CFI Careers Day: Building a Complete Finance Career

Navigating Finance Careers in a Transforming Field

What does it take to build a lasting finance career when the fundamental nature of the work is changing? Traditional technical skills remain essential, but today’s finance professionals must also master AI tools, business partnerships, and strategic thinking.

CFI Careers Day brought together finance leaders, educators, and an international audience of  current and aspiring finance professionals for a comprehensive exploration of career development. The lineup of speakers brought decades of real-world experience across multiple finance disciplines:

• Tim Vipond, CFI’s CEO and Co-Founder, with a career spanning investment banking, corporate development, and FP&A before founding CFI. 
• Nirav Shah, co-founder of Versor Investments, an AI-first hedge fund with $1.4 billion in assets under management.
• Carolina Lago, creator of the Tactical Financial Modeling Framework and financial educator, advisor, and course creator. 
• Brian Egger, Global Head of Financial Modeling and Senior Gaming & Lodging Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, and a former Columbia Business School instructor. 
• Ryan Spendelow, SVP of Training and Curriculum, CFI
• Meeyeon Park, VP of Content and Training, CFI

Want to watch the full webinar replay on-demand? Find it here!

The Modern Finance Skillset

Tim opened CFI Careers Day with his top 10 finance skills for modern professionals. These skills form the technical backbone that every finance career requires, regardless of specialization or experience level.

• 3-Statement Modeling: This skill requires understanding the accounting behind these statements and recognizing the connection points among the three main financial statements.

“One of the most foundational things you need to learn as a financial analyst is how to model the three financial statements.” – Tim Vipond

• Forecasting: Analyze historical statements and business drivers like market size and product price and volume. Excel remains the best tool for forecasting, which builds on 3-statement modeling. 

• Financial Ratio Analysis: Use financial ratios like return on equity, return on assets, and inventory turnover to evaluate a company’s financial health and identify areas for efficiency improvements or growth.

• Valuation Methods: Learn comparable company analysis (or market comps), precedent transactions, and discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis. Investment banking analysts spend significant time on valuation, but this skill cuts across finance careers. 

• Presentation Skills: Clearly communicate analytical findings using tools like Tableau, Excel charts, and AI-powered visualization tools. Raw valuation analysis, such as detailed tables, is difficult for non-valuation professionals to interpret.

• Scenario and Sensitivity Analysis: Know how to create scenarios about future possibilities and model what could happen: a best case, worst case, and base case. This skill applies across banking, corporate finance, and accounting firms.

• Dashboards and Data Visualization: Visuals help you communicate key insights from complex data quickly and effectively and tailor your message for different audiences.

• Strategy: Strategy consists of integrated choices with trade-offs that form a coherent plan to win in a market. Focus on understanding competitive/industry knowledge and business acumen.

• Planning: Tim emphasizes how planning differs from strategy. Planning addresses what the organization will do next month, quarter, or year to execute strategy. FP&A teams are heavily involved in planning (it’s literally in “Financial Planning & Analysis”).

• Business Partnership: Develop soft skills like communication, curiosity, and relationship building to effectively support other departments, such as sales or HR, in achieving their goals. 

Success comes from developing these skills throughout your career, taking opportunities to build both technical and relationship capabilities that will serve you across different finance roles and career stages.

How Finance Careers Are Changing

Finance careers are undergoing fundamental transformation in two key areas: AI integration and strategic business partnering. 

AI’s Impact on Finance Work

Nirav shared critical insights on how AI is reshaping career paths. His key message resonated clearly: “AI will not replace humans, but humans using AI will replace humans not using AI.” 

The shift creates new skill requirements for finance professionals. Domain knowledge becomes “most critical,” as Shah explained, because it enables professionals to guide AI systems effectively. The role transforms from executing tasks to designing and directing AI workflows. 

Critical thinking takes on new importance, with professionals “spending more time on thinking and analyzing than actually doing the task.” 

Shah offered both reassurance and warning regarding career security. “AI will not replace humans, especially for jobs which require critical thinking,” he stated. However, he cautioned that those not adopting AI tools could “be left behind.” 

The improvement in productivity is so high that AI-enabled colleagues could significantly outperform those relying only on traditional skills and tools.

FP&A’s Strategic Evolution

FP&A roles are evolving from administrative functions to strategic partnerships. Carolina highlighted the contrast between traditional FP&A focused on budgeting and forecasting and the broader FP&A now plays in businesses. Today’s FP&A professionals must handle all traditional responsibilities while taking on substantial additional strategic work. Modern FP&A includes:

• Partnering with the business and understanding organizational goals and strategies.
• Developing strategic insights that connect planning to overall strategy.
• Leading special projects such as transformation initiatives, automation projects, or new product line launches.
• Understanding how every department in the business adds value to the organization.

