Finance Director Isadora Pellegrini CPA
Finance Director
[email protected] | (414) 555-0197 | Milwaukee, United States
Profile
Finance director for a $145 million operating company inside a manufacturing group, answering for the profit and loss, the balance sheet and a nine person finance team, and reporting to the group chief financial officer. Owned the first standalone statutory audit after the carve-out, which closed with no significant deficiencies reported and three management letter points, all cleared before the next cycle. Rebuilt the inventory provision policy on a consistent ageing basis, which moved $2.3 million of unsupported carrying value into the right period.
Work Experience
02/2023 - Present, Finance Director, Delaney Mill Works, Milwaukee, United States
- Answer for the profit and loss, the balance sheet and a nine person finance team at a $145 million operating company inside a manufacturing group, reporting to the group chief financial officer.
- Owned the first standalone statutory audit after the carve-out, which closed with no significant deficiencies reported and three management letter points, all cleared before the next cycle.
- Rebuilt the inventory provision policy on a consistent ageing basis, moving $2.3 million of unsupported carrying value into the right period.
- Introduced a 13 week cash forecast and a monthly covenant calculation where neither existed before the carve-out.
- Rewrote the delegation of authority with purchase order thresholds and separated preparer from reviewer on every reconciliation over $50,000.
05/2019 - 01/2023, Financial Controller, Delaney Mill Works, Milwaukee, United States
- Ran the close, the ledger and the audit relationship for a single entity, taking the close from twelve working days to six.
- Built the group reporting pack and the first activity-based product costing model.
09/2015 - 04/2019, Audit Senior, Harrow and Pike LLP, Milwaukee, United States
- Led fieldwork on 22 audits of manufacturing and distribution clients from $20 million to $300 million in revenue.
- Owned revenue, inventory and going concern sections, and drafted the control findings communicated to management.
Education
08/2020 - 05/2022, Master of Business Administration, Finance, University of Wisconsin, Madison, United States
Part time while working. Capstone on working capital and covenant structures in mid-market manufacturing.
08/2011 - 05/2015, Bachelor of Business Administration, Accounting, Marquette University, Milwaukee, United States
Accounting major. Entered public accounting directly from the program.
Skills
Statutory and group reporting, 90
External audit management, 90
Inventory and provisioning policy, 85
Internal control design and remediation, 85
13 week cash forecasting, 80
Covenant calculation, 75
Delegation of authority, 80
Team leadership, 75
Activity-based costing, 80
Languages
English, native
Italian, intermediate
Certificates
06/2017, Certified Public Accountant, Wisconsin Accounting Examining Board
Active license, continuing professional education current.
Summary
A finance director resume is a two page document about accountability rather than activity: the profit and loss and balance sheet you answer for, the cash and capital you manage, what the audit found, the function you built, and the decisions that changed because of a number you produced. This guide gives you three adaptable versions and current Bureau of Labor Statistics pay and outlook for financial managers.
Finance Director resume examples by experience level
A finance director resume is a two page document about accountability. Not what you managed, not what you were responsible for, but what you answered for when it went wrong: a set of statements, a cash position, an audit outcome, and a board that wanted to know why the second half looked different from the plan.
The distinction from the layer below is structural rather than a matter of seniority. A finance manager runs the cycle: the close lands on working day five, the forecast refreshes, the pack goes out. A finance director owns what the cycle is for. That forecast exists so a board can decide whether to open the second site, and the finance director is in the room when that decision is made, with the number it rests on. Write the resume from that side of the line, or it reads as a finance manager resume with a bigger title.
Resume guide for a finance director resume
This guide and the corresponding finance director resume example will cover:
- How to write a finance director resume, section by section
- The accountability block that sizes you in four lines
- Three adaptable summaries: first finance director, finance director and group finance director
- What you can and cannot say about an audit finding
- Current Bureau of Labor Statistics pay and outlook, and why the published band needs care
How to write a finance director resume
Six blocks: contact header, summary, the accountability block, experience, capability and systems, education and qualifications. Two pages, always. A finance director resume that fits on one page is describing a finance manager job.
