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Tag: financial analyst

M&A Round Up – 1st Quarter of 2018

Posted on by Imarticus Learning
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The party looks like it’s just getting started.
Perhaps we can safely say the curse of 2008 has left the Global Markets because M&A seems to be back and how! $1.4 trillion- that’s how, primarily driven by US tax reform, European economic growth, and an uptick in the industrials sector in the US. Deal value was up but deal volume fell almost 13%. What bodes well is that it’s the highest Deal Value since 2015, and given that 2015 was a good year, 2018 might be one too.
Deal value was driven by Cigna Corp’s $67 billion deal to acquire Pharmacy company Chain express followed by the European deal – Herman utility E.ON SE’s $38.5 billion deal to acquire RWE AG’s renewable energy business Innogy SE. Despite expected fall out from Brexit, Europe saw deal volumes double. The US-led the charge both in terms of value and volume and China followed in second place. Asia, however, saw a small increase of around 11 percent on the deal volume front and what’s interesting is how well India did on the M&A front.Investment Banking Banner
Yes, our deal value fell substantially because the IDEA Vodafone merger was such a large contributor, but our domestic market had its best quarter since 2006. Numbers are confusing because we go by Zephyr, our deal value stands at $ 30 Billion odd but Reuters seems to think our deal volume fell by 9.3% to $20.5 billion in the first quarter of 2018, compared with the same period last year. Deal volume also dropped 8.3%, according to Thomson Reuters data, but Zephyr thinks it has halved.
https://www.bvdinfo.com/getattachment/05a9c343-0b53-4433-a491-b0a4807f77ad/M-A-Review-Global-Q1-2018.aspx
Grant Thornton seems to have a different answer. $18.5 billion in terms of deal value and 118 deals. I think the Zephyr numbers include both PE and M&A. According to Grant Thornton, deal value was up from 105 to 118 deals.
https://www.grantthornton.co.uk/insights/bright-outlook-for-indian-ma-and-private-equity/
I am inclined to believe Zephyr since they are the leaders in M&A deal data.
Despite none of the numbers adding up, the takeaway is still this. if you took out the Idea – Vodafone merger out of the 2017 data – $11.6 billion, it proves that the first quarter of 2018 was indeed a whopper, especially for the domestic market, which despite having fewer deals, grew  1.5 times over the previous comparable time period. Cross-M&A, however, fell 76% but that’s only expected since Idea- Vodafone accounted for much of 2017’s performance anyway.
Now let’s move on to some of our big deals. ONGC buying Hindustan Petroleum leads the pack at $5.7 billion and drove our domestic performance. Does Reliance Jio buy Reliance communications for $3.75 billion even matter? It does to the numbers (and we can always use all the help we can get). Then there’s the really interesting one Adani transmission buying Reliance Infrastructure for $2.3 billion. All three gave a much-needed flip to the domestic market. Apparently, Citibank and SBI caps were the intermediaries for ONGC- HPCL deal which means some folks are going to be exceptionally pleased this June when bonuses are handed out. Unlikely anyone bartered either Reliance transaction.
So that was the first quarter of 2018. You know that the second quarter is only going to get better because of Walmart buying Flipkart for either $20 billion or $16 billion. Fickle little Softbank, making people sit on the edge. Either way, it’s going to be a great 2018. See you in three months!

Importance of Financial Analyst in a Company

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Importance of Financial Analyst in a Company

The key factor denoting a company’s growth and existence is the level of profitability attained. There is a direct relationship between utilizing financial resources and the profit generation for a business firm. Financial analysis is required to determine the financial health and stability of a company. It helps in determining the current financial position and upcoming financial requirement. In order to assess the financial health and performance of a company, a financial analyst is required.
The role of the financial analyst is very challenging, and includes the following:

  • Guiding the financial need and requirements of the company
  • Assessing the performance of bonds, stocks, commodities, and other investment instruments
  • Making decisions regarding market investment
  • Analyzing the performance of securities, insurance
  • Determining future earnings and expenses of business firms
  • Evaluating the effect of tax rates, government policies, competitor strategies, commodity prices etc

They deal with the balance sheet, spreadsheets, and databases in order to gain a better insight into firm’s prospects. Having a strong hold on the market economic trends and business scenarios, they often give recommendations regarding buying and selling of investments.
There is a vast scope of career advancement for financial analysts. Many professional, as well as certification courses, are there for developing financial knowledge and skills. With rigorous academic curriculum, ‘Imarticus Learning’ has successfully developed many financial professionals with outstanding quantitative and analytical skills, through our business analytics certification course.

