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…
If your Excel skills feel like the weakest part of your finance toolkit, you’re not alone. Many aspiring and working finance professionals can navigate a spreadsheet but struggle when it comes to functions, modeling, automation, and overall productivity. Excel is the core tool across FP&A, investment banking, corporate finance, and accounting, and employers expect fluency…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Business Intelligence (BI) is a hot commodity in today’s data-driven landscape. Serving as a toolkit and a series of processes, it enables you to unveil clear insights by transforming raw information into strategic gold. The beauty of BI lies in its inclusivity. It opens the door for everyone in your team to access the right…
ESG: A Critical Business Imperative Across the globe, the introduction of laws and regulations for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure has pushed ESG compliance to the forefront for executive leadership teams. As ESG regulation becomes a new norm, finance teams must embed and integrate compliance practices into their daily operating procedures and long-term planning….