Carolina emphasizes that business acumen ultimately drives career advancement in FP&A. One way to strengthen your business acumen is through financial modeling. Carolina explains this connection as “using financial modeling to understand different businesses, industries, strategies, and scenarios.” 

The evolution continues as organizations recognize FP&A’s potential to drive business performance through strategic analysis and cross-functional partnership. 

The Progression: Building Career Longevity

Tim and Brian outlined how finance skills compound across three career stages, with each phase building new capabilities while deepening existing expertise.

Early Stage: Technical Foundation

The journey begins with mastering foundational skills. Accounting serves as the “language of business” and is the foundation for interpreting financial models. Along with learning 3-statement modeling in Excel, Tim recommends reading the notes found in financial statements to understand critical details like revenue recognition policies.

Brian emphasized that “the ability to be really meticulous and inquisitive is really critical to success in all these fields.” Professionals must develop fluency across analytical techniques like DCF analysis and comparable company analysis.

Early-career professionals develop pattern recognition, learning to identify recurring themes. As Brian explained, successful analysts eventually say, “I’ve seen this play before. I know how it plays out.”

Mid-Career: Communication and Context

This phase introduces communication and leadership responsibilities. The challenge becomes tailoring messages to different audiences. Egger noted the range he uses with traders versus investors: “I’ve only got 10 seconds to get their attention” with traders, while investors allow five to ten minutes.

Tim and Brian also recommend mastering the “begin with the conclusion” approach for presenting. Structure communications with high-level takeaways at the top and supporting details below.

Equally important is developing wisdom to say “I don’t know” when appropriate, Egger notes. It’s better to acknowledge when you don’t know something and follow up with the correct information than to attempt an answer you’re unsure about.

Senior Stage: Leadership and Networks

At senior levels, the focus shifts toward relationships and strategic thinking. “Your network and relationships become increasingly important, even compared to your technical skills,” Egger observed. This stage demands continuous learning, with Egger emphasizing that “staying fresh and current on the skill sets in your profession is really vital.”

Senior professionals find mentoring both rewarding and valuable because it forces them to stay current while developing talent. The goal is building a reputation where “good things happen” when people work with you.

Practical Takeaways

Ryan and Meeyeon provided concrete strategies for navigating today’s competitive recruiting environment, translating the event’s strategic insights into actionable career advancement tactics.

LinkedIn Strategy

Your LinkedIn profile serves as the critical bridge between resume screening and interview invitation. 

• Focus on three key elements: professional headshot, a clear headline that demonstrates authority, and a story-driven “About” section that balances facts with personality.
• Stay active with posts and engagement to build credibility over time.
• Comment thoughtfully on others’ posts and share relevant industry insights, which recruiters view as evidence of professional engagement and thought leadership.
• Ryan emphasizes that “your resume gets you through the door, but your LinkedIn profile will keep you in the room.”

Interview Success: STAR Method & Preparation

• Structure your responses using the STAR method for clear, concise answers that showcase specific achievements: 
  • Situation. 
  • Task.
  • Action. 
  • Result.
• Research the company’s C-suite leadership, recent news coverage, and the specific division you’re joining.
• Understand the difference between divisions like corporate finance, global markets, and treasury to demonstrate serious interest.
• Prepare thoughtful questions that reflect genuine curiosity about the role and organization.
• Focus on authentic presentation and thorough preparation to differentiate yourself in competitive markets.

With both the strategic framework and practical tools in hand, finance professionals are equipped to build lasting careers.

Finance Career Day: Key Takeaways

Building lasting finance careers requires both foundational excellence and continuous adaptation, a balance that defines successful professionals in today’s evolving landscape.

CFI Careers Day revealed three essential elements for long-term success.

1. Master the fundamentals: technical skills in financial modeling, valuation, and analysis create the credibility foundation that supports everything else. 
2. Embrace evolution: AI adoption and strategic business partnering are no longer optional enhancements but mandatory capabilities for career survival. 
3. Think progression: skills compound over time, evolving from technical accuracy in early career stages to relationship building and thought leadership at senior levels.

The future outlook for finance professionals has never been more promising for those willing to adapt. Invest in continuous learning across all three areas, recognizing that static skillsets quickly become obsolete in dynamic markets.

These principles transcend geographic boundaries. Whether working in New York, London, Mumbai, or Vancouver, the fundamentals of career longevity remain consistent: build technical excellence, embrace change, and cultivate relationships that compound over decades.

Additional Resources

The Most Common Finance Interview Questions

Generative AI in Finance: CFI’s Top 10 Resources to Build Your Expertise

FP&A Business Partnership: Moving From Data Provider to Trusted Advisor

CFI’s Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA®) Certification

See all Career resources