Tips for Cracking Financial Analyst Interview

Posted on by Imarticus Learning
Reading Time: 3 minutes

There is a certain glamour attached to the job of a Financial Analyst, it is a vital part of strategizing within any organisation. They are the ones who guard the secrets of the given organisation, and with all the data and analysis, they are able to guide establishments in making the right decisions.
Any profile of a financial analyst will have to be relevant in three areas, Education, Experience and Professional Credentials. Education could be either from finance or any other field with related certifications like CFA. Experience depends on what the organization is looking for I.e., a junior or senior analyst. And lastly, Professional Credentials will be the knowledge you have in the given field or role.

Here are the tips for cracking Financial Analyst Interview

Understand the position

Before one gets into what to expect, you, as a candidate need to be clear about the position you are applying for, financial analyst could mean different things in different organisations hence you need to read the job description of the organisation you are applying into, and understand the role responsibilities in detail before you face the interview.

Prepare for the Interview

Every organisation which is hiring, after the initial screening will like to understand if an applicant has the right skills to excel in the given role.
To assess the same, an interview will most often revolve around three stages,
(I) Experiential Situation (II) Specific Role Based Questions & (III) Behavioural Questions.
An interviewer could start the interview in any format, from behavioural to technical or vice versa. Your handy tool will be to prepare and anticipate the questions.
A detailed research on the interviewer and the organisation that they represent will be one factor that might or will differentiate you from the pack.
There are specific answers and feelers that the HR and the process owners need to get from an applicant while considering to fill the position.
Behind every stage of an interview, the questions are asked to get an insight of a candidate’s ability and overall talent that they promise to bring to the role.
Read on to understand….

Experiential Skills

  • An interviewer is trying to gauge your reaction in a given situation. Today, an expectation from a financial analyst is to be good at marketing, along with other technical skills, yes! That is right, building a great strategy is wonderful, however, if you are unable to communicate the benefits to the non–technical audience, the battle is only half won.
  • Not only communication skills but, persuasion and passion for your job are what is being examined here. Efficiency in thought, ability to come up with valid approaches is what the interviewer is looking for. Remember, there are no right or wrong answers here, it is how you are able to convey what you are saying is right, that matters.
  • The more you marry your answers to, financial, logic and technical skills, the more your theory will have an impact.

Specific Role Based Questions

  • This is the part of the interview where you need to throw some serious financial jargons and explain the relevant financial methods, into explaining how and why certain reports need to be generated.
  • Brush up your financial skills, review all the application areas, and try to make a case study of whatever information you can gather about the organisation, through research. There is nothing more impressive than you are linking the company’s situation as an example in answering questions
  • Certain interviews would also give case studies, hence ensure that you know the technology you apply to your financial analysis. Practice concepts of actual financial statements.
  • You need to be clear on the headers you should look at while explaining a report. Clarity in financial fundamentals and ratios should be maintained while answering questions.
  • Also linking your answers with similar projects you have done in the past or read up about would be great.
  • Lastly, an interviewer is also looking at the excel and technical proficiency in generating appropriate reports. After all, a major portion of your time will be spent doing repeated procedures.
  • The question here is generally based on understanding if your practical knowledge matches what is mentioned in the CV. maintain congruence in what you say.

Behavioural Questions

  • Questions in this category are basically to understand your personality. Speak about your career goals and personally how do you see yourself grow in the role while working for this particular company.
  • Focus on your positivity, on how you handle failures or missed deadlines, flexibility in working as an individual contributor or with a team, commitment to putting in long hours etc…,
  • Speak about your success, from failures in particular, which shows patience, maturity and resilience.

