Careers in Finance

Careers in the financial industry have endless possibilities. In order to select a path for your career, it is important to know what this field involves. The field of finance, in essence, relates to time, money, and risk and how these are all connected. Banks are central to all funding and credit; however, private equity, mutual funds, hedge funds, and other organizations are also important in the field of finance. Each of these areas provides job opportunities. Financial investments must be managed and controlled carefully in order to reduce risk for the investor. Assets or investments in publicly-traded companies can be traded on stock or security exchanges. These again are each related to separate career paths, such as financial advisor careers or financial analyst careers.

A person entering this field has a tremendous amount of possibilities to choose from. It is difficult to say what the best financial job is or which is the hottest job in the financial industry. This all varies relative to time. Currently we are facing economic hardship in the US and the financial industry is quite unstable. People looking for work in this industry may need to be patient.

Many people in the field of finance work for specialized financial institutions. These are firms that supply credit for the purchase of consumer goods and services. They also grant small loans directly to consumers.

• Specialized consumer-finance agencies now operate out of locations throughout the world, including Canada, Western Europe, the US, Australia, Japan, and Latin America. Many hot finance jobs can be found in these agencies and often provide good career opportunities.
• Most companies in both Europe and the US specialize in financing purchases of particular commodities and are often associated with manufacturers. Others extend credit for wholesale purchases by retailers. Some of the top finance jobs are found in these institutions.
• Consumer finance or small-loan companies give authorized loans to consumers at rates above usury levels. Today many companies engage both in the sales-finance business and in making loans directly to consumers. These companies employ many people, but may be the first place where lay-offs occur.
  

In the daily running of most businesses, finance is done by lower-level staff. These jobs include handling cash receipts, taking care of disbursements, borrowing from commercial banks, and formulating cash budgets. The level of job is dictated by the size of the company and the expertise of the employee. These duties may be performed by accountants, analysts, planners, budgeters, etc.

Some of the best financial jobs (the top jobs) include the careers listed below.

Financial manager careers are considered good jobs. A person working as a financial manager is the person usually responsible for raising and managing funds for business organizations. These are the people who do all the planning, analyzing, and controlling of the operations. This position is usually top level. In large firms or companies there is a finance committee that makes major financial decisions, while in smaller firms the owner or manager usually runs his or her own finances.

Financial planning controls all activities of a firm. This includes the running of the firm as well as the investments made by the firm. A person may find a career in any of the following areas:

• Financial ratio analysis: This enables the business owner to spot trends in a business and compare its performance with the average performance of similar businesses.
• Profit planning: This is concerned with the development of an operating plan for the coming period. The plan is summarized in the form of an income statement that serves as a profit objective and cost budget.
• Financial forecasting: This position takes data from the last available year and uses the balance sheet and income statement to forecast next year’s performance.
• Budgeting: This is the company’s itemized income and expenses, with data often used as a forecast of future budgets.
  

Many people today have personal financial planners to assist them with their savings plans and help them ensure the security of their futures.

A senior financial analyst performs complex budgeting and accounting functions. This is usually one of the top finance jobs available. This person conducts financial, statistical, and analytical studies. He or she prepares and assists in the preparation of all financial reports and statements, and prepares claims for reimbursement. This job differs from financial analyst careers as far as the involvedness or complexity of duties and the consequences of any errors that are made.

A senior financial analyst’s job involves major responsibility and requires someone who is an expert in all complex budgeting and accounting functions and can perform many of the following functions:

• Make decisions involving interpretation of data, facts, procedures, and law
• Maintain accounts and assign codes in accordance with state/local reporting
• Reconcile state apportionments and local taxes
• Review documents/contracts/claims for accuracy and compliance with rules
• Coordinate and review year-end closing process
• Monitor accounts receivable/payable
• Conduct periodic reviews and evaluate staff
• Verify fiscal solvency
• Coordinate budgets and communicate with internal/external clients
• Develop and revise policies and regulations
• Document office systems and procedures
  

As far as careers in financial services go, each of the skills listed has a job title attached to it. A person may find a good financial job in any of these areas when economic times are good.