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  • 11 courses to earn Accounting for Financial Analysts Specialization
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Accounting for Financial Analysts Specialization Overview

CFI's Accounting for Financial Analysts Specialization provides a practical understanding of core and advanced accounting concepts.

Starting with fundamental accounting concepts, the curriculum covers detailed financial statement analysis for banks and insurance companies, business combinations, and equity investments. Key topics also include specialized accounting for inventory, leases, shares outstanding and earnings per share, along with techniques for normalizing income statements.

Designed for real-world application, this specialization will prepare you to interpret and analyze financial statements across different companies, industries, and geographies.

What's in the Accounting for Financial Analysts Specialization?

11 courses

Consisting of 530+ lessons

30+ interactive exercises

Learn by doing with guided simulations

Blockchain certificate

To verify your skills

500,000+ 5-star ratings

Best-in-class training, as rated by you

Earning Your Certificate in Financial Analysis

Step 1.

10 Required Courses

Accounting Fundamentals
4.9 (7,506 Ratings)
2h 28min
2h 28min
Reading Financial Statements
4.8 (4,305 Ratings)
1h 45min
1h 45min
Financial Analysis Fundamentals
4.8 (1,951 Ratings)
2h 4min
2h 4min
Reading & Analyzing a Bank's Financial Statements
4.9 (12 Ratings)
1h 39min
1h 39min
Reading & Analyzing an Insurance Company's Financial Statements
5 (6 Ratings)
1h 20min
1h 20min
Accounting for Business Combinations & Other Equity Investments
5 (8 Ratings)
1h 14min
1h 14min
M&A Accounting & Purchase Price Allocation
4.8 (16 Ratings)
1h 31min
1h 31min
Accounting for Inventory
5 (4 Ratings)
1h 4min
1h 4min
Accounting for Leases
4.9 (14 Ratings)
58min
58min
Accounting for Diluted Shares and Earnings per Share
5 (6 Ratings)
1h 6min
1h 6min
Hide All Courses
Step 2.

1 Elective Course

Normalizing Income Statements
4.8 (10 Ratings)
1h 30min
1h 30min

Skills & Learning Objectives in Accounting for Financial Analysts

Accounting

  • Identify key items on the financial statements and describe the relationship among the three core financial statements.
  • Understand the most common accounting concepts encountered by financial analysts and explain how these impact financial statements and models.
  • Recognize how differences in accounting policies among companies affects comparability.

Financial Analysis

  • Adjust financial statements for differences in accounting, leading to greater comparability.
  • Calculate and interpret various financial ratios, offering insights into profitability, asset utilization, leverage, and liquidity.
  • Analyze companies using horizontal (trend) analysis and how these companies compare against peers and the industry average.

Reading Financial Statements

  • Define the key components of company financial reports.
  • Analyze company filings including financial statements, notes, and management's discussion and analysis (MD&A).
  • Identify non-recurring items and adjust for these factors since they can skew a company's actual financial performance.

Meet Your Instructors

Scott Powell

Scott Powell

Scott is the Co-Founder of CFI. Over the past 30 years, he has focused on designing and delivering learning solutions for clients in the financial services sector, particularly in the areas of commercial banking, investment banking, capital markets, and asset management.
Jeff Schmidt

Jeff Schmidt

Jeff is the Vice President, Financial Modeling at CFI. Prior to joining CFI, Jeff Schmidt taught financial modeling and valuation to thousands of learners all over the world for over a decade.

Careers in Accounting for Financial Analysts

Over 85% of executives, supervisors, and HR professionals agree that certified individuals bring value, gain credibility, and are seen as top performers.
* Source

  • Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)

    Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)

    Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) professionals help guide company strategy by performing budgeting, forecasting, and analysis that support major corporate decisions of the CFO, CEO, and the Board of Directors. Knowledge of accounting is absolutely crucial in order to analyze key metrics and project financial targets.
  • Corporate Development

    Corporate Development

    Corporate Development professionals analyze potential acquisition opportunities, similar to M&A advisors at investment banks. The difference is that corporate development professionals work for corporations and not at sell-side investment banks. A thorough understand of accounting is necessary to analyze potential acquisition targets as well as performing due diligence.
  • Investment Banking

    Investment Banking

    Investment banking financial analysts help companies facilitiate financial transactions such as mergers, acquisitions, and capital raises. Accounting knowledge helps them assess the financial health of companies involved in transactions, conduct due diligence, and structure deals to maximize value for clients.
  • Private Equity

    Private Equity

    Private equity professionals make significant investments in private companies. Accounting knowledge allows PE analysts to perform thorough due diligence, evaluate financial health, and structure investments effectively. This knowledge helps support accurate valuation, portfolio management, and exit strategies, helping ensure adequate returns on investment.
  • Equity Research

    Equity Research

    Knowledge of accounting helps equity research analysts evaluate financial statements, assess company profitability, and forecast future performance. This foundational skill supports rigorous valuation modeling, enhancing credibility with clients and investors.

Accounting for Financial Analysts Specialization Graduates Work in Leading Organizations

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Verizon logo
exxon logo
Boeing logo
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What Our Members Say

This particular course is very engaging and clear even for me, who have very little knowledge of finance.

Akshay Sanwal

The introductory course was very concise, detailed, and informative with relevant real world examples which significantly helped apply the concepts in assessing my own business’ footprint.

Brittian Foster

ESG specialization is highly required skills and glad CFI is solving that issue.

Chaitanya Korra

CFI’s ESG programme is a very useful tool towards mitigating contemporary challenges facing the business world.

Johnny Marudu

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Frequently Asked Questions

If you haven’t found your answer from our FAQ, please send us a message.

What is the Accounting for Financial Analysts Specialization and who is it designed for?
The Accounting for Financial Analysts specialization is designed for finance professionals who need to strengthen their accounting knowledge to analyze financial statements with confidence. It’s a strong fit for analysts, accountants, students, and professionals in roles like FP&A, corporate finance, or equity research who want to bridge accounting and financial decision–making.

If you haven’t found your answer from our FAQ, please send us a message.