Look Sharp, Confident, and let your skills speak for themselves!

Also Read: What Do You Need To Learn To Become Financial Analyst

What is a Financial Analyst and How do you Become One?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning
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What is a Financial Analyst and How do you Become One?

If you see yourself as a person working in the financial services industry, Financial Analyst should then be your chosen field, as it is one of the most revered titles in the finance industry.

A Financial Analyst is essentially a person who performs financial analysis at a micro and macro level to understand the health of an organization and further give suitable recommendations. They also suggest a course of action, which would be something like recommendations on buying or selling a company stock based on its current and predicted strength.

It is expected of the analyst to be aware of the current developments in the field in which he or she specializes, as well as having the ability to prepare financial models that predict future economic conditions across possible variables.

One of the key responsibility of the financial analyst is not only to manage financial data but also to summaries them through a presentation, reports and statistical analysis.

The financial analyst job is much like the financial planner; most times you would see a financial analyst is working very closely with the financial planner to come to some conclusions related to investment choices. Although it is important to note that the job of a financial analyst calls for a higher level of expertise. It is more holistic and demands certain specific skill sets.

Financial analysis is done in a structured manner which primarily covers fundamental analysis, ratio analysis, financial modelling and valuation.

Role of Financial Analyst

We can divide the role of a financial analyst into two parts, those who work on the Buy-Side and those who work on the Sell-Side. An analyst on the buy-side works with companies that have money and need help with investment strategies. People on the sell side help the companies price and sell their products, these companies are usually investment banks and securities firms.

Research suggests the financial analyst job sector is predicted to grow by 15.5% in the decade spanning the year 2012-2022. That figure alone predicts close to 35000+ jobs in the US alone. A financial analyst can play many roles and execute multiple responsibilities. Investment analyst, money market analyst, mergers and acquisition analyst, budget analyst are but a few recommendations.

So how do you get started?
To begin with, if you have a major in computer sciences, biology, physics or even engineering, you are already in the favourable pool. It is easier for people from these backgrounds to start at an entry-level position. If you are an MBA graduate it would be possible that you start as a senior analyst.

A degree in Business administration, accounting, finance or statistics gives a springboard to your growth within an organization, although it is not a prerequisite to being an MBA to become a financial analyst.

To become a successful financial analyst one needs to be proficient in a wide variety of skill sets, which might include-
Financial modelling, it is a mirror that shows if an organization is in need of additional funds, analysing and defining the risk level. Basically, it is a tool, an abstract model of a real world financial situation. There are various valuation and forecast theories that exist and the financial analyst is able to recreate events in an interactive calculator referred to as a financial model. Accounting skills, the flexibility with numbers is a prerequisites.

Knowledge about the equity research goes hand in hand to create an entire package. But most importantly the ability to connect with people, to be able to translate your financial finding in the right way, through the right tools is also a must. Being fluent in your soft skills does not only mean the ability to communicate, but also the ability to use excel and PowerPoint to your advantage.

If you are a beginning or an MBA graduate or a major from any field, there are many certified institutions which offer comprehensive courses that help you acquire a detailed understanding of the role and also provide with experiential learning methodologies in close association with the industry experts, thus giving you the backing required to excel in your chosen field. They also help you with placements as they are well connected with firms who have need of such professionals.

A career in financial analyst offers financial security, it also gives you the opportunity to help in shaping the finance industry. So if this interests you, then it is recommended to get the required skill sets and get started.

Imarticus Learning is India’s leading professional education institute, offering certified industry-endorsed training in Financial Services, Investment Banking, Business Analysis, IT, Business Analytics & Wealth Management.

Imarticus Learning is offering the Financial Analysis Prodegree, in association with EY as the Knowledge Provider, It is a skill-building programme covering accounting, financial modelling, business valuation and equity research.
Through the programme, the participants gain knowledge which helps them to build a career across a wide variety of roles in corporate finance and investment banking.

The Imarticus Learning Career Services and Placements team provides you guidance and assistance throughout the program, giving you the best career opportunities in leading international firms.

Finds it intriguing? Read more.
What is the Best Course for Financial Analysts in India?
5 Myths about Financial Analysts

The Career Path and Salary for a CFA holder

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CFA or Certified Financial Analyst is considered as a very prestigious credential when it comes to the world of finance. Those professionals who are able to clear all the levels of this exam are ushered into this charter, which consists of world-renowned finance professionals and lucrative career opportunities. It is a common belief that all those finance aspirants, who are looking to pursue CFA, are usually looking to earn big in their respective careers. While this may be the case, there are certain things that every CFA aspirant must know about. Firstly, that this examination, is really a tough nut to crack and this by no means is meant in a demotivational way. Any candidate must do a thorough research about this examination, before attempting it. This research must include the amount of time one must spend studying, as well as the various opportunities and salary trends in this field.

According to a certain statistical data of the year 2014, it was concluded that all the charter holders, or those who crack the CFA exam, usually opt for a career in Portfolio Management. This is mainly because it is considered to be the highest paying career option herein and close 22% of the applicants, chose to pursue their career in this field. While 15% of the CFA holders opt to become a Research Analyst, about 7% opt for Chief Executives, Consultants (6%), Risk Managers (5%), Corporate Financial Analysts (5%), Relationship Managers (5%) and Financial Advisers (5%). So if you are a finance aspirant looking to crack this prestigious examination, the four top positions that you should look at as career options, would be Portfolio Manager, Research Analyst, Chief Executive and Consultant. Let’s move on to the employers, who are known to hire the cream of CFA holders, across the world. These employers are most often top investment banks like JP Morgan Chase, PwC, HSBC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, UBS, Ernst & Young, RBC, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and so on.

Studies show that about 60% of the CFA charter holders are usually residents of the United States of America. While according to the CFA Society of Chicago USA, the median compensation, for any fresh graduates and CFA charter holders would range anything from US$215,542 annually to about $ 154,025 per annum. Whereas, on the other hand, for someone who is just a graduate and does not hold a CFA charter, the salary would be anything around or more than US$ 85,875 per annum. Apart from USA Europe also pays these charter holders handsomely, thus a CFA charter holder would earn anything between $124,000 per annum. While it is the country of Australia, that is known to pay the highest salaries for CFA holders, while in India, it is the city of Bangalore, which pays the most.
There are a number of people, especially in India, who attempt to clear this examination every year. While most of them choose to get trained professionally, from Imarticus Learning, to better their chances of entering this coveted charter.

Overview of Careers in Finance

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The field of Finance is often said to be all about the science of money management. A career in Finance would entail coordinating between assets and liabilities. The finance industry is popularly known to provide lucrative careers and demand intellect of the highest order. As a rule, this prestigious industry attracts a lot of aspirants looking for a career with great opportunities.

Possession of just a graduate degree thins the chances of getting into this field. Thus, it becomes important to either be an MBA or have a higher degree to guarantee a smooth entry herein. There are many courses like certification programs in investment banking, courses in corporate finance and so on. There are a lot of programs offering training to clear various finance exams and acquire certain designations and licenses. Lately a lot of institutes have started offering programs to clear the CFA exams (Chartered Financial Analyst) as well as for the license required to enact certain kind of transactions. One can go for any such short term or long term course to enhance their resume and better their career prospects.

Investment Banking is the most sought after career in Finance. Today, Banks are no longer limited to being agents of withdrawal and depositing of money. There are many types of banks like the investment banks, which act as financial advisors to firms, hedge funds wherein the money of wealthy individuals and companies is managed, the difference here is that there are huge risks taken when it comes to buying and selling public stocks.

Then there are Private Equity firms, which instead of buying securities (stocks) by entire corporations and make convert them into private entities. These firms then either get the corporation entirely under their own banner, or improve their financial situation to earn profits. There are also real estate firms which have their dealings in buying or developing already existing real estate projects. There are firms which deal in ‘real money’ which go on to invest money in various firms to reap the benefits of the same.

