Financial Analyst Job Description

Financial Analyst Job Description Guide

The financial analyst job description below gives a typical example of all the skills, education, and experience required to be hired for an analyst job at a bank, institution, or corporation. Read this job description closely to see what it takes to have a career as a financial analyst!

Financial Analyst Job Description

The following are all aspects of a financial analyst’s duties:

• Perform financial forecasting, reporting, and operational metrics tracking
• Analyze financial data and create financial models for decision support
• Report on financial performance and prepare for regular leadership reviews
• Analyze past results, perform variance analysis, identify trends, and make recommendations for improvements
• Work closely with the accounting team to ensure accurate financial reporting
• Evaluate financial performance by comparing and analyzing actual results with plans and forecasts
• Guide the cost analysis process by establishing and enforcing policies and procedures
• Provide analysis of trends and forecasts and recommend actions for optimization
• Recommend actions by analyzing and interpreting data and making comparative analyses; study proposed changes in methods and materials
• Identify and drive process improvements, including the creation of standard and ad-hoc reports, tools, and Excel dashboards
• Increase productivity by developing automated reporting/forecasting tools
• Perform market research, data mining, business intelligence, and valuation comps
• Maintain a strong financial analysis foundation creating forecasts and models
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel is mentioned in virtually any financial analyst job description; familiarity with data query/data management tools is extremely helpful (Access, SQL, Business Objects)

Financial Analyst Job Description – Basic Qualifications

Financial Analyst Job Description – Preferred Qualifications

Financial Analyst Job Description – Personality and Interpersonal Skills

• Ability to streamline functions and passion to learn and grow
• Strong interpersonal skills, including written and oral communication skills
• Comfort dealing with ambiguity and the ability to work independently
• Experience working with, and presenting to, senior executives
• Excellent communication and presentation skills; be comfortable interacting with executive-level management
• Strong financial modeling experience

Key Responsibilities

• Grow financial performance through analysis of financial results, forecasts, variances, and trends
• Create recommendations to be presented to management and executives
• Develop financial models to support valuation, planning, and forecasting
• Aid in the capital budgeting and expenditure planning processes
• Reconcile existing transactions through cross-referencing of incoming and outgoing data
• Conduct comparables analysis and market research to support internal financial analysis
• Maintain up-to-date technical knowledge of financial instruments, market conditions, and trends

To make sure you’re prepared, check out our free financial analyst courses online!

What is Financial Analysis?

The financial analyst position is imperative for the financial planning and analysis department of a business. They are responsible for analyzing financial statements and predicting the future performance of the company. This may include forecasting future revenues and expenditures, as well as modeling capital structure and budgeting.

Financial analysts are also often responsible for keeping track of a company’s financial plan. Analyzing the company’s performance, alongside changes and market trends, not only helps the analyst create forecasts, but also allows them to calculate variances between those forecasts and actuals. It is the analysts’ job to track down and explain the causes of these variances.

Analysts may also often report to management and stakeholders regarding their findings and may contribute to shaping the strategic planning of the company.

To make sure you’re prepared, check out our free financial analysis courses online!

Major Roles of Financial Analysts

Let’s go beyond the official Financial Analyst job description and look more in-depth at what analysts do in practical terms:

• Financial Analysts play a role in determining a company’s present value and future business abilities. The duties of the financial analyst revolve around analyzing financial information to come up with forecasts for a business and help it make informed, and hopefully correct, decisions.

• Analysts will often create and maintain various spreadsheets and dashboards to aid in their analysis and insight provision. This helps provide a clear interpretation of trends and data. Some analysts are also tasked with creating models to value potential investment opportunities, similar to the role of an equity research associate.

• In-house financial analysts may meet with various project managers to discuss performance. It may be the duty of an analyst to interview these managers to ascertain the causes of certain variances of performance.

What are Typical Credentials for Financial Analysts?

Most analysts have a bachelor’s or master’s in a business-related field. The most common specialization is in finance, although some analysts recommend starting with an accounting degree, as it provides a stronger foundation for analyzing the workings of financial statements.

Adding a practical designation, like CFI’s Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA)™ certification, is becoming an increasingly popular professional upgrade for a financial analyst. This financial modeling focused designation teaches analysts how to produce advanced financial analysis using Excel, PowerPoint, and the real tools of an analyst. Learn more about the top financial analyst certifications.

This financial analyst job description is inspired by the responsibilities outlined by postings from Goldman Sachs, GE Capital, Fidelity Investments, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

To make sure you’re prepared for an interview, check out CFI’s free financial analysis courses online!

Career Map

To see what type of position you’re best suited for, explore our interactive career map and see if you’ve got everything this financial analyst job description is looking for!

Financial analyst bank jobs include investment banking, research, sales & trading, and commercial banking. Institutional jobs include private equity, research, and portfolio management. Jobs at corporations include investor relations, corporate development, treasury, and financial planning and analysis (FP&A).

Related Readings

Thank you for reading CFI’s guide on the Financial Analyst Job Description. To keep learning and advancing your career, the following resources will be helpful:

• How to be a great analyst
• Personal Banker Job Description
• Equity Research Job Description
• Investment Banking Job Description
• Credit Analyst Job Description
• See all career resources