Top Skills Required for a Successful Financial Career

Top Skills Required for a Successful Financial Career

Accounting and finance professionals can find a very prosperous career in varied fields across the globe. These domains can give you highly rewarding roles such as chief financial officer, financial analyst, and investment counsellor. You will notice that certain skills and functions are common for all the roles. 

The financial sector can be very rewarding in both terms, of professional satisfaction and financial rewards. You will also enjoy a good experience where you help people in need thanks to your position. Like other fields in the field of finance as well, you will have to apply yourself and work hard so that you can succeed. The basic requirement needed for anyone to foray into such fields is to procure a bachelor’s degree. Predominantly more people who pursue a career in finance would have a degree in programs such as finance, accounting and economics. Coursework in communication can also be very helpful if you are setting your eyes to rise to the corporate ladder. You can also specialize in a particular domain depending on the position you wish to apply for. 

Organizations in the financial sector are always keeping an eye out for skilled professionals. Even though there is such a high demand for financial professionals, India has a shortage of skilled professionals. Even though India has the largest percentage of working professionals, we will not have enough skilled workers to meet the industry demand. 

So what does this mean for those trying to work in this domain?

The scenario mentioned above means that there are a lot of employment opportunities present for employees. But there is not enough skilled manpower to fill these vacancies. In scenarios such as this, you need to build the right skills which will help you to land a promising career with well-established organizations. 

The finance industry is booming which has opened doors to a lot of job opportunities. If you are a financial aspirant, then this article will help you. We will be going through some valuable financial skills that you should have in your repository. Having these skills will ensure that you land a job with ease and will be rewarded well too. 

Top skills you should build if you wish to have a fulfilling career in finance

• Analytical Thinking – Analytical thinking is very critical for all financial professionals. This means that you are looking at and can understand a situation, and have the skills to interpret the information and procure an intelligent response for the same. This may involve all kinds of problems ranging from technical to interpersonal skills. If you have analytical thinking and problem-solving skills then you will be able to come up with smart solutions to issues that will help the organization and will make you a very valuable asset. Some areas where analytical thinking will come into play is if will have financial analysis, risk analysis, risk management, strategic financial planning, and data analysis.
• Accounting Skills – The techniques and abilities that allow you to track, record and manage financial transactions in a well thought efficient manner are what accounting skills are. Recruiters of today expect their employees to possess accounting skills which will include financial analysis, financial reporting, data management, financial modelling and other related tasks. Gaining a fundamental knowledge of accounting skills will help you to get a good job in the finance profession. With these skills, you can bag some lucrative roles in the industry such as CA, Certified Public Accountant etc. 
• Business Intelligence– Smart decisions make or break any business. Finance professionals must be well-versed in business knowledge to help businesses. To make a smart and well-informed decision, they should have the capability to predict future inventory, sales and related information. This is precisely why organizations look to hire accountants who can make full utilization of resource planning software (ERP). ERP tools such as Oracle or SAP are great means by which you can manage inventory, plan future purchases, allocate labour hours and much more. We should also learn how to use business analytics software such as tableau. Data visualisation tools will help to convey data-based insights much more effectively for non-technical team members and senior management. 
• Financial Reporting – Financial reporting is the process by which financial results and detailed information are shared with stakeholders and senior management. Financial reporting like the other skills we discussed before is a crucial one if you wish to succeed in the finance industry. With financial reporting, accountants will be working on creating financial statements, balance sheets, income sheets etc through which you will be able to display the financial health of your organization to all the stakeholders. Students confuse financial accounting with reporting but in fact, they are very different. Accounting is majorly focused only on recording the financial transactions of a business while reporting focuses on classifying and sorting these records to get valuable information to assess the organization’s financial well-being.

• Cash flow management – Most managements fail because of poor cash flow management. Cash flow management is the method of analyzing, monitoring and optimizing cash receipts of a business after the cash expenses are deducted. Organizations make use of cash flow management to take care of finance and understand growth as it manages the ins and outs of the business fund. With proper cash flow management, organizations can find strategies to improve profit and find ways to avoid financial losses. Therefore cash flow management is a non-negotiable skill for any finance professional.
• Financial Modelling – Financial modelling is the method of showcasing a real financial situation through abstract methods. In financial modelling, the accountant will create a mathematical model which represents the portfolios, assets and financial performance for a particular period. The advantage of financial models is that it enables accountants to estimate the valuation of a business or compare it with other businesses. With this, you will be able to make strategic planning such as calculating the cost of a new project, determining the budget, testing a scenario etc. If you are looking to get a senior-level role, then companies will expect you to be well-versed in financial modelling. 
• Financial Management – Financial management refers to organizing, planning, directing and controlling financial activities which help procure and utilize an organization’s funds. This focuses on using general management concepts for organizations’ financial resources. If you are looking forward to moving ahead in the financial sector, then this is a skill you should hone. For roles such as investment banker, portfolio manager, financial advisor etc then financial management is an area you should concentrate on, as such skills will help accountants to make sound financial and investment decisions.
• Data Management – Data management is the method by process of gathering, storing, managing and maintaining an organization’s data. Data management is done efficiently and is needed to help the business in performing data analysis and making use of data to guide decisions. Finance professionals may not work extensively on data management solutions, but it must be said that having the skills will make the job much easier. The skill will help you to use data or access the same for performing financial analysis or predictive analysis. Another reason why it is a well-sought skill is that financial data management enables businesses to consolidate their relevant data which should comply with regulations and laws.

How to build and develop financial skills?

Through the blog, you must have understood that if you wish to pursue a career in finance then you must have both general skills and specific skills we discussed before. You can explore various courses such as ACCA, and CMA USA where you can study with industry experts so that you get a 360-degree view of how it works in the corporate world. You will be able to understand technical skills such as financial management, artificial intelligence in business, digital frauds, risk analytics, data visualisation and more in detail through these courses. Apart from the course, you will also be able to rub shoulders with professionals through the network, you will also be able to get detailed feedback from your mentors and get doubts clarified as well. With these skills, it becomes much easier for you to foray into big roles such as banking, insurance, fintech, financial services and startups. 

Developing new skills can be difficult. We hope that this blog has helped you to understand the areas that you need to focus on and with experience all these skills with necessary improvements. You can always get in touch with our career experts to get a better understanding of the courses and what they offer.