About the FMVA® Certification
The FMVA is CFI’s Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA)® program that is designed to teach practical applications of accounting, Excel, finance, financial modeling, valuation, presentations, and other critical skills that financial analysts need. The program consists of 12 required courses, each with a qualified assessment at the end, and all are available 100% online.
Why Take the FMVA Program?
The FMVA certification was designed to fill a gap in the market for financial analysts. Traditional universities are mostly focused on theory and employers often find that new hires are not up to speed on the full skill set that’s required for doing top-notch financial analysis. Additionally, established professional designations are too focused on specific niches such as portfolio management, alternative assets, or just accounting, and require candidates to learn additional necessary material themselves offline (textbook based).
FMVA programs enable you to do all of the following:
- Learn practical applications that teach you hard skills
- Master the art of financial modeling
- Learn how professions in the industry actually value a business
- Create beautiful, management-level presentations and pitchbooks
- Learn to take raw data, organize it, analyze, and make impactful recommendations
- Have the confidence to advance your career
Learn more about success stories from CFI’s Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA) certification program and how it can help you stand out in a competitive job market.
FMVA Requirements
The first step in becoming a certified financial analyst is to enroll now online. From there, you can start planning your learning schedule and the courses you are required to complete. Below is a summary of the requirements.
Requirements for the FMVA program are:
- 5 optional prep courses (accounting, finance, and Excel skills)
- 9 required courses (financial modeling, business valuation, intermediate finance, and financial analysis topics)
- 3 elective courses from a choice of 9 in total (industry-specific financial models, special topics)
Candidates must complete each of the required 12 courses with a passing grade of 80% or higher on the final assessment.
Upon completing each course, you will automatically receive a certificate of completion. Once the 12 requirements are completed, the official certification of Financial Modeling and Valuation Analyst will be issued to you.
Skills Taught in the FMVA Certification
CFI’s program is completely focused on practical skills in finance and accounting. This means using case studies of both real and fictitious companies combined with Excel and PowerPoint to organize, analyze, and interpret financial data.
The main skills taught in the FMVA are:
- Applications of accounting principles and practices (debits, credits, building financial statements)
- Mastering the most common financial analysis techniques (ratios, benchmarking, etc.)
- Creating financial models from scratch (three statement model, DCF model, M&A model, etc.)
- Performing company valuations (comparable company analysis, precedent transactions, discounted cash flow)
- Organize large amounts of data into an easy-to-understand format and output
- Design charts, graphs, and presentations
- Develop recommendations to aid in business decision-making processes
About CFI
CFI is the official global provider of the Financial Modeling and Valuation Analyst certification program. With professional instructors from Vancouver, London, New York, and Hong Kong, CFI’s team is uniquely qualified to deliver the training and instruction required for this designation.
In 2017, CFI registered over 40,000 students in its various courses and programs.
CFI’s mission is to help anyone become a world-class financial analyst and advance their career.
Additional Information
If you’d like to get more information about earning your FMVA financial analyst certification from CFI, below are some additional free CFI resources that will be helpful to you in advancing your career and help you make the important decision to become FMVA certified:
