Mapping Your Finance Career Path: A Guide to Key Roles and Skills
Are you exploring your finance career path but feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of roles and opportunities? From corporate finance teams to the fast-paced world of investment banking, the finance profession offers a variety of rewarding career paths. To help you navigate, the CFI Career Map simplifies finance career paths into four key domains: …
Business Intelligence in FP&A: A New Era of Financial Planning and Analysis
The Strategic Impact of Business Intelligence in FP&A In today’s data-driven environment, business intelligence in FP&A is transforming how organizations plan, forecast, and make decisions. FP&A teams often grapple with inefficient processes, fragmented data, and limited actionable insights. BI addresses these challenges by automating workflows, centralizing data, and delivering real-time visualizations. Distinct Yet Complementary By…
How to Analyze Budget Variances with 10 Essential Questions
A Practical Approach to Analyzing Budget Variances As an FP&A analyst, examining variances between forecasts and actuals is central to your role. What many new analysts miss is strategic insight. In addition to technical proficiency, knowing how to approach variance analysis strategically helps businesses plan better, allocate resources wisely, and manage risk. The 10-question framework…
CFI Launches New AI for Finance Specialization for In-Demand Skills
January 14, 2025 — Corporate Finance Institute (CFI), the #1 rated online provider of finance and banking training and productivity tools, is thrilled to announce the launch of its AI for Finance Specialization. This specialization is designed to equip professionals with practical, hands-on skills to leverage AI to streamline financial analysis, automate workflows, and improve…
CFI Launches Investment Banking & Private Equity Modeling Specialization
January 14, 2025 — Corporate Finance Institute (CFI), the #1-rated online provider of finance and banking training and productivity tools, launches a new Investment Banking & Private Equity Modeling Specialization today. This specialization is designed to help professionals master advanced financial analysis and modeling techniques used by leading investment banks and private equity firms. The…
M&A Financing: Cash, Debt, or Equity?
The Strategic Impact of M&A Financing Decisions Ever wondered why some acquisitions soar while others stumble? The secret often lies not just in what you buy, but how you pay for it. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financing decisions shape everything from shareholder returns to post-merger success, yet many businesses underestimate their complexity and impact. Picture…
Top Compliance Risks in Banking: Insights and Prevention Strategies
Navigating the Complexity of Compliance Risk in Banking Compliance risk is a persistent challenge for banks to manage in today’s stringent regulatory landscape. Financial institutions face significant risks with escalating legal and financial penalties for non-compliance, and reputational damage eroding customer trust. Staying ahead with robust compliance risk management programs helps safeguard their operations, maintain…
KPIs in FP&A: Measuring What Matters Most
The Role of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in FP&A How do you know if your business is on track or underperforming? When it comes to Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A), the answer lies in the KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators. As an FP&A professional, you make decisions that move the business in the right direction…
How to Choose the Best Excel Certification Course for Finance Professionals
The financial services landscape is becoming increasingly data-driven, which means proficiency in Microsoft Excel has evolved from a useful skill to an absolute necessity for finance professionals. While many finance professionals use Excel daily, having a formal certification can demonstrate a deeper understanding of the software’s capabilities and a commitment to professional development. This expertise…
