The job of financial analyst is one of the most prestigious careers in the accounting industry. You can start off in a firm working in a junior position and advance to the senior level. There are also other niches in this sector of the accounting industry where you will do well in terms of a high salary and the possibility of promotions. However, this is one area of accounting that is very tough to break into because it is very competitive.
You should start preparing for a career as a financial analyst while you are still in university pursuing your undergraduate degree in accounting. Your courses should include business, mathematics, economics and accounting. Other courses that are also beneficial to take include engineering, computer science, biology and physics. If you stay in university and proceed to an MBA program, you could get hired as a senior analyst right out of school. You can also study for exams leading to a certification as a financial analyst, such as the Series 7 and the Series 63 exams.
As a financial analyst, you will deal with macroeconomics and microeconomics. Macroeconomics refers to the analysis of a company as a whole and the movements and trends in the economy. Microeconomics refers to the analysis of market conditions for individuals and businesses focusing on the basic principles of supply and demand. Through your analyses, you can make recommendations to your clients or to the senior management if you are employed by one firm. For example, you can make a recommendation to buy or sell a stock based on market conditions or on the current strength of the company. You have to be constantly watching the stick market as it applied to the state of the industry in which you work.
Within the accounting industry, financial analysts usually work either in buying or selling. They are hired by investment banks, investment firms, and insurance companies. Working in the buying sector, you would research stocks that the company can buy and make a profit on. It would be your responsibility to manage the investment portfolio for the company and research stocks that the company could add to this portfolio. Keeping track of the performance of each stock is also important so that you can make a recommendation to sell after analyzing a trend.
Working in the buying sector as a financial analyst, your job will be to analyze and evaluate the quality of securities in a given sector of the economy. You will write reposts for the analysts that buy stocks and make recommendations on the best ones to buy at any given time. There are also niches within this field for financial analysts. Some specialize in equity funds and others specialize in fixed-income funds. Some may only deal with energy stocks, while others concentrate on the technology sector.
One of the main skills needed for this job is proficiency in the use of spreadsheets. You will also have to spend a lot of your free time reading financial journals, such as the Wall Street Journal and you may be required to do a lot of traveling to analyze different companies. There is a lot of room for advancement once you do get a start in this accounting field moving up the ranks from junior analyst to a portfolio manager.
