Financial analysts provide guidance to businesses and individuals making investment decisions. For example, in the United States, sell-side or Wall Street research analysts must register with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). This job description is for accounting analyst working in the Accounting Process Department of a company. Most of the licenses require sponsorship by an employer, so companies do not expect individuals to have these licenses before starting a job. Financial analysts assess the performance of stocks, bonds, and other types of investments. The predictions are that plastic cards are set to increase even further over the next few years with increased online spending, greater retail usage, and with less traditional providers offering their own financial services to customers. Stockbrokers, Registered Representatives and financial advisors are basically salesmen in the finance industry.
Furthermore, few open positions are filled by unemployed analysts because the unemployment rate is generally very low in this occupation. They read company financial statements, analyze commodity prices, sales, costs, expenses, and tax rates to determine a company’s value to help project its future earnings. The candidate can learn how to use spreadsheets, databases, power point presentations, etc which in the end helps him get a job in finance company. Additionally, they can do accounts and prepare financial statements, do auditing, or assess taxes.
Some financial analysts, called ratings analysts (who are often employees of ratings agencies ), evaluate the ability of companies or governments that issue bonds to repay their debt. To become a certified Chartered Financial Analyst , a person has to complete a post-graduate CFA programme. Some financial analysts collect industry data (mainly balance sheet, income statement and capital adequacy in banking sector), merger and acquisition history and financial news for their clients.
This job is carried out by making investment decisions such as selecting dissimilar stocks or having a combination of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds in a portfolio. Financial analysis is one of the toughest jobs for the reason that the professional is always on his toes.
The problem with mortgage finance jobs is that it is a very cyclical business and it relies on constant new business and referrals for the brokers to earn money. Analysts are heavily involved with mergers and acquisitions, consulting, corporate strategy, bankruptcy , and a myriad of other financially important processes.