Financial analysts are among the most senior and respected people in business organizations. More so, they are also among the highest, if not the highest paid members of staff in the business organization. This is probably the reason why many college graduates are pursuing various finance courses. In fact, many high school seniors dream of doing business related courses all in the effort of becoming financial analysts at some point in their lives. Let’s look at what financial analyst job description entails.
Financial analysts are the people who deal with cash flows, investments and budgeting in business organizations. They make key decisions like the cost of a product, the price at which the company is to issue its shares in an IPO, how much other members of staff should be paid and they advise on how the company’s investments should be run. In a nutshell, they make all the key decisions that concern money in the organization. They are held in high regard in the company because the company runs on money and they control that money.
It is also the duty of financial analysts to keep track of the latest developments in the fields of accounting and financial so as to keep the organization’s business records up to date. This is also relevant for comparison with other players in the industry. It is also the responsibility of financial analysts to assess the company’s performance in order to allow for comparison between the current financial year and previous years as well as project for expected performances in forthcoming years. As stated above, this also allows for comparison with competing companies.
For one to be a financial analyst, he or she must prove himself or herself academically. A bachelor’s degree in accounting, business administration, economics or commerce is an important requirement. However, it should be noted that a bachelor’s degree in the above stated fields is only a minimal requirement. To attain higher positions and prove that you are well qualified to analyze the financial statements in multi-million dollar companies, you will need at least a master’s degree in the above stated fields. Qualification in other accounting related fields such as but not limited to CFA, ACCA and CPA are also important.
In addition to the academic requirements, you need to have a strong work ethic, good analytical skills and be a good team player in order to excel in a career as a financial analyst.
As earlier stated that financial analysts are among the best paid people in an organization, here is a look at their average annual salaries. A new entrant with less than a year’s experience can earn anything between $40,000 and $55,000 annually. Analysts with between 1 year and 5 years of experience make between $45,000 and $60,000. Those with 5 to 10 years’ experience earn between $48,000 and $68,000. Those with over ten years’ experience can make over $75,000 per year.
Now that you have understood the financial analyst job description and salary range, your desire to become a financial analyst may have grown bigger. However, you should be prepared to work hard since it is a very demanding and competitive field.
Financial analysts are among the highest paid people in any business field and this is the reason why many people are considering it as a career. However, like in every other business sector, financial analyst salary is not uniform and the variations depend on a number of factors, as discussed below.
Developing your own finance analyst resume can be a very big risk that you want to avoid. There are many companies looking to hire professionals with a great deal of experience in this field. However, a resume that fails to project your professional experience will result in the loss of a potential position. If you want to make sure that you get the job, be sure that you have the best possible resume. In order to determine why this is important, you also need to consider the hiring process of most companies. Typically, hiring is done through simply looking at hundreds of resumes in one day. The candidates that lack a great resume are automatically excluded. Those that have a great presentation will eventually get a call back. The person that is most likely to get the job will be able to boast a great combination of experience in the field, education and programming skills. If you have all of these things, you may be on the road to getting the job that you want. However, without the right resume, you will be putting yourself behind others that are currently applying for the position.
A finance analyst resume must be done in a specific way, you will want to showcase all that you have to offer. There are many websites that will offer you simple examples of how your 