What Does a Financial Analyst Do

What Does a Financial Analyst Do? A Day in the Life Overview

A financial analyst reviews financial and operational data to evaluate performance, forecast future results, and support investing or business decisions. It’s a popular finance career because it offers clear growth paths and applies across industries. Whether you’re a student, early in your career, or switching into finance, this guide covers day-to-day responsibilities, CFA vs. non-CFA roles, core skills, and career outlook.

What Is a Financial Analyst?

A financial analyst is a finance professional who evaluates financial data to help a company or investor make better decisions. That can mean explaining why results changed, forecasting what comes next, or assessing whether a project, investment, or strategy makes financial sense.

Most analysts work in one of these environments:

• Corporate finance and FP&A, supporting internal decisions like budgeting, forecasting, and performance reporting.
• Corporate development, finding company growth opportunities and performing deal analysis for M&A, investments, partnerships, and divestitures. 
• Securities and investment like equity research, portfolio management, and private equity where analysis supports investment recommendations and portfolio decisions.
• Hybrid roles, where analysts sit close to strategy, operations, or product teams and translate business plans into financial impact.

There are many types of financial analysts, and responsibilities can vary based on industry, company size, and experience level. A new analyst may spend more time compiling data and maintaining reporting, while a senior analyst may lead forecasting cycles and present recommendations to leadership.

Core Responsibilities of a Financial Analyst

Financial analysts have many duties and responsibilities depending on the organization they work for, the industry they are in, and their seniority. Below is a list of core responsibilities:

Financial Modeling and Forecasting

Financial modeling and forecasting are a big part of a financial analyst’s job, whether you work in investment banking, equity research, corporate development, financial planning and analysis (FP&A), or other areas of corporate finance. 

Analysts build models in Excel to create forecasts, which are estimates of how the company may perform in the future, such as projected revenue and expenses for the next quarter. 

Data Analysis and Reporting

A financial analyst’s work often starts with gathering the data needed for the analysis. This data can include historical financial statements, accounting data from the general ledger, stock price information, macroeconomic statistics, industry research, and other quantitative inputs. 

Analysts collect this data from sources such as internal company systems, third-party platforms like Bloomberg or Capital IQ, and government agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Strategic Decision Support

A financial analyst uses data to generate insights and recommendations that help improve business performance. When someone asks, What does a financial analyst do, the answer often includes building presentations, frequently in PowerPoint. Analysts take the work completed in Excel and translate it into charts and graphs that can be used in pitchbooks and management presentations.

Internal reports and dashboards are also part of strategic decision support. Whether you’re presenting key performance indicators (KPIs) or tracking actual vs. budgeted results, it’s important to the company or client that information is timely, clearly presented, easy to understand, accurate, and insightful.

This strategic decision support is what truly separates a world-class financial analyst from the rest. 

What Does a Financial Analyst Do on a Daily Basis?

Collaboration and Cross-Functional Work

Financial analysts rarely work in isolation. You will partner with accounting to understand actuals, with FP&A to align on forecasts, and with business leaders who own the numbers behind the plan.

A typical week includes conversations like:

• Clarifying how revenue was recognized or why expenses landed differently than expected
• Pressure-testing assumptions from sales, marketing, or operations
• Translating analysis into a short story that leaders can use in meetings

This collaboration makes communication a core skill. You can be technically strong and still struggle if you cannot explain what the numbers mean and what you recommend.

Typical Day-to-Day Responsibilities

Day-to-day work depends on your team and industry, but most analysts rotate through a predictable set of activities. The pace usually increases during month-end close and forecast cycles.

Here are recurring tasks you will see in many analyst roles:

• Research and market analysis: Review industry and company data to spot trends, benchmark performance, and identify factors that could affect results or decisions.

• Financial modeling and forecasting: Build and update Excel models using historical performance and current business assumptions to project results and support budgeting, investment decisions, and planning.

• Financial analysis: Analyze financial statements and ratios like gross margin, net margin, return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), and many others. Develop reports to explain performance, flag issues early, and highlight opportunities to improve profitability and efficiency.

• Risk assessment and strategic planning: Evaluate financial and operational risks, test scenarios, and clearly explain what the business gains, what it costs, and what risks it introduces so leaders can plan for uncertainty and protect cash flow and performance.

• Stakeholder communication: Present insights and recommendations in clear, decision-ready language, tailoring the message to executives, investors, or partners so finance findings turn into action.

If you are switching into finance, it helps to build proof that you can do this work. This guide on how to become a financial analyst breaks down practical ways to build credibility through skills, projects, and role-adjacent experience.

A Day in the Life of a Financial Analyst

A typical day often mixes structured work with quick-turn requests. This schedule is one realistic example of how the work can flow.

Morning: You start by checking performance dashboards and key metrics. If results moved unexpectedly, you dig in to isolate the drivers, then message the relevant partner team with what you found and what you need next.