The accountability block sits directly under the summary. A chief financial officer or a board chair reading applications is sizing you against a specific set of statements, and four lines does it faster than four bullets ever will.
| Section | What it is answering | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Accountability block | Which statements, which entities, how much cash, how clean? | Directly under the summary |
| Experience | What changed under you, in numbers, over a stated period | Reverse chronological, two roles deep |
| Decisions | Which decisions moved because of a number you produced | Inside each role, not as a claim |
| Qualifications | Degree, professional qualification, board exposure | Last block, brief |
Write accountability, not responsibility
"Responsible for" is the weakest phrase on a finance director resume, and it is on almost all of them. It describes a job description rather than a record.
Accountability has four parts and all four are checkable. What you answered for: revenue, cost base, balance sheet, entities. What it did while you held it. What an independent party said about it, which normally means the audit. And what changed because of something you produced.
"Answered for a $340 million profit and loss, a $196 million balance sheet and four operating entities; two clean audits with no significant deficiencies reported; recommended exiting a contract line carrying a negative 6 percent contribution margin, which the board approved and which returned $4.1 million of working capital in the following year" is four facts, not four adjectives. That is a finance director paragraph.
Run the finished file through the ATS resume checker before you apply. Executive search firms and corporate portals both parse the file into structured fields, and a designed two column template is where that breaks.
Choosing the best resume format for a finance director resume
Reverse chronological, two pages, with the last two roles carrying most of the detail. At this level a reader is assessing a trajectory of scope: bigger statements, more entities, harder capital events, more people, and that story only works in order.
Resist the separate executive summary page some search firms suggest for board-level candidates. It duplicates the summary and pushes the accountability block off the first screen, which is the only screen most readers give you.
Include your contact information
| ✅ Right | ❌ Wrong |
|---|---|
| Isadora Pellegrini, CPA | Isadora Pellegrini |
| Finance Director, $340M revenue, 4 entities, 24 in finance | Senior finance leader and trusted business partner |
| Two clean audits, no significant deficiencies; refinanced $85M facility 2025 | Extensive experience in financial leadership and strategy |
| (414) 555-0197, [email protected], Milwaukee, WI | (414) 555-0197, [email protected] |
Three lines carrying scale, control record and one capital event. A chief financial officer with a $400 million business to staff has now placed you, and the summary has not started.
Make use of a summary
Four lines: what you answer for, the team and structure, the control record, and one decision your numbers changed.
Finance director for a $145 million operating company inside a manufacturing group, answering for the profit and loss, the balance sheet and a nine person finance team, and reporting to the group chief financial officer. Owned the first standalone statutory audit after the carve-out, which closed with no significant deficiencies reported and three management letter points, all cleared before the next cycle. Rebuilt the inventory provision policy on a consistent ageing basis, which moved $2.3 million of unsupported carrying value into the right period.
Finance director answering for a $340 million profit and loss, a $196 million balance sheet and four operating entities, with 24 people across finance and a direct line to the audit committee. Two consecutive audits closed with no significant deficiencies reported after inheriting a material weakness in revenue cut-off, remediated within one cycle. Refinanced an $85 million facility in 2025 on tighter pricing, and recommended exiting a contract line carrying a negative 6 percent contribution margin, which the board approved and which released $4.1 million of working capital.
Group finance director for an $840 million distribution and services group, answering for five operating entities in two countries, a consolidated balance sheet and 46 people across finance, shared services and treasury. Cut consolidated net working capital by 11 days and built a 13 week cash forecast that held inside 4 percent for six consecutive quarters through a refinancing. Present to the board and the audit committee each quarter, and led the carve-out and sale of a non-core entity at a valuation the board had not thought reachable.
Right vs wrong: the same finance director summary, twice
| ✅ Right | ❌ Wrong |
|---|---|
| Answer for a $340 million profit and loss, a $196 million balance sheet and four operating entities. | Responsible for all financial operations across the business. |
| Two consecutive audits with no significant deficiencies after inheriting a material weakness in revenue cut-off. | Ensured compliance with accounting standards and internal controls. |
| Recommended exiting a contract line at negative 6 percent contribution; the board approved and $4.1 million of working capital came back. | Provided strategic financial guidance to the executive team. |
The right column is a record. The left column is a job description with an adjective in front of it.
