What Does a Financial Analyst Do

What Does a Financial Analyst Do? A Day in the Life

A financial analystFinancial Analyst Job DescriptionThe 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. Perform financial forecasting, reporting, and operational metrics tracking, analyze financial data, create financial models is responsible for a wide range of activities including gathering data, organizing information, analyzing historical resultsAnalysis of Financial StatementsHow to perform Analysis of Financial Statements. This guide will teach you to perform financial statement analysis of the income statement,, making forecasts and projections, making recommendations, and generating Excel modelsExcel & Financial Model TemplatesDownload free financial model templates - CFI's spreadsheet library includes a 3 statement financial model template, DCF model, debt schedule, depreciation schedule, capital expenditures, interest, budgets, expenses, forecasting, charts, graphs, timetables, valuation, comparable company analysis, more Excel templates, presentations, and reports. This guide will provide a detailed breakdown of a day in the life of a financial analyst, and answer the question, what does a financial analyst do?

To learn more about the real day-to-day life of an analyst, check out CFI’s Online Financial Analyst Courses, as they provide complete training on all of the most important skills that are required for the job.

List of What a Financial Analyst Does:

Analysts have many duties and responsibilities, depending on the organization they work for, the industry they are in, and their seniority. Below is a list of the most common things they do:

#1 Gather data and information

The work of a financial analyst starts with gathering data and information about whatever they need to analyze. Examples include historical financial reportsAudited Financial StatementsPublic companies are obligated by law to ensure that their financial statements are audited by a registered CPA. The purpose of the, accounting data from the general ledger, stock price information, statistics and macroeconomicEconomicsCFI's Economics Articles are designed as self-study guides to learn economics at your own pace. Browse hundreds of articles on economics and the most important concepts such as the business cycle, GDP formula, consumer surplus, economies of scale, economic value added, supply and demand, equilibrium, and more data, industry research, and just about any other type of quantitative data. The information will be gathered from sources such as the company’s internal databases, third-party providers such as BloombergBloomberg TerminalThe Bloomberg Terminal (aka Bloomberg Professional Services) connects finance professionals to a dynamic network of information, people, and ideas. At the core of this network is the ability to deliver real-time data to finance professionals around the world. or Capital IQCapIQCapIQ (short for Capital IQ) is a market intelligence platform designed by Standard & Poor’s (S&P).  The platform is widely used in many areas of corporate finance, including investment banking, equity research, asset management and more. The Capital IQ platform provides research, data, and analysis on private, public, and government agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

#2 Organize information

Once the data is gathered it’s typically entered into Excel or some other type of database. Once inputted, the next task is to organize it, clean it up, and get it into a format it can be made sense of. This typically means sorting the numbers by data, or by category, adding formulas and functions to make sure it’s dynamic, and using consistent formatting styles so that it’s easy to read and understand. See more Excel formatting tipsFinancial Model FormattingFinancial model formatting is a science all on its own. By formatting a financial model properly, the analyst maintains consistency, clarity and efficiency..

#3 Analyze financial results

With the data all cleaned up and organized in Excel, it’s time for the financial analyst to start analyzing past information and historical results. This typically includes looking at ratios and metrics like gross margin, net margin, fixed vs. variable costs, year-over-year (YoYYoY (Year over Year)YoY stands for Year over Year and is a type of financial analysis used for comparing time series data. It is useful for measuring growth and detecting trends.) growth rates, return on equity (ROEReturn on Equity (ROE)Return on Equity (ROE) is a measure of a company’s profitability that takes a company’s annual return (net income) divided by the value of its total shareholders' equity (i.e. 12%). ROE combines the income statement and the balance sheet as the net income or profit is compared to the shareholders’ equity.), return on assets (ROAReturn on Assets & ROA FormulaROA Formula. Return on Assets (ROA) is a type of return on investment (ROI) metric that measures the profitability of a business in relation to its total assets.), debt/equity ratio, earnings per share (EPSEarnings Per Share (EPS)Earnings per share (EPS) is a key metric used to determine the common shareholder's portion of the company’s profit. EPS measures each common share's profit), and many others. The analyst will look for trends and benchmark the performance against other companies in the same industry. When asking what does a financial analyst do, this is one of the biggest components!