Midday: You work on forecast updates. This work could mean refreshing a model with actual results, updating assumptions based on pipeline data, and running scenarios to show how outcomes change if a key input shifts.

Afternoon: You build or refine a report for leadership. This reporting might be a short weekly update or a deeper month-end deck. You focus on what changed, why it happened, and what decisions or risks leadership should pay attention to.

Late day: You meet with cross-functional partners, answer follow-up questions, and document assumptions so the next cycle moves faster.

Note: A day in the life of a corporate financial analyst can vary significantly depending on the industry, city, and the particular day. The above is meant to represent an average day for a corporate analyst. Other types of analysts, like those in investment banking, will work much longer hours.

What Does a Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) Do?

Many people use the phrase “certified financial analyst” to mean someone who has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) credential. In practice, the globally recognized credential is the CFA charter, awarded by the CFA Institute through the CFA Program. 

The CFA Program focuses on investment tools, asset valuation, portfolio management, and wealth planning, along with ethical and professional standards.  If you’re deciding whether this path fits your goals, this Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) overview provides a clear snapshot of what the credential involves.

CFA vs. General Financial Analyst: Key Differences

A general financial analyst role is broad. It can sit in corporate finance, FP&A, consulting, banking, or investment teams. The work can be forecasting-heavy, reporting-heavy, or decision-support-heavy depending on the team.

CFA-path roles tend to skew toward investment work, such as:

• Investment research and security analysis
• Portfolio construction and performance evaluation
• Valuation and risk analysis in capital markets contexts

There is overlap in skills, especially in modeling and analysis. The biggest difference is the decision context. Corporate analysts often influence internal business choices, while CFA-aligned analysts often influence investment decisions and portfolio outcomes. CFA Institute highlights common charterholder career paths across areas like asset and wealth management, investment banking, and related finance roles.

When a CFA Credential Matters Most

A CFA credential tends to matter most when the role expects deep investment knowledge and a strong signal of technical coverage across capital markets topics. That expectation shows up most often in:

• Asset management and portfolio roles
• Equity research and investment research roles
• Certain advanced valuation, research, and buy-side analytics roles

If your target path is corporate finance, a CFA is usually not required. In those tracks, experience, modeling strength, and business partnering often carry more weight than this credential.

Why Learn Financial Analysis Skills with CFI?

If you want to work as a financial analyst, you need skills you can apply on the job. CFI focuses on practical development across the same work analysts handle every week: modeling, analysis, reporting, and decision support.

In corporate roles, financial analysis in FP&A often centers on business analysis, forecasting cycles, and leadership-facing insights. CFI’s training is designed to help you build the workflows behind that work, not just understand concepts.

If you want a structured credential path that develops modeling and valuation skills, CFI’s Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA®) Certification is built around real analyst deliverables, with practical exercises that mirror what you’ll be asked to do in interviews and on the job.

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Frequently Asked Questions About What Financial Analysts Do

1. What does a financial analyst do day-to-day?

A financial analyst gathers, analyzes, and explains financial data to help a business or investor make decisions. Day to day, you’ll pull and validate data, track performance trends, investigate variances, update forecasts, and turn findings into reports or presentations. In corporate roles, this work often supports budgeting, planning, and strategic decision making. In investment roles, it more often supports valuation, research, and investment decisions.

2. What skills are most important for a financial analyst?

The most important financial analyst skills are strong Excel skills, analysis, financial modeling, and clear communication that helps stakeholders act on the numbers. You’ll use technical skills to build forecasts and reports, then use soft skills to explain drivers, risks, and trade-offs to non-finance partners.

• Technical skills: Accounting fundamentals, Excel, financial statement analysis, budgeting and forecasting, financial modeling, data analytics, and valuation
• Soft skills: Communication (written & verbal), critical thinking, problem-solving, attention to detail, teamwork, and adaptability.

3. Is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) necessary to work as a financial analyst?

No. A CFA is not required for most financial analyst roles, especially in corporate finance and FP&A. The CFA charter tends to matter most in investment-focused paths like asset management, equity research, and other roles where employers value deep coverage of investment analysis and portfolio management topics.

4. What industries employ financial analysts?

Financial analysts are employed across virtually every industry where financial strategy, investment, and data-driven decision making are necessary. They work in financial services firms (investment banking, asset management) and non-financial companies in technology, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, retail, manufacturing, and industrial businesses. 

5. How much do financial analysts make in the US?

Financial analysts in the US make a median annual wage of $101,350 according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data for May 2024. However, compensation can vary widely depending on experience, industry, location, and credentials. 

Additional Resources

Free Financial Modeling Guide

Asset Management vs. Investment Banking

Corporate Development Career Profile 

Essential Guide to Breaking Into FP&A

Interactive Career Map

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