Financial Analyst – Why to Become a Financial Analyst
“A financial analyst researches macroeconomic and micro-economic conditions along with company fundamentals to make business, sector and industry recommendations.” - Investopedia The designation, financial analyst is pretty much self-explanatory, as this individual basically analysis everything financial about a firm. The field of corporate finance entails all the financial activities of various firms in the stock market. Although these professionals don’t play a pivotal role in a company’s financial policies, these are the ones offering the recommendations on the financial value addition part. Nowadays, a computer has become an all-encompassing entity, doing every kind of assisting function, but any firm would still need someone to translate all that data into decisions. This in simple words is what a financial analyst does for a firm.
There is a wide array of opportunities for financial analysts, as they manage numerous aspects of other people’s money. They can work as advisers with brokerage firms, dispensing advice on various investments, they can be ratings analysts or securities analysts. When it comes to careers as a financial analyst, there is a lot of scope as this is an entry level designation. So, these professionals can work for insurance companies, mutual funds, investment banks, pension funds, hedge funds. Here although the job title would be the same, but the responsibilities and functions performed would differ accordingly.
These professionals work either on the buy side of operations or the sell side. The ones working on the buy side, work for investor firms and help them in developing new strategies for the same. Whereas, the on the sell side, which is considered to be the more attractive career option of the two, these professionals help sell. Apart from buying and selling, these professionals are also given the responsibility of helping analyze and manage budget costs of a company. A lot of the work of analysts revolves around researching the records and financial history of the company, piecing together various models, conducting presentations and working extensively with a lot of excel sheets.
Educational requirements for getting into the field of financial services are usually basic. Usually companies look for a background in commerce, economics, finance or any other related fields. There are a lot of companies which look for professionals with an MBA degree or masters for senior positions. It is always considered better to take up courses in finance and related fields so as to get field oriented knowledge. There are a lot of institutes, which provide programs for those wanting to explore a career in the field of financial services. To enhance one’s career as a financial analyst, on e can also give exams for various credentials. One such credential is the Chartered Financial Analyst credential, which is achieved after cracking the corresponding exam. Imarticus Learning also provides for the CFA program, which helps finance aspirants in cracking the exam and being a part of the elite league. It is a leading education institute, which also offers courses in finance, corporate finance, financial modeling, wealth management and so on. There are also various certification courses offered in the online format, thus letting the candidates learn at their own pace.