#4 Make forecasts and projections

Now that historical information has been analyzed, it’s time to make projects and forecasts about how the company will perform in the future. There is both an art and a science to predict how a company will perform, and many assumptions and even leaps of faith have to be made. Common forecasting methods include regression analysisRegression AnalysisRegression analysis is a set of statistical methods used for the estimation of relationships between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables., year-over-year growth rates, as well as bottom-up and top-down approaches. Learn more in CFI’s Budgeting and Forecasting Course.

#5 Develop recommendations

A good financial analyst is not only good with numbers but actually generates insights and recommendations on how to improve the operations of a business. Examples of helpful recommendations and insights include ways to cut costs, opportunities to grow revenueSales RevenueSales revenue is the income received by a company from its sales of goods or the provision of services. In accounting, the terms "sales" and, ways to increase market shareTotal Addressable Market (TAM)Total Addressable Market (TAM), also referred to as total available market, is the overall revenue opportunity that is available to a product or service if, operational efficiencies, customer satisfaction, and much more. This is what truly separates a world-class financial analystWorld-Class Financial AnalystA world-class financial analyst has a unique combination of skills that enable them to have an enormous positive impact on an organization. Top skills are being able to analyze both quantitative and qualitative data, understanding detailed and big picture thinking, balancing simplicity and complexity from the rest. These recommendations will be presented to the CEOCEOA CEO, short for Chief Executive Officer, is the highest-ranking individual in a company or organization. The CEO is responsible for the overall success of an organization and for making top-level managerial decisions. Read a job description, the CFOWhat Does a CFO DoWhat does a CFO do - the job of the CFO is to optimize a company's financial performance, including: reporting, liquidity, and return on investment. Within, other executives, and/or the board of directorsBoard of DirectorsA board of directors is a panel of people elected to represent shareholders. Every public company is required to install a board of directors..

#6 Build Excel models

For analysts working in investment banking, equity research, corporate development, financial planning & analysis (FP&A), and other areas of corporate finance, financial modelingWhat is Financial ModelingFinancial modeling is performed in Excel to forecast a company's financial performance. Overview of what is financial modeling, how & why to build a model. will be a big part of the job. These models typically start by linking the 3 financial statementsHow the 3 Financial Statements are LinkedHow are the 3 financial statements linked together? We explain how to link the 3 financial statements together for financial modeling and and then layering on more advanced types of financial modelsTypes of Financial ModelsThe most common types of financial models include: 3 statement model, DCF model, M&A model, LBO model, budget model. Discover the top 10 types such as discounted cash flow analysis (DCF modelsDCF Model TemplateThis DCF model template provides you with a foundation to build your own discounted cash flow model with different assumptions), internal planning models, and more arcane models such as LBO models and M&A models.

Learn more about these in CFI’s Financial Modeling Courses.

Image from CFI’s Financial Analyst Courses.

#7 Make presentations

When someone asks, what does a financial analyst do, the answer will always include something to do with making presentations (often in PowerPoint). The analysis that’s completed in Excel then has to be turned into charts and graphsTypes of GraphsTop 10 types of graphs for data presentation you must use - examples, tips, formatting, how to use them for effective communication and in presentations., which can then be inserted into pitchbooksPitchbookA pitchbook is a sales book used by investment banks to sell products and services, as well as pitch potential clients. The purpose of a pitchbook is to secure a deal with the potential clients. It provides an overview of the firm, including historical information, financial strength, and services available to potential clients. and management presentations. Learn more in CFI’s PowerPoint Presentations Course.

