Your work as a finance assistant goes beyond just crunching numbers. Your finance assistant cover letter will help to show your future employer how you go about your job as well as what you deliver for all those colleagues who depend on you. By all means, include plenty of impressive numbers, but show how you helped your colleagues to get there.
When you need to prioritise your workload, you talk to people to see what is urgent for them. If you need information to help you finish a project, your influencing skills come to the forefront. If the numbers are flashing red, you need to understand enough about the broader business to be able to suggest solutions. All these issues (and many more) require a people-led skillset which can be conveyed on your cover letter. That is what your future boss will look for.
The financial assistant cover letter is a perfect way of showcasing this human dimension, so this guide along with our cover letter example will seek to explore how to tell your story.
In this cover letter example guide, we look at:
- How to format your finance assistant cover letter to allow your sales pitch to flow.
- Creating content for the intro, middle part and closing parts of the cover letter
- Including as many quantifiable achievements as possible whilst still telling a story.
- Tips about what impresses a financial hiring manager and mistakes to avoid.
You can find even more tips and formatting advice in our collection of 125+ cover letter examples intended to help job seekers at every level of their career.
According to Zippia, there are currently 54,722 job openings for finance assistants in the United States.
Best format for a finance assistant cover letter
Most finance assistants will rightly prefer substance over form, but that doesn’t mean that you should take time in writing a cover letter that is visually effective as well as impressive in its content. The structure of a cover letter follows a particular pattern and there is no reason to deviate from it.
The format of your finance assistant cover letter sample should follow the typical pattern:
- Cover letter header
- Greeting / salutation
- Cover letter intro
- Middle paragraphs (body of the letter)
- Ending paragraph of your cover letter (conclusion and sign-off)
This cover letter example and guide offers some specific advice for finance assistants, but there are broader themes that could also be considered when sitting down to write job search content. Our comprehensive cover letter example guide offers different perspectives on the matter.
Here is a finance assistant cover letter example that may trigger some inspiration:
Dear Mrs. Pretworth,
Having worked in construction supply chain for seven years, I understand the challenges of financial planning within logistics. I was the financial assistant at a building company for three years and this will set me up for the role at Yellow Warehouse.
I am an expert in budget management, financial planning, P&L control, and payroll. The long lead times and complicated payment terms of construction products taught me much about negotiation and influencing skills.
I have worked as an assistant in small finance teams, so have taken on responsibilities that are not normally in the job description. The following achievements would be relevant to my role at Yellow:
- Projects to reduce total expense outgoings by 25%
- Assisted a warehousing project with $5.6m of Capex spend
- Redesigned operational cashflow reporting process
- Ran the payroll function for large company.
My degree in commercial finance from Miami University gave me a solid foundation to start my career and I have since pursued further qualifications in accounting and audit functions. My knowledge of financial modeling techniques, such as DCF and LBO models, has enabled me to develop accurate and actionable insights for my employers.
Colleagues describe me as a “proficient communicator who always puts the numbers at the heart of her conversations.” I do not believe that emotion has a place in financial decision making and I always strive to be fair in my business dealings.
I would love the opportunity of an interview to find out more about the role and how my skills might add value to your finance team.
Sincerely,
Hailey Bryant
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Cover letter header
Most financial professionals have a pretty significant perfectionist streak, so getting the basics right in their finance assistant cover letter header should come as second nature. Like designing a spreadsheet when all the formulae combine to produce the right numbers, the cover letter header has a simple job to do, but it is deceptively easy to get it wrong.
You would be surprised at how many people do not consider that it is important to include their email, phone contacts and social links on a cover letter because they have already included them in their resume. Both job search documents will be read equally, but do you want to risk a hiring manager not having these essential details to hand when they read something impressive in your cover letter and decide to invite you to interview?
Include your full name, an email address (nothing too creative) and a link to a social profile such as LinkedIn if you are active in financial circles. See how to do this in our adaptable cover letter sample. There is no reason to include a full home address as there may be data protection issues. Company databases get hacked all the time - you only need to share your full address at the offer stage.
Goal of the cover letter header: Share your contact details at the top of the cover letter and make it easy for a hiring manager to contact you.
Cover letter greeting
Financial professionals tend to err on the formal side in terms of communication, so getting the greeting right is an important introduction to your potential future boss. Beginning with a simple “Dear Mr/Mrs Surname” is a tried-and-tested way to greet someone.
Make sure that you know to whom the finance assistant cover letter should be addressed, and if you don’t know, find out. Initiative is an important part of a finance assistant’s role, so a quick phone call to check a spelling or double check a name is a natural part of the job search. It might even be a chance to ask the receptionist a few interesting questions. Taking a moment to do these little things might make all the difference. You could also potentially do some networking on social media to find out. Check out the greeting from our cover letter sample below.
Goal of letter greeting: Choosing an appropriate greeting won’t get you the job; but getting it wrong might not get your application off in the best way.
Dear Mrs. Pretworth,
Cover letter introduction
The introduction for a finance assistant cover letter has to be laser focused on how you will be able to deliver on the specific tasks that you will be set in that role. Every finance assistant job has different responsibilities and tasks, so read the job description carefully and target your opening words around exactly the sorts of problems that you will be solving.
Make sure that you include details about your most recent role and maybe one of your most relevant accomplishments. Grabbing a hiring manager’s attention in that first paragraph is essential if you want them to read the rest of the cover letter, so include some impressive numbers and show the impact of your work on the bottom line of your company.
