How do I start a career in corporate finance?

To start a career in corporate finance, you'll need the right combination of educational experience, finance expertise, and technical know-how. This includes a bachelor's degree and possibly a professional certification such as a CFA for most companies. This can help you to land an entry-level position in corporate finance.

How do I start a career in financial analysis?

To start a career in financial analysis, you'll need the right combination of education, finance expertise, and work experience. At a minimum, to become a financial analyst, you'll need a bachelor's degree and at least four years of relevant work experience.

What qualifications do I need to work in corporate finance?

The qualifications you need to work in corporate finance include the right mixture of educational experience, finance expertise, and technical know-how. Several corporate finance jobs include financial analyst, associate support analyst, and business analyst.

How To Become A Corporate Finance Analyst: What It Is and Career Path

What is a corporate finance analyst and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Nate Peach Ph.D.

Corporate financial analysts thrive on economic uncertainty. Any company that wants to minimize financial risks and navigate the fierce competition determined to rise above their rivals will not make the mistake of neglecting to hire one.

As a corporate financial analyst, you will be expected to advise management on crucial financial decisions. You will monitor data and distill the important information from it regarding profitable options and business stability.

Your skills will be used to create reports on financial movements within the company and outside on the market as well. Collecting and analyzing data will be an important part of your job. You will dissect budgets and examine income statements and other documents to paint a clear picture of the company's financial situation.

What general advice would you give to a Corporate Finance Analyst?

Nate Peach Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Economics, George Fox University

Try to stay optimistic. You've invested your time, energy, and money on a precious degree. The pandemic has not changed the value of the skills you've acquired. What it has done is to make it challenging to find a job for the moment. Things are weird right now. Many companies are redesigning their hiring practices, which is bound to cause challenges for job seekers. The skills that you developed as an economist are precious to employers, be diligent in your job search, and you will be rewarded with a great career.

ScoreCorporate Finance AnalystUS Average

Salary

5.9

Avg. Salary $76,023

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.8

Growth Rate 9%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.10%

Asian 14.09%

Black or African American 5.64%

Hispanic or Latino 7.67%

Unknown 4.50%

White 68.00%

Gender

female 36.54%

male 63.46%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress Level

5.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.4

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

4.3

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a corporate finance analyst

Explore corporate finance analyst education requirements

Most common corporate finance analyst degrees

Bachelor's

75.7 %

Master's

17.2 %

Associate

4.3 %

Start to develop specific corporate finance analyst skills

Skills	Percentages
Financial Analysis	8.10%
Strong Analytical	6.93%
Financial Models	6.78%
Hyperion	4.47%
Balance Sheet	3.80%

Complete relevant corporate finance analyst training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New corporate finance analysts learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a corporate finance analyst based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real corporate finance analyst resumes.

Research corporate finance analyst duties and responsibilities

Lead finance project team to create site-wide (Essbase) reporting system under extremely tight deadlines.
Develop, maintain financial models/applications (VBA Excel/Access) to automate and streamline business processes and perform financial analysis.
Record related journal entries and general ledger account reconciliations and functions using journal entry and account reconciliation software tools.
Provide technical expertise in process design and implementation of the new Hyperion general ledger system and associate reports.

Prepare your corporate finance analyst resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your corporate finance analyst resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a corporate finance analyst resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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