#8 Generate reports

Internal reports and dashboardsDashboard Creation in ExcelThis guide to dashboard creation in Excel will teach you how to build a beautiful dashboard in Excel using data visualization techniques from the pros. In are a part of the daily life of an analyst. Whether it’s presenting key performance indicators (KPIsKey Performance Indicators (KPIs)Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to periodically track and evaluate the performance of an organization toward the achievement of specific goals. They are also used to gauge the overall performance of a company) or tracking actual vs. budgeted results, it’s imperative to the company or the client that information be clearly presented, timely, easy to understand, accurate, and insightful. To learn more, check out CFI’s Dashboards Course.

Types of Financial Analysts

Below is a list of the most common types of financial analysts:

• Investment banking analyst
• Equity researchEquity Research OverviewEquity research professionals are responsible for producing analysis, recommendations, and reports on investment opportunities that investment banks, institutions, or their clients may be interested in.  The Equity Research Division is a group of analysts and associates. This equity research overview guide analyst
• Treasury analyst
• Financial planning and analysis (FP&A)FP&A RoleThe Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) role is gaining greater importance today as it helps bring out crucial analysis on business performance. An FP&A role is no longer limited to management reporting but it also requires lots of business insights so that the top management analyst
• Private equity analyst
• Corporate developmentCorporate DevelopmentCorporate development is the group at a corporation responsible for strategic decisions to grow and restructure its business, establish strategic partnerships, engage in mergers & acquisitions (M&A), and/or achieve organizational excellence. Corp Dev also pursues opportunities that leverage the value of the company’s business platform. analyst

A Day in the Life of a Financial Analyst

Below is an example of a day in the life of a financial analyst working at a corporation on the FP&A team:

7:00 am – At home, check phone and email for any important messages before getting ready for work and commuting to the office.

8:30 am – Arrive at the office, respond to any urgent emails, follow-up on any outstanding items from the previous day.

9:00 am – Finance team meeting to discuss changes that need to be made to the Q4-2018 budget model, including updates to assumptions and changes to forecast.

10:00 am – Work on the budget model and make all updates and changes that were discussed in the meeting.

12:30 pm – Pick up lunch from a nearby deli and eat back at the desk while catching up on financial news and videos on Bloomberg.com.

1:30 pm – Start working on the updated version of the Q4 board presentation including updated PPT slides and graphs in Excel.

4:30 pm – Circle up with the manager and review changes to the budget model as well as the board presentation.

5:30 pm – Tend to some personal errands and respond to emails from friends.

6:00 pm – Finish up changes from the 4:30 pm meeting with the manager and finalize the Excel model and PPT presentation.

7:00 pm – Head out of the office and meet some friends for dinner or head home.

Note: a day in the life can vary significantly depending on the industry, city, and the particular day. The above is meant to represent an average day for a corporate analyst. Other types of analysts, like those in investment bankingInvestment BankingInvestment banking is the division of a bank or financial institution that serves governments, corporations, and institutions by providing underwriting (capital raising) and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory services. Investment banks act as intermediaries, will work much longer hours.

Additional Resources

Thank you for reading this guide to better understand what does a financial analyst do. CFI is the official provider of the Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA)™Become a Certified Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA)®CFI's Financial Modeling and Valuation Analyst (FMVA)® certification will help you gain the confidence you need in your finance career. Enroll today! certification program, designed to help anyone in that role become world-class at their job. Additional resources to help you on your way include:

• Free Financial Modeling GuideFree Financial Modeling GuideThis financial modeling guide covers Excel tips and best practices on assumptions, drivers, forecasting, linking the three statements, DCF analysis, more
• Finance Interview QuestionsFinance Interview QuestionsFinance interview questions and answers. This list includes the most common and frequent interview questions and answers for finance jobs and
• Finance Salary GuideFinance Salary GuideIn this finance salary guide, we cover several finance jobs and their corresponding midpoint salaries for 2018. Regardless of the industry, a good finance professional is difficult to find. Competition to hire and retain top talent in the fields of finance and accounting remains tough.
• Interactive Career Map