company cash flow and liquidity management

• Managing currency conversion and FX exposure

• Making funding and refinancing decisions

• Monitoring and managing the company's banking relationships

• Identifying and mitigating financial risk across all categories

• Analysing budgets to evaluate the financial impact of major projects

Key areas of financial risk a Treasurer manages

• Liquidity risk

  — ensuring the business always has cash available to meet obligations

• Credit risk

  — managing exposure to counterparties who may default

• Currency risk

  — minimising losses from adverse FX movements

• Interest rate risk

  — managing the cost of debt as rates change

• Operational risk

  — identifying internal process failures that could cause financial loss

What does a Tax Manager do?

A Tax Manager is responsible for managing the company's tax compliance, planning, and reporting — ensuring the business meets all tax obligations while minimising unnecessary tax exposure.

As businesses scale and operate across multiple jurisdictions, tax complexity grows quickly. A dedicated Tax Manager becomes essential when the cost of getting tax wrong exceeds the cost of specialist oversight.

Core Tax Manager responsibilities:

• Managing corporate tax returns and filings across all relevant jurisdictions

• VAT / GST compliance and reporting

• Transfer pricing documentation for inter-company transactions

• Tax planning to ensure the business is structured efficiently

• Managing relationships with tax authorities and external advisers

• Supporting M&A transactions with tax due diligence

What does an Internal Auditor do?

An Internal Auditor independently reviews the company's financial controls, processes, and compliance — providing assurance to the board that the business is operating as intended.

Unlike external auditors (who review financial statements for investors and regulators), internal auditors work for the company itself and focus on whether internal processes and controls are effective. The function typically reports to the Audit Committee of the board rather than to the CFO, to preserve independence.

Core Internal Auditor responsibilities:

• Assessing the effectiveness of internal financial controls

• Identifying process weaknesses or compliance gaps

• Reviewing expense management, procurement, and approval workflows

• Investigating fraud or irregularity when flagged

• Reporting findings and recommendations to the Audit Committee

What does a Payroll Manager do?

A Payroll Manager ensures every employee is paid accurately and on time — managing the full payroll process, tax filings, and payslip distribution.

The role has evolved significantly with automation. Much of what was once manual — paper payslips, manual tax calculations, bank transfer preparation — is now handled by payroll software. Today's Payroll Manager is more of an oversight and exception-handling role, with a focus on compliance and accuracy rather than manual processing.

Core Payroll Manager responsibilities:

• Running the monthly payroll process accurately and on time

• Calculating and filing payroll taxes

• Distributing payslips and managing employee pay queries

• Setting up and maintaining payroll automation systems

• Ensuring compliance with employment and tax law

• Managing sickness, maternity, and variable pay adjustments

In many SMEs, payroll is managed by the Financial Controller or an HR generalist rather than a dedicated Payroll Manager.

What does a Procurement Manager do?

A Procurement Manager oversees how and from whom the company buys — responsible for supplier relationships, purchase approvals, and ensuring the business spends efficiently.

In companies with centralised purchasing, every significant external spend goes through the Procurement Manager. The role is as much about process design and supplier strategy as it is about approving individual purchases.

Core Procurement Manager responsibilities:

• Managing supplier relationships and renegotiating contracts

• Identifying savings from bulk purchasing or seasonal timing

• Processing and approving purchase orders

• Tracking inventory and preventing stockouts

• Building repeatable, auditable purchasing processes

Procurement Manager vs Purchasing Manager: what is the difference?

Purchasing Manager:

• Executes individual purchase transactions

• Moves a purchase from request to fulfilment

• Narrower scope, more junior

Procurement Manager:

• Builds the purchasing strategy and process

• Finds suppliers, negotiates contracts, and manages the full cycle

• Broader scope, more senior

In short: purchasing is a step within procurement. A Procurement Manager owns the full cycle; a Purchasing Manager executes part of it.

What do Accountants and Bookkeepers do?

Accountants and Bookkeepers maintain accurate financial records for the business — ensuring every transaction is legitimate, correctly categorised, and traceable in an audit.

This is the foundation of every finance function. Without accurate transaction records, nothing else in finance works: reports are wrong, taxes are incorrect, and audits fail.

Core responsibilities:

• Recording all company transactions accurately and on time

• Reconciling bank statements and supplier accounts

• Processing invoices and expense claims

• Supporting the month-end close under the Controller's direction

• Maintaining records that can withstand an external audit

Internal vs outsourced accounting

When businesses are small, most accounting is outsourced to a part-time consultant. Low transaction volume makes in-house accounting cost-inefficient. As transaction volume grows and complexity increases, most businesses bring accounting in-house — at which point a full-time Bookkeeper, then an Accountant, then a Controller becomes necessary.

External audits are almost always kept outsourced, as independence is a regulatory requirement.

FAQ: Finance Team Roles and Responsibilities

What are the main roles in a finance team? The core roles in a finance team are: CFO (or Finance Director), Financial Controller, FP&A Manager, Finance Business Partner, Accountants and Bookkeepers, and — in larger companies — a Corporate Treasurer, Tax Manager, Internal Auditor, and Payroll Manager. The exact structure depends on company size and complexity.

What is the difference between a CFO and a Finance Director? In the UK, the two titles have historically been used interchangeably. In most modern organisations, the CFO sits in the C-Suite and focuses on strategy, investors, and board-level decisions, while the Finance Director manages the internal finance operation and reports to the CFO. In companies without a CFO, the Finance Director holds the most senior finance role.

What is the difference between a Finance Manager and a Financial Controller? A Finance Manager focuses on financial planning and analysis — budgets, forecasts, and performance reporting. A Financial Controller focuses on accounting and control — ensuring transactions are recorded correctly, the close process runs on time, and financial statements are accurate. One plans; the other controls.

What is the hierarchy of a finance department? The typical hierarchy runs: CFO → VP Finance / Finance Director → Finance Manager and Financial Controller (at the same level, different functions) → FP&A Analysts, Accountants, and Bookkeepers. Corporate Treasurer, Tax Manager, Internal Auditor, and Payroll Manager sit at the mid-senior level, typically reporting to the Finance Director or CFO.

What roles report to the CFO? Typically: VP Finance or Finance Director, Corporate Treasurer, and — in many companies — the Chief Accounting Officer or Financial Controller. In smaller teams, all finance roles report directly to the CFO.

What is the difference between FP&A and accounting in a finance team? FP&A (Financial Planning and Analysis) is forward-looking: budgets, forecasts, models, and performance analysis. Accounting is backward-looking: recording what happened, closing the books, and producing financial statements. Both functions are essential and increasingly overlap as finance teams adopt better data tools.

What is a Finance Business Partner? A Finance Business Partner is an embedded finance professional who works alongside a commercial function — Sales, Marketing, Operations — rather than sitting in a centralised finance team. They translate financial data into business decisions and act as a trusted adviser to non-finance leaders.

When should a company hire a dedicated CFO? Most companies hire a dedicated CFO when the finance function becomes too complex for a Finance Director or VP Finance to manage alongside strategic responsibilities — typically around Series B or when the business reaches £10m–£20m in revenue, though this varies significantly by sector and investor requirements.

Learn more about building a finance team

Finance roles are rarely static. Titles shift, responsibilities overlap, and what matters most changes as the business grows. The best finance leaders understand not just their own role but how it fits into the broader function — and how to evolve it as the company scales.

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