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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.
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#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
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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 (YoY) growth rates, return
on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), debt/equity ratio, earnings per
share (EPS), 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!
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 analysis, 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 revenue, ways
to increase market share, operational efficiencies, customer satisfaction,
and much more. This is what truly separates a world-class financial
analyst from the rest. These recommendations will be presented to the
CEO, the CFO, other executives, and/or the board of directors.
#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 graphs, which can then be inserted into pitchbooks and
management presentations. Learn more in CFI’s PowerPoint
Presentations Course.
#8 Generate reports
Internal reports and dashboards are a part of the daily life of an analyst.
Whether it’s presenting key performance indicators (KPIs) 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.
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Treasury analyst
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.
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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 banking,
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)™ certification program, designed to help
anyone in that role become world-class at their job. Additional resources
to help you on your way include:
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