What is Financial Modelling and How Can It Help Your Career?
The first
industrial revolution brought about a new era of economic productivity. The
steam engine surpassed human physical capacity and delivered better and faster
results in the industrial world. Similarly, the recent digital revolution has
exceeded the capacity of the human mind. Today, computer algorithms work
alongside the human potential to yield even quicker outcomes. The concept of
financial modelling is something similar. It helps professionals to make more
accurate and faster financial decisions by undertaking computational activities
that the human mind cannot process at the same given time.
Technically,
a financial model is an equation. It has a few independent parameters which act
as inputs to yield a dependent variable or the output. Finance professionals,
Investment bankers, investors and founders use such models to predict the
behaviour of investments and assets. These give an insight into the future of a
volatile market and help to determine the feasible investment that can be made
now. Without financial models, professionals are burdened with large chunks of
data that often date back to decades and analysing the same and predicting
various possible outcomes can take an exceptionally long time for a person if
done manually. Financial models typically look at past trends and predict the
future according to the lessons available.
How can it help
your career?
Name any
financial institution’s strategy or a long-term projection by a business house
and you will see that the underlying common factor is a financial model. Even
non-financial enterprises use financial models to make business decisions and
plan out an optimal approach. As examples, investment banks use the IPO
valuation model to calculate the fair price of a firm’s shares. A typical B2C
enterprise also uses financial modelling to forecast sales growth or employee
acquisition. Real estate businesses to venture capitalists all need to know how to build a financial model in their specific sectors to make future growth
plans.
The number of
options available is the first outright benefit. With the knowledge of how to
build a financial model, you can work in almost any industry. Plus, with the
recent shift in the BFSI sector where fintech startups are challenging the
retail banks and the latter being forced to expand their areas of operations, financial
modelling professionals will hold the center stage in the demand curve. The
right certification can place you in the mid-hierarchy. Your niche will also
not diminish in the coming few decades.
Where to gain
expertise?
A few pundits
suggest that a master’s degree is the right way to gain the required knowledge
in financial modelling. But that will consume 1-2 years of your valuable
professional time. Online courses offer a flexible alternative where the
process is not only economic but time-saving as well. The brand value on the
certificate will be the shining star on your CV. And you will learn the
required nuances on how to build a financial model and work
professionally with financial models. You can build one from scratch or analyse
with the existing ones, you will hold the expertise to do all.
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