Technology is playing an increasingly important part in a finance assistant’s day, so maybe drop in the details of (ideally rare) software knowledge. Your ability to work alongside the machines is crucial – they can do the leg work while you do the analysis alongside your colleagues. AI is beginning to impact all sorts of financial work, so make sure that you are aware of the latest developments. Below you’ll find the introduction from our cover letter sample.
Goal of the cover letter intro: Choose an impactful start to your letter that gets to the heart of your application and makes the hiring manager want to learn more.
Having worked in construction supply chain for seven years, I understand the challenges of financial planning within logistics. I was the financial assistant at a building company for three years and this will set me up for the role at Yellow Warehouse.
Cover letter middle part (body)
Many finance assistants would be tempted to pack a cover letter with detail about their knowledge of obscure auditing techniques and complicated financial projects, but that is not what a finance manager wants to read.
Their resume is the place for all the technical and industry detail, so the middle part of the finance assistant cover letter should describe what they are like as a colleague and how they get things done at work, along with a few examples of how they coped with certain challenging projects. Just reeling off a list of financial qualifications is not enough. It is what you do with your expertise that matters.
Education is important in financial professions, so while it might be at the end of your resume, make some space to include your university (finance) degree and any other relevant qualifications. Highlighting that learning is central is your career success is a great message in any job search and any finance career demands a constant learning curve.
If you have worked in finance in the specific industry of your potential employer, it is also well worth mentioning. It may have been a job or two ago, but there are always specific nuances in each industry, so take the opportunity to show that you understand them. Success in a job search is about eliminating perceptions of risk as well as seeking to impress. Just saying that you have “retail finance” experience will tick a box (for example). The key of a cover letter is to present yourself as "one of them" so use the language that you will use in the job.
Goal of the body of your cover letter: The detail of your finance assistant story should sit within the middle paragraphs of your cover letter. Pick only those parts of your story that are most relevant and don’t forget about your qualifications and technical expertise.
I am an expert in budget management, financial planning, P&L control, and payroll. The long lead times and complicated payment terms of construction products taught me much about negotiation and influencing skills.
I have worked as an assistant in small finance teams, so have taken on responsibilities that are not normally in the job description. The following achievements would be relevant to my role at Yellow:
- Projects to reduce total expense outgoings by 25%
- Assisted a warehousing project with $5.6m of Capex spend
- Redesigned operational cashflow reporting process
- Ran the payroll function for large company.
My degree in commercial finance from Miami University gave me a solid foundation to start my career and I have since pursued further qualifications in accounting and audit functions. My knowledge of financial modeling techniques, such as DCF and LBO models, has enabled me to develop accurate and actionable insights for my employers.
Colleagues describe me as a “proficient communicator who always puts the numbers at the heart of her conversations.” I do not believe that emotion has a place in financial decision making and I always strive to be fair in my business dealings.
How to close a finance assistant cover letter (conclusion and sign-off)
The most effective close for a finance assistant cover letter should focus more on their personality: their reliability, attention to detail and how they get their work done when coping with the constant demands from a wide range of people.
Hopefully, by now your finance assistant cover letter and resume should have done a good enough job to persuade the hiring manager to invite you to an interview, so don’t be afraid to use the last few words of the letter to say that you are looking forward to the opportunity of learning more about the role. Your future boss will be impressed that you are curious and consider yourself worthy of the opportunity, so as long as your tone is not over-confident, such a close is a great way of getting them to send that much desired email response. See our tone in the cover letter sample below as a model for your own.
Goal of the closing: Leave your future boss with a sense of what it might be like to work with you and then ask the question: do you think that it might be worth meeting up to discuss further. An interview is a two-way conversation, so say that there is interest from your side.
I would love the opportunity of an interview to find out more about the role and how my skills might add value to your finance team.
Sincerely,
Hailey Bryant
Writing psychology: avoid mistakes in your finance assistant cover letter
There are certain messages that you can convey within a story, but others are simply conveyed by how you tell it. Attention to detail is a key trait for any finance assistant, so while English language skills are not high on the wish list of a hiring manager, any silly mistakes that are made in your finance assistant cover letter could be seen to convey a lack of care and attention. With all the online tools at your disposal, this is unforgivable. Happily, the following mistakes are not hard to rectify:
- Grammar and spelling: For a profession that uses various software applications on an hourly basis, using an online spell check and grammar checker should come as second nature. Why do something yourself when you can get a piece of software to do it for you. That said, having a friend proofread your cover letter can make sure that it also sounds like you.
- Stick to industry-approved language: The moment you start diverging from typical finance-speak is the moment that you plant doubts in the mind of a future boss. Yes, a finance assistant cover letter might be more about you and your personality, but don’t get carried away with descriptive and flowery language. Keep it professional.
- Irrelevance: This is the last chance to make sure that your application is actually a fit for the job. You never know which roles may come along at the company in the future, but if you apply and are 2-3 years short of experience, they will be unlikely to look at your name popping up on any future applications. Be honest with yourself.
The choice of cover letter template matters a great deal for financial roles. Choose an understated colour scheme that conveys a professional look and think about how you present the information to accentuate the best parts of your application. Our free cover letter templates can help.
Key takeaways
Finance assistants may have lofty ambitions to become a finance director one day, but the position is complicated enough, so stick to proving how awesome you are in your day job. There is plenty of important and detail-oriented work to do, so use the financial assistant cover letter to prove that you are a safe pair of hands.
- Tell the story of how your personal approach blends with your financial expertise.
- Make sure that you pick the parts of your career that are most relevant to the demands of the future role – study the job description carefully.
- Stick to the normal format of introduction, middle paragraphs and conclusion – keep your language professional and try to quantify any accomplishments.
- Check carefully for mistakes and ensure that the cover letter sounds like you.
