Financial Analyst Technical Skills

List of Financial Analyst Technical Skills

The most common financial analyst technical skills are accounting, bookkeeping, budgeting, calculating the cost of capitalCost of CapitalCost of capital is the minimum rate of return that a business must earn before generating value. Before a business can turn a profit, it must at least generate sufficient income to cover the cost of funding its operation., derivatives, Excel spreadsheets, forecasting, goal-seeking in Excel, hurdle rate calculations, internal rate of return (IRR), joint-venture analysis, monthly reporting, net present value (NPV)Net Present Value (NPV)Net Present Value (NPV) is the value of all future cash flows (positive and negative) over the entire life of an investment discounted to the present. NPV analysis is a form of intrinsic valuation and is used extensively across finance and accounting for determining the value of a business, investment security,, operating cash flow, perpetuity valuation, return on invested capital, spreadsheet design, terminal value, unlevered free cash flow, valuation analysis, weighted average cost of capital (WACC)WACCWACC is a firm’s Weighted Average Cost of Capital and represents its blended cost of capital including equity and debt., XIRR, year-over-year, and zero-based budgeting. In addition to this list of technical skills, analysts must also be strong in financial modeling and creating presentations, and possess good communication skills. To learn more, check out CFI’s career map.

Analyst Certification FMVA® Program

Below is a break down of subject weightingsFMVA® CertificationJoin 850,000+ students who work for companies like Amazon, J.P. Morgan, and Ferrari in the FMVA® financial analyst program. As you can see there is a heavy focus on financial modeling, finance, Excel, business valuation, budgeting/forecasting, PowerPoint presentations, accounting and business strategy.

FMVA® CertificationJoin 850,000+ students who work for companies like Amazon, J.P. Morgan, and Ferrari

A well rounded financial analyst possesses all of the above skills!

Additional Questions & Answers

CFI is the global institution behind the financial modeling and valuation analyst FMVA® DesignationFinancial Modeling CertificationFinancial Modeling Certification - earn your certificate as a Financial Modeling and Valuation Analyst (FMVA)® for careers in investment banking, FP&A,. CFI is on a mission to enable anyone to be a great financial analyst and have a great career path. In order to help you advance your career, CFI has compiled many resources to assist you along the path.

In order to become a great financial analyst, here are some more questions and answersKnowledgeCFI self-study guides are a great way to improve technical knowledge of finance, accounting, financial modeling, valuation, trading, economics, and more. for you to discover:

What is financial modeling?What 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.
How do you build a DCF model?DCF Model Training Free GuideA DCF model is a specific type of financial model used to value a business. The model is simply a forecast of a company’s unlevered free cash flow
What is sensitivity analysis?What is Sensitivity Analysis?Sensitivity Analysis is a tool used in financial modeling to analyze how the different values for a set of independent variables affect a dependent variable
How do you value a business?Valuation MethodsWhen valuing a company as a going concern there are three main valuation methods used: DCF analysis, comparable companies, and precedent