Outline your experience
Company, sector, revenue, entities, city, dates, then five or six bullets for the current role and three for the one before: statements, cash, capital events, audit outcomes, people, and decisions with a number behind them.
| Instead of | Use |
|---|---|
| Responsible for all aspects of financial management | Answer for a $340 million profit and loss, a $196 million balance sheet and four operating entities, with 24 in finance |
| Managed relationships with external auditors | Inherited a material weakness in revenue cut-off; remediated within one cycle and closed two consecutive audits with no significant deficiencies |
| Improved cash flow and working capital | Cut net working capital by 11 days, releasing $18.4 million, and held a 13 week cash forecast inside 4 percent for six quarters |
| Led financing activities | Refinanced an $85 million facility in 2025 at 85 basis points tighter, with covenant headroom rebuilt from 1.2 to 2.4 times |
| Provided strategic input to the leadership team | Recommended exiting a contract line at negative 6 percent contribution margin; the board approved and $4.1 million of working capital returned |
| Built and led a finance team | Took finance from 31 people to 24 through a shared services move, with voluntary turnover down from 22 percent to 7 percent |
Finance Director, Fairhaven Coatings Group, Milwaukee, WI, September 2021 to Present
Answer for a $340 million profit and loss, a $196 million balance sheet and four operating entities, with 24 people across financial control, planning and transactional finance, reporting to the chief executive with a direct line to the audit committee.
Inherited a material weakness in revenue cut-off from the prior year audit; rebuilt the revenue recognition calendar and the contract review file and remediated it within one cycle, with the following two audits closing with no significant deficiencies reported.
Refinanced an $85 million facility in 2025 at 85 basis points tighter, rebuilding covenant headroom from 1.2 to 2.4 times, and run the monthly covenant calculation myself.
Cut net working capital by 11 days, releasing $18.4 million, by resetting terms with the twelve largest suppliers and moving collections onto a dated escalation ladder.
Recommended exiting a contract line at a negative 6 percent contribution margin after rebuilding the costing on an activity basis; the board approved and $4.1 million of working capital returned the following year.
Took finance from 31 people to 24 through a shared services move while cutting voluntary turnover from 22 percent to 7 percent, and replaced two spreadsheet consolidations with one group reporting layer.
Build the accountability block: the P&L, the balance sheet, the audit and the board
This is the block that separates a finance director resume from the layer below it, and it takes four lines.
A finance manager can honestly claim the close, the forecast and the pack. What a finance director is hired for is narrower and heavier: statements somebody signs, a cash position that has to be right on a Friday, an external opinion, and a governance body that asks questions. Put all four in one place so a reader does not have to assemble them from bullets.
Statements: $340 million profit and loss, $196 million balance sheet, four operating entities consolidated monthly, one statutory audit and three local filings
Cash and capital: $85 million facility refinanced 2025 at 85 basis points tighter, covenant headroom rebuilt from 1.2 to 2.4 times, 13 week cash forecast held inside 4 percent, net working capital down 11 days releasing $18.4 million
Control and audit: inherited a material weakness in revenue cut-off, remediated within one cycle; two consecutive audits closed with no significant deficiencies reported; delegation of authority and approval thresholds rewritten in 2023
Function and governance: 24 people across financial control, planning and transactional finance, down from 31 through a shared services move with turnover from 22 percent to 7 percent; quarterly reporting to the audit committee; one board decision changed on a contribution margin rebuild worth $4.1 million of working capital
Four lines, four questions. What do you answer for, can you fund it, did an independent party find anything, and who asks you questions, how often, about what.
The fourth is usually missing and it is the one that separates candidates. Reporting to a chief financial officer is a different job from presenting to an audit committee, and both are different from sitting on the board. Say which, and how often.
