Best FP&A Certifications: Further Your Career in Financial Planning and Analysis
There are many successful careers that a person can have in finance. One area of focus in which a finance professional can build a career is financial planning and analysis, otherwise known as FP&A. What is Financial Planning and Analysis? Financial planning and analysis, or FP&A, is a series of finance-driven activities that certain finance…
AI for Finance: Top AI Tools for a Finance Professional
A finance professional conducts numerous long and tedious tasks each day. Some of these tasks include collecting and analyzing large amounts of financial data to conduct budgets, forecast business decisions, and manage bookkeeping. This is on top of the work that a finance professional must do to consult with either internal or external clients. With…
Top 9 Excel Certifications for Finance Professionals
Knowing your way around Microsoft Excel can help you stand out in any financial role. But to become an Excel power user, you need to be aware of all the formulas, shortcuts, and charts. This blog covers the best Excel certifications for financial professionals to build practical skills and gain industry recognition. Why Get an…
Why You Don’t Need To Be a Prodigy To Succeed in Finance
It’s easy to look at the finance industry from the outside – investment banks, hedge funds, private equity firms, and the like – and see people with shiny degrees from prestigious universities everywhere you look. You might imagine that you need to be a prodigy, or at the very least to have an Ivy League…
How to Find and Remove Duplicates in Excel
Duplicate Values in Excel Microsoft Excel is one of the most commonly used data analysis tools in the world. Because of this, Excel is often used with ERP systems or general ledgers to analyze various data sets. However, it’s sometimes possible for data to become duplicated. Duplicate data is almost always a mistake, which can…
Quantitative Trader Courses: How to Become a Quantitative Trader
Do you have an educational background in mathematics or computer science? Are you looking for an innovative career that pays well? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you should consider becoming a quantitative trader. What is a Quantitative Trader? A quantitative trader, otherwise known as a quant, is an individual who uses…
Calculate Percentage Change in Excel
What is Percentage Change? As part of any financial analysis, practitioners will normally calculate the change in various metrics. There are two types of change calculations: 1) absolute, or 2) relative (i.e., percentage). An example of an absolute change is the following: a company earned $14 million in revenue this year and $10 million in…
Creating a Loan Amortization Schedule in Excel
Knowing How to Calculate Loan Payments is a Crucial Skill in Both Personal and Corporate Finance Whether buying a car or house or paying down a credit card, knowing how to calculate a loan payment is key when considering your financial options. An amortization schedule is often provided to illustrate when a loan is paid…
Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) Exam
What is the SIE Exam? The Securities & Industry Essentials Exam is an introductory-level exam offered by FINRA that was introduced in 2018. The exam is catered to candidates who are interested in demonstrating basic industry knowledge of the securities business to prospective employers. Security Industry Essentials (SIE) Exam Overview The SIE Exam is intended…
