How to become a Financial Analyst?
Posted by: Dr. S Vinoth | Applied Finance
A financial analyst advises their clients when to buy and sell investments. Financial Analyst provides guidance to small, medium and large businesses, individuals to make investment decisions. They analyze and understand the financial condition of the firm through internal analysis and external information of the company. Financial Statement Analysis, Equity Valuation and Financial Modeling are the major areas covered under this.
Financial Analysts evaluate investment opportunities and help the investor to take decisions like where they can invest? How much can they invest? And How to manage risks and return. Financial Analysts evaluate individuals’ investment pattern, possibility of investment, Buy and Sell decisions and presents insightful inputs to the investor.
Learn MBA in applied finance to become a financial analyst
What Financial Analyst Do?
Financial Planning Analyst - Work cycle
The job description of Financial Analyst differ from firm to firm. A Financial Analyst works with banks, insurance companies and mutual fund companies, to evaluate the investment opportunities, recommend their clients on Where to invest? How to invest? And also explain feasible conditions on market risks and returns. For this, they usually study the firm’s Historical financial statements and project the future cash flow, profits and balance sheet. For recommendations, they also use Micro and Macro economic factors like business trend, Industry specific, Geographical region, GDP, Tax etc. Apart from this, the financial analyst also provide recommendations for company’s solvency through their observations. The analyst also helps the businesses to make critical decisions on Budgeting, Forecasting, Financial Planning, Tax Planning etc.
What are the required Qualifications to become a Financial Analyst?
A minimum of a Bachelor degree – preferably Commerce or Management with finance base, such as accounting, economics, statistics, and taxation is required for entry level financial job. Analyst with MBA in Finance degree will get better jobs and pay scale. If an Analyst hold additional certifications like financial statement analysis, MS Excel, Financial Modeling, and then he/she will be given priority while hiring by the employers. Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA – Level 3) certification is highly valued in the industry and fetches handsome salary.
Indicative salaries for financial analyst across kpo
What skill sets are required for a Financial Analyst to compete in Industry?
Apart from qualifications, the financial analyst should acquire certain skills such as:
- FinancialPlanning CreativeSolid analytical skills
- In-depth understanding of Companies & Industry
- Clear conceptual knowledge in Finance, Statistics, Micro and Macro Economics
- Strong Analytical and MS Excel Skills
- Ability to build Financial Models
- Strong Communication skills
- Able to effectively create reports and presents findings
- Excellent decision making skills, used for providing a recommendation to buy, hold or sell a security
- A vigilant awareness of financial trendsWhat would be career opportunities as Financial Analyst?
Insights about Financial Analyst
There are many Financial KPO’s where entry level openings are available. Accenture, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, EClerx, Ernst & Young, Morgan Stanley, HDFC, Northern Trust Corporation, Tata Consultancy Services, Genpact and Deloitte are the leading Finance KPO’s offering Financial Analyst Jobs in India. After that a financial analyst can able to move up the ladder as Senior Analyst, Asst. Finance Manager, Finance Manager, Vice-President and CFO of the firm.
Type of Industries and Companies - Financial analyst
Financial Analyst can also find career opportunities in Consulting. It will extend their earnings and a chance to work with many people. Apart from consulting, analysts have other career opportunities such as Fund or Portfolio Manager, Investment Advisor or Investment Banker and Personal Finance Advisor. They help individuals make decisions on how to manage their finances, including mortgages, investments and taxes.
Conclusion
Attractive growth for extraordinary talented finance professionals attracts youngsters to become a financial analyst. There is no limit for professional growth in financial analysis; particularly investment banking organizations offer stupendously high salaries to able candidates. Some top notch financial analysts can even make a career in media, where in they can put their views on the state of market, company shares, effects of policy changes, etc. Employment of financial analyst is projected to grow 16% from 2012 to 2022, faster than the average for all occupations. A growing range of financial products and the need for in-depth knowledge of geographic regions are expected to lead to strong employment growth.