There are a lot of roles that a career in Finance offers and a college degree is not always required for them. There are a lot of aspirants, who tend to start off a stint with banks and then after a considerable experience, move on to get a MBA degree. It is imperative to know that investment banking jobs usually have cut-throat competition and roles here include mergers and acquisitions, providing financial advices in terms of financial modeling, evaluation of the firm and so on.

Financial analyst and Financial Advisors also are jobs of substance, if one is very interested to work with data and draw relevant insights; the former career is always preferred. The job profile of a Financial Advisor, with the flexibility of the work and the proximity to the clients as well as the fact that the competition is less, is chosen by quite a few. There are many other career profiles like working for hedge fund firms, private equity firms, portfolio managing jobs, trading, analyst jobs etc. There are also Investment Banking Media jobs, where someone with great communication skills and a sparkling knowledge of the market can work with media houses.

The field of Finance offers high quality careers which demand individuals with great intellect and motivation, in addition to the challenging environment and great compensation. The fact that there is such high competition to get into this field, goes to prove that one needs to have refined skill set for the same.

Imarticus Learning is a renowned education institute offering a host of short term and long term courses in investment banking, corporate finance and more.

Top 5 Best Paying Jobs in 2016

Posted on by Imarticus Learning
Reading Time: 4 minutes

by Zenobia Sethna

High pay continues to be tied to in-demand skills, a higher education, and working in jobs that are shielded from competition or automation. In this article, we will explore the top paying jobs in the Finance field. Further, to compare apples to apples, we will look at the average salaries for entry level positions at these jobs.
Investment Banking
Some of the most glamorous careers in Finance are those in investment banking. Investment-banking jobs deal with enabling the issuance of corporate securities and making these securities available for investors to purchase, all while trading securities and giving financial advice to both corporations and wealthy individual investors.
The salary of an Investment Banker at an entry level Analyst role ranges from $70k – $150k, with the average salary being $102,000 per year as of April 2016, according to Indeed.com. An Associate typically earns in the range of $150K – $350K. As you move further up the ladder, salaries sky rocket. Vice Presidents earn between $350K – $1.5MM, while Managing Directors/Partners could pocket anywhere between  $500K – $20MM+.
Be aware, though, that these jobs are also very intense and demand a lot of hours – especially if you are starting out. From analysts to managing directors, the pay is traditionally heavily weighted toward the investment banking bonus portion of the compensation which is part of the reason for such long hours.
Hedge Funds
Hedge funds are largely unregulated private investment funds whose managers can buy or sell a wide range of financial assets and products. Basically, a hedge fund is a pooling of investments from high net worth individuals. In India, we have hedge funds like Karma Capital Management, Atyant Capital, and Atlantis India Opportunities Fund. A certain enigma does surround
this type of entity, and likewise, hedge-fund jobs are considered by many to be somewhat glamorous.
Typical hedge-fund jobs include Financial analyst, Trader, Regulatory compliance officer, Quantitative analyst, Marketing manager, and Portfolio manager.
The average entry level pay (combination of base and performance bonus) for a “Fund Accountant” in this category is $90,000 in the United States. In London, the pay for the same post would be GBP 35,000 and in India it is Rs. 600,000.
Private Equity
Private equity is an asset class consisting of equity securities and debt in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange. Private-equity professionals help businesses find capital for both expansion and current operations. They also finance a number of corporate business transactions, such as managed buyouts and restructurings.
The average salary of a Private Equity Analyst in the US is $79,000 per year as of April 2016, according to Indeed.com. This could rise to the range of $150K – $300K for a second year Analyst /Associate or between $170 K and $ 350K for a third year Analyst/Associate. Vice Presidents at a PE firm could take home anywhere between $300K – $ 800K, while Managing Directors/Partners could pocket $ 500K – $ 10MM+.
The private equity compensation for Vice Presidents, Directors and Managing Directors is much more variable at PE firms, but the salary and bonus is much more of a function of the fund’s performance since a lot of the compensation is tied up in Carry.
Venture Capital
Venture-capital professionals (VCs) spend most of their time scouting start-ups or small, fast-growth companies. Venture-capital firms evaluate pitches by founders and small-company leaders to determine if the firm will make an investment. Venture capital is a toug
h business where the failure rates are high. On the flip side, the rewards, when they are realized, are huge!
Annual salary and bonuses differ broadly in this field depending on the size of the VC firm and specialization. In general, pre-MBA VC associates can expect an annual salary of $80,000 -$130,000. With a bonus, which is typically a percentage of salary, this can be boosted to $86,000-$250,000 with a median of $170,000.
Financial Analysis
Financial analysis involves an assessment of the viability, stability and profitability of a business, sub-business or project. The skills that increase pay for this job the most are Valuation, Risk Management / Risk Control, Financial Modeling, SAS, and SAP Financial Accounting and Controlling (SAP FICO).
The average salary of a Financial Analyst in the US is $73000 per year in April 2016, according to Indeed.com. A Financial Analyst in India earns between Rs. 187,810 and Rs. 879,047, with an average salary of Rs. 354,687 per year, according to Payscale.com.
 
