What is the difference between financial management and corporate finance?

Financial management is a function within an organization that ensures, among other things, custodianship, optimization, safeguarding, accountability, and reporting on the use of financial resources made available for the organization’s purpose. Financial management encompasses both the organization’s assets and liabilities.

Corporate Finance is a subset of Financial Management that deals with fundraising, liquidity and working capital management, and working on investments, among other things.

Financial management is concerned with the day-to-day optimization of cash flow, whereas corporate finance seeks to maximize a company’s value through analysis and decision-making. Both are relevant to any company’s finance department, but they have very different responsibilities.