What a material weakness is, and why saying you fixed one is safe
Finance directors often leave audit findings off the page entirely, on an instinct that anything negative reads badly. It reads far worse to have no control record at all, and the terms have precise definitions. A deficiency exists "when the design or operation of a control does not allow management or employees, in the normal course of performing their assigned functions, to prevent or detect misstatements on a timely basis". A material weakness is "a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the company's annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis". A significant deficiency is "less severe than a material weakness, yet important enough to merit attention by those responsible for oversight of the company's financial reporting" (PCAOB, AS 2201, paragraphs A3, A7 and A11).
What you may write is your own record against those terms: what was open when you arrived, what you rebuilt, and what the following cycles produced. What does not belong on a resume is the audit report itself, the management letter, workpapers, or an unpublished finding at a company whose results are not public. Describe the outcome, never the document.
Build a snapshot of your key skills
Twelve to fifteen entries in three groups: the statements, the capital, and the function. Keep it at the level you operate; a finance director skills list full of spreadsheet functions reads as a promotion the reader should question.
Statements and control: Statutory and consolidated reporting, Revenue recognition policy, Inventory and provisioning policy, Internal control design and remediation, External audit management, Delegation of authority
Capital and cash: Refinancing and lender negotiation, Covenant management and compliance certification, 13 week cash forecasting, Working capital programs, Capital allocation and hurdle rates, Carve-out and disposal support
Function and governance: Audit committee and board reporting, Finance operating model and shared services, Team structure and succession, Group reporting layer implementation, Business partnering with commercial and operations
List your education and qualifications
A bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education for financial managers, the occupation that covers finance direction, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook also lists five years or more of related work experience as typical. Most finance directors carry a professional qualification as well, and it is worth naming the route.
Certified Public Accountant, Wisconsin, active, 2011
Master of Business Administration, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 2016
Bachelor of Business Administration, Accounting, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, 2007
Audit committee reporting since 2019; observer at group board meetings since 2022
Progression: audit senior, financial controller, finance director, group finance director
Name the governance exposure explicitly; it comes across no other way. A candidate who has presented to an audit committee for six years has answered questions a candidate who has only reported to a chief financial officer has never been asked.
Choose the right layout and design
Single column, 11 or 12 point, clear headings, no photograph, no charts, no skill bars. Two pages, with the accountability block high on page one. Save as PDF unless the portal says otherwise: isadora-pellegrini-finance-director-resume.pdf.
Lead with what you answer for, sized in dollars and entities. Put the audit outcome on the page, including what you inherited. Name the capital events with dates and terms you are free to disclose. Say who you report to and who you present to, and how often. Give one decision that changed because of a number you produced. Put headcount and turnover behind any claim about building a team.
Do not write "responsible for" anywhere. Do not quote or attach an audit report, a management letter or workpapers. Do not publish unpublished results, margins by customer, contract values or anything from a board pack. Do not claim a refinancing you supported as one you led. Do not describe a function you inherited in good order as a turnaround.
Finance director job market and outlook
The Occupational Outlook Handbook publishes no profile for the title "finance director". The occupation covering the work is financial managers, which the Handbook says includes controllers, treasurers and finance officers, credit managers, cash managers, risk managers and insurance managers. A finance director sits at the upper end of it, and in smaller companies the role overlaps with the chief financial officer title reported under top executives. The honest reading is a bracket between the two.
| Occupation | Employment, 2025 | Projected change, 2025 to 2035 | Annual openings | Median annual wage, May 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Financial managers | 879,700 | 10 percent growth, +84,900 | About 65,600 | $166,570 |
| Top executives | 3,890,600 | 5 percent growth, +190,600 | About 304,100 | $108,780 |
| Chief executives (within top executives) | 291,600 | 3 percent growth, +9,300 | Not published separately | $213,990 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 wage data and 2025 to 2035 projections.
Where the published data stops, and why nothing follows it here
Financial managers had a median annual wage of $166,570 in May 2025, with the lowest 10 percent under $94,310 and the highest 10 percent over $323,270. Chief executives, reported under top executives, had a median of $213,990, with the lowest 10 percent under $75,700 and the highest 10 percent over $507,730 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025). A finance director sits inside the overlap of those two ranges, which is wide on purpose: the occupation runs from a single-entity controller to a group finance lead.