Finally, if you’re not an Investment Banker or working at a VC firm though, despair not! The size of your pay check isn’t always tied to long-term satisfaction in your job. Rather, the biggest drivers of happiness are company culture, advancement opportunities, and trust in senior leadership.

How Does Our Financial Analyst Program Help You?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning
Reading Time: 2 minutes

As many of you know we are almost half way through our current IFAP – Imarticus Financial Analyst Programme and have opened enrollments for the next. But what is our IFAP programme and how does it help you? Who is it targeted towards and why should you take it?

Why was it Created?

The Imarticus Financial Analyst Program (IAFAP) was designed keeping in mind the gap that veteran Investment Bankers felt was missing in their analysts tool kit. Our management team interviewed a number of Investment Bankers, Equity Research Analysts and Corporate Finance professionals to find out what was missing in their new trainees. Why did so many people fail Investment Banking interviews? Why did they know so little about the art of valuation or how to create useful and informative power point presentations .
Unlike the US and the UK where fresh graduates have to undergo rigorous training sponsored by their respective regulatory boards, there is no such course in India. And even then, graduates don’t learn how to create effective financial models. So the management of Imarticus put their heads together and created a curriculum that would not only focus on theory but put significant emphasis on applying that theory by creating pitches, understanding modeling and being able to write a full fledged Equity Research Report.
Reshma Krishnan, an Investment Banker who used to work for Avendus Capital, a leading Indian Investment Bank and now an IFAP trainer says, ‘The IFAP course gives the analyst serious competitive edge the moment he or she applies for an Investment Banking job and even after. The learning curve becomes much shorter which allows the analyst to add value to the projects rather than being taught how to use comparables to value a company or where to find those comparables.’

Who does it target?

  • The IFAP program is useful for anyone who wants a career in the financial services industry be it Investment Banking, Equity Research, Securities Trading or Corporate Finance
  • It is complementary to a CA or a CFA certificate as it focuses on the skills required for the job at hand be it M&A or Equity Research.
  • It is perfect for someone who wants to brush up for a round of interviews at an Investment Bank
  • Great for a Commerce or BBA graduate that wants to join the workforce right after a graduate degree to get useful work experience
  • Internships at Investment Banks are extremely competitive and the IFAP course will give any intern an edge to succeed at an internship

Our Curriculum

Details of the curriculum are on the website but in short it comprises a mixture of knowledge and soft skills which include excel training, communication, business writing and presentation skills. We will do a detailed post on the curriculum next week.

The following Back to Basics blog posts will give you a good idea on the IFAP landscape and the general theory guiding the program but it’s the softer skills that give you the edge like Advanced Excel and Power point training and actual modules that use real life collateral to understand how Investment Banking pitches are really made. Over the next week we will take you through the softer aspects of all our programs and the reason we believe Imarticus courses are so successful in changing the careers of our students.

Also Read: Good Resources About Learning Financial Analysis