Introduction to Financial Analyst:
Financial Analyst is one of the most important and a progressing career path in the field of finance and investment. It is also one of the most crucial job where the worker needs to critically analyse and solve the problems in the finance sector and the work, they receive which shows how active and challenging it is in nature. This field is also diverse as it is acquainted with a lot of components i.e., in banking industry, risk management, credit management and other financial management analysis roles.
To be precise, A financial analyst collects, crunches, and analyses all forms of financial information, including macroeconomic and microeconomic, as well as economy data, to assist their clients in making the best investment choices available. An analyst also plays a major role in the firms as they help them in giving necessary details to the firm so that they can take decisions and make perspective about the future market to plan. They help the businesses in gauging their financial performance by analysing its performance, projections, and current financial scenario.
We can clearly say that a Financial analyst plays a crucial role in every company and in the very financial department as well for its diverse nature and key responsibilities it holds.
Important topics to be known by a Financial analyst:
Financial Analyst being a broad field, the aspirants are expected to know various topics to be a competent and qualified personnel. The topics being:
- Financial Modelling:
It is one of the most important skill which is required by the financial Analysts. It is a numerical representation of an operating performance in the past, current, and projected future. These models are designed to be used as decision-making aids. They could be used by top executives to predict the costs and forecast the income of a planned new venture.
They are used by financial analysts to describe or forecast the effect of occurrences on a company’s shares, ranging from internal environment such as a shift in policy or operating model to external influences such as a fluctuation in market policy or legislation.
- Ratio Analysis:
The analysts need to be well acquainted with the analysis of the ratio such as liquidity, asset, current, quick, etc and know how to draw conclusions about the answers. They also need to understand the application of them and compare the companies as well as the industries so that it is easier to develop an analysis and understanding for the specified. Aspirants should also know when to use what so be precise and diligent.
- Specific knowledge about the interested industry:
Financial Analysts need to know how they will function in their desired industry. They should formulate themselves and prepare accordingly as the work scenario for them changes depending upon the sector, they want to work in. They should be aware about the sector, its functioning, skills required, roles, etc., to make their work easier and proper. The performance and valuation differ from industry to industry so they should also know how to evaluate the financials and make decisions so that they can guide the companies in the right direction.
- CAPM model:
It expands to Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and is one of the most important topics to be known by a Financial Analyst. The concepts should be well-known along with the application as CAPM is commonly used in finance to price speculative assets and generate potential returns on investments considering their probability and cost of capital. They need to be knowledgeable about the industry and sectors so make a proper decision.
- Evaluating investment opportunities:
One of the most important skills required by the financial analysts is to make business decisions and help the companies to make investment decisions so that they can grow and choose from the right set of investments and diversify as much as required. The analysts study the statements and decide these and evaluate if the investment the company is looking for is completely perfect for them of not in terms of its norms and returns. They also need to do the valuation before, after and during the investments so that mistakes are not made, and the opportunity does not make them loose money.
Conclusion:
Financial analysts are a respectable and a tough job role. It is also increasing in demand due to the phase of automation the Financial industry is going through. To conclude, we can say that the above mentioned are some of the important skills which the aspirants should have to establish the best financial career ahead.