Financial managers is also a growing occupation, projected up 10 percent between 2025 and 2035 with about 65,600 openings a year, against 5 percent growth for top executives (BLS, 2025 to 2035 projections). The band is wide because the jobs inside it are genuinely different sizes.
What cannot be added to those numbers is the part most finance directors care about. The federal wage survey measures straight-time gross pay and excludes non-production bonuses, overtime and the employer cost of benefits (BLS, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey documentation), and no federal source publishes an annual bonus, long term incentive or equity figure for this occupation. Published data covers base and regular incentive together and stops there.
What salary you can expect as a finance director
There is no published median for the job title "finance director", so the usable figures are the two occupations it straddles. Financial managers had a median annual wage of $166,570 in May 2025, from under $94,310 to over $323,270. Chief executives had a median of $213,990, from under $75,700 to over $507,730 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025).
Four things move a finance director inside that range, and all four belong on the page. The size of the statements comes first, because it is how compensation committees band the role. Entity and jurisdiction count comes second: a consolidation across two countries with local filings is a different job from a single entity of the same revenue. Capital events come third, since a finance director who has run a refinancing, a carve-out or a due diligence process is priced differently. Governance comes fourth, because presenting to an audit committee cannot be trained quickly.
Read the published figure for what it measures: base pay plus regular incentive, not a package. Ask for the full structure in the process rather than assuming one, and do not anchor on a bonus figure you cannot source.
Key takeaways for a finance director resume
- Write accountability, never responsibility: statements, cash, audit, governance.
- Size the role in dollars and entities in the header line.
- Put the audit outcome on the page, including anything you inherited and closed.
- Name capital events with dates and terms you are free to disclose.
- Say who you report to and who you present to, and how often.
- Give one decision that changed because of a number you produced.
- Describe audit outcomes, never the audit documents, and keep unpublished results off the page.
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Pair it with a matching finance director cover letter.
Finance director resume questions, answered
What is the difference between a finance director and a finance manager on a resume?
Scope of accountability, who reads your output, and the kind of decision you are in the room for. A finance manager owns the cycle: the close, the forecast, the pack, a team and a control routine. A finance director owns what the cycle is for: statements somebody signs, a cash position, an audit opinion, and a governance body that asks why. If your resume is a list of deliverables and deadlines, it is a finance manager resume whatever the title says. Our [finance manager resume example](/resume/finance-manager/) is written for that layer deliberately.
Is a finance director the same as a chief financial officer?
Not usually, and the difference is worth stating on the page rather than leaving to the title. In many companies the finance director runs the function and reports to a chief financial officer or a chief executive; in smaller companies the two titles describe the same job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not distinguish them either: financial managers covers the function, chief executives sits inside top executives, and the ranges overlap heavily (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025). Say who you report to and whether you hold statutory directorships.
Should I put audit findings on my resume?
Your own record against them, yes, and it is one of the strongest things on the page. Say what was open when you arrived, what you rebuilt, and what the following cycles produced. Use the terms properly: a material weakness carries "a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the company's annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis", and a significant deficiency is less severe but still merits oversight attention (PCAOB, AS 2201). What never belongs on a resume is the audit report, the management letter, workpapers, or an unpublished finding at a private company.
How long should a finance director resume be?
Two pages. One page cannot carry an accountability block, two roles in detail, a capital event and a governance line, and three pages signals someone who has not decided what matters.
Can I put company financials on my resume?
Only what is public, and otherwise only scale. Approximate revenue, balance sheet size, entity count, headcount, days of working capital and facility size are normally fine, and are how the market sizes the role. Margins by customer or product, unpublished results, contract values, valuation multiples and anything lifted from a board pack are not, whether or not you still work there. If even revenue is sensitive, write "a mid-market distribution group" with the entity count and the team size.
How do I write the step up from finance manager to finance director?
Find the accountability you already carry and lead with it rather than with the cycle. Most strong finance managers have owned an audit relationship, a covenant calculation, a policy rewrite or a capital appraisal a board approved. Name those, say who consumed each one, and say plainly which parts of a director role you have not held, such as lender negotiation or audit committee presentation. A candidate who describes the boundary accurately is more convincing than one who blurs it, because the first interview question at this level is usually about exactly that boundary.