10 Must – Know Topics to Becoming A Financial Analyst

Now a day’s financial analysts are in demand from law firms and research firms in all over the world. Financial analysts assist senior managers and board members to take an informed decision to support the business growth. A candidate with well stablished financial skill will be added advantage in all kind of job profile.

Here are top 10 domain knowledge that will put you in a prime position when interviewing for a financial analyst role.

1. Economics

As a financial analyst, its essential to be know macro and micro economic concepts to collect and analyze data available in market.

Topics like

• Basic Economical Terminologies

• Inflation, DAS, GDP

• Central Bank Interest Rate, FD, BOP, CPI, WPI, MPC

2. Banking

Banking play an important and major role in the financial analysis as all transactions are routed through the bank

Topics like

· CASA, Loans, Deposits

· Swaps, Spreads, Credit Audit

· MSME, Corporate lending.

· Credit Risk and NPA

3. Capital Market

To do business valuation and investment decision, capital market knowledge will be essential and must learn topic for all business analysts.

Topics like

· Equity market, FNO

· Mutual Funds, Bonds, Currency, Commodity Derivatives

· IPO/FPO/Buybacks, NCD, Alternate Investment Fund, Private Equity, Structures, and NPS/PPF/VPF

· Portfolio construction and Management

· Risk and Return Analysis

· Financial Planning & Wealth Management

4. Insurance

Many financial analysts leave this topic as its irrelevant for analysis. But when it comes to personal finance and portfolio management its play an important role in minimizing risk by transfer it to insurance company.

Topics such as

· Type of Insurance – Term, Endowment, ULIP

· Risk Management in Insurance

· Insurance Regulations, Governance and Compliance

5. Taxation

All business and individuals first think about tax law and how to minimize the tax liability. And other side it’s an important task for all to file tax return year on year.

Topics like

· Income Tax, Capital Gain Tax

· STT, GST, TDS, DDT, Tax Havens

· Tax Forms and Claims

6. Microsoft Excel

Majority of financial data collected and stored in excel file. Even many govt. website data need to be downloaded in excel file format only. So, it’s a must learn tool for all financial analysts.

Topics such as

· Building financial models

· What – if analysis

· Data analysis tool pack – solver ad-in

· Financial formulas

· Forecasting and NPV calculation using excel

7. Certification for Financial Analyst

Depending on job role different certifications to be completed by analyst. And it’s a must for analyst to have them to be in analyst role from many regulatory bodies like AMFI, SEBI, IRDA etc.

Some are follows

· IRDA Examinations for insurance

· NISM certification for capital market

· CFA for valuation

· CA for accounting and taxation

8. Statistics

For all kind of analysis statistics is a key element.

Topics such as

· Center tendency and dispersion

· Decision tree

· Data mapping

· Linear programming (LPP)

· Mathematical model building

9. Financial Operation Management

Internal process and documentation are must know non-financial topic for financial analysts.

Topics like

· KYC process

· Trade and fund settlement process

· Customer compliance and grievance mechanism

10. Other Skills

Some of the must know soft skills are as follows

· Strong commercial awareness skill

· Excellent communication and interpersonal skill

· Financial reporting

· Problem solving skill

· Innovation

· financial software

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