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If you plan to become a finance manager, you are on the right path to success. However, there are many challenges you will face in this field; it’s not an easy career, but it can be very lucrative.
Using SMART goals can help make things more manageable and help overcome any obstacles you might face.
This article provides 6 SMART goal examples for finance managers. However, before we do that, we must discuss SMART goals. Then, we’ll look at various obstacles that finance managers may encounter. We will then end by looking at examples of SMART goals for finance managers.
Table of Contents
What Are SMART Goals?
Before we can discuss how SMART goals can help you solve problems in financial management, knowing what they are will be helpful. SMART is an acronym that stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timebound.
This is a goal-setting method. When you set a goal, SMART requires you to adhere to all five of the words in that acronym. That said, what does it mean? Let’s look at what these five letters of the SMART acronym mean.
- Specific: The goal you set needs to be explicit and concise, as does the path to achieving the goal. Setting ambiguous goals will make it hard to monitor progress if you don’t know what the goal is.
- Measurable: The goal must be measurable in some way. Tracking progress toward any goal is not easy if you don’t know the parameters.
- Attainable: The goal should be realistic and achievable. There’s no point in setting goals that can’t be achieved.
- Relevant: The goal must be relevant to the bigger picture. It must somehow help overcome an obstacle you may face as a finance manager.
- Timebound: The goal should involve a time frame. This means that any goal you set should have a deadline by which it should be achieved.
If you want to learn more about SMART goals, look at this Ultimate Guide to setting SMART goals.
Why Are SMART Goals Important for Finance Managers?
Finance management is a great career, but you will face obstacles and problems. It can be a lucrative career, but it comes with challenges. Let’s look at some of the most common challenges you will face as a finance manager.
If you manage investments, you must ensure people incur minimal risk while maximizing their returns. This is the biggest challenge you will face.
As a finance manager for a company, different issues may arise. For instance, your main challenge will be to maximize the company's value. The job concerns minimizing costs while simultaneously maximizing both growth and profit. This is easier said than done, and avoiding bankruptcy is another issue.
Other challenges include accurately keeping track of expenditures and costs versus the amount of revenue coming into the company, planning for financial emergencies, and accurately reporting all financial aspects of the company. These are just some of the challenges you may face as a finance manager.
Overcoming these obstacles is not easy, but the process becomes more manageable by using SMART goals. SMART goals allow you to define clear objectives and how to achieve them.
You will set goals that are measurable in quantitative or subjective ways. Then, you will have a specific deadline and monitor your progress toward your goals. Most would agree that using SMART goals is one of the best ways to tackle a challenge in any field.
Examples of SMART Goals for Financial Managers
1. Provide Clients with Maximum Returns
“My goal as a financial manager is to provide my clients with maximum returns. My main objective is to increase monthly returns for my clients by at least 2% per month. I will do so by investing their money into up-and-coming stocks that will likely increase in value over the coming year.”
S: This goal is specific—to provide clients with maximum returns, with a growth of 2% per month, by investing in the best possible stocks.
M: This goal is easy to measure by doing in-depth financial progress reports.
A: This goal is relatively easy to attain because, as a finance manager, you should have the means necessary to determine the best return-generating stocks.
R: This goal is relevant because a good financial manager is concerned with maximizing returns.
T: This goal is timebound—aiming to increase returns over a set period.
2. Minimize Risk for Clients
“My goal for any client who invests money in the stock market is to minimize risk and decrease the risk they take on by at least 50% within the following year. I plan to invest my clients’ money in safe options, such as government bonds and strong fiat currencies.”
S: This goal is specific—to reduce risk by 50% by investing in safe options, such as government bonds.
M: This goal is measurable by using various risk assessment tools.
A: This goal is realistic because there are many good financial risk assessment tools.
R: This goal is relevant because being a finance manager involves reducing risk and increasing profits.
T: This goal is timebound—to reduce investment risks by 50% within one year.
3. Create a LinkedIn Profile
“My goal is to create a LinkedIn profile showcasing my professional skills and accomplishments. Additionally, my goal is to make at least 10 new professional LinkedIn connections every week, with the overall goal of gaining at least 2 new clients per month due to my LinkedIn efforts.”
S: This goal is specific—to use LinkedIn to showcase skills and get at least 2 new clients per month.
M: This goal is easy to measure because you can easily track how many connections you have on LinkedIn and how many new clients you get.
A: This goal is relatively easy to attain because getting 2 new clients per month should not be a significant challenge.
R: This goal is relevant because you need more clients to make more money as a finance manager.
T: This goal is timebound—to get 2 new clients every month.
4. Minimize Unnecessary Expenditures
“My goal as a finance manager is to ensure my company minimizes unnecessary expenditures. I will use a variety of methods, such as streamlining operations. Using technology and adopting new work methods will allow my company to reduce overhead, operating costs, and unnecessary expenditures by at least 10% per month for the next 5 months, with an overall goal of reducing unnecessary costs by 50%.”
S: This goal is explicit—to minimize unneeded expenditures by 50% within 5 months by using various proven methods.
M: This goal is easy to measure by performing an in-depth analysis of your costs and eliminating those that are unnecessary.
A: This goal is attainable because there are many proven ways to reduce unnecessary expenditures.
R: This goal is relevant because reducing unnecessary expenditures will directly impact your bottom line.
T: This goal is timebound—to reduce unnecessary costs within 5 months.
5. Downsize the Number of Employees
“To maximize my company’s profitability, I will aim to downsize the number of employees. Ten percent of those currently employed in my company are unnecessary, with the other 90% capable of adequately performing 100% of all necessary tasks. Therefore, the goal to maximize profits and minimize expenditures is to eliminate these employees within 6 months of identifying who is needed and who is not.”
S: This goal is specific—to downsize the company’s employees by 10% to decrease overall costs.
M: This goal is easy to monitor by determining which employees are not needed.
A: This goal is relatively easy to attain by performing efficiency tests to see which employees are needed and which are not.
R: This goal is relevant because not having more employees than you need will directly affect the bottom line.
T: This goal is timebound—to eliminate unnecessary employees within 6 months.
6. Reduce Company Debt
“My goal as a financial manager is to reduce my company's overall debt by at least 50% within the next 6 months. I will also aim to reduce the amount of credit my company has to borrow by 50% within the next 6 months. In addition, I will eliminate unnecessary employees, streamline operations, and take on as many high-paying clients as possible. This goal is to be achieved within 6 months.”
S: This goal is specific—to reduce debt by 50% by performing a variety of proven cost-saving methods.
M: This goal is easy to measure by tracking your revenue and expenditures and comparing them.
A: This goal should be relatively easy to attain through smart spending and cost-saving methods.
R: This goal is relevant to a financial manager because debt and credit always affect the bottom line.
T: This goal is timebound—to achieve 50% debt reduction within 6 months.
Final Thoughts on SMART Goals for Finance Managers
The bottom line is that as a finance manager, you have many obstacles that you need to overcome. However, with well-thought-out SMART goals, overcoming these obstacles will be easier.
Start by identifying your main obstacles, then define specific goals according to those obstacles. Finally, measure your progress and overcome your problems today!
And if you want more SMART goal ideas and examples, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 6 SMART Goals Examples for Your Accounting Career
- 15 SMART Personal Financial Goals to Increase Your Net Worth
- 8 SMART Goals Examples for Improving Your Interpersonal Skills
Finally, if you want to take your goal-setting efforts to the next level, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals.
