Financial skills are of utmost importance when it comes to dealing with day-to-day economic affairs. Especially when someone is a finance student, it becomes very crucial for them to hone core financial skills for best shaping their career. While employers offer respectable positions in this field, securing them demands professionals to be trained and educated in updated financial practices and be skilled in exhibiting key financial acumen. Following are the top 5 skills every finance student should have:
1.Analytical Reasoning: To effectively probe into a particular problem and derive strategic solutions for it, one should be ready to cultivate strategic analytical approaches in their work. This bears even greater weightage for finance students, as they would be ultimately responsible for drilling down to the very crux of any financial issue faced by their organization. With analytical reasoning, it not only becomes easy to comprehend and segregate the problem into discrete components but also determines the nature and type of solution that best addresses the problem. Analytical abilities can help one develop quality problem-solving skills that are scientific, business-oriented, and outcome-driven, making them capable of rendering smart practical solutions to their organization. Financial analyst, financial risk analyst, financial risk manager, strategic financial planner, financial data analyst, etc., are some of the reputed positions that value analytical reasoning as a key asset.
2. Accounting Abilities: For a finance student, acquiring accounting skills is of vital importance. As accountancy is part of core finance, every finance student should be skilled in this discipline with updated knowledge and industry-aligned practices. Getting trained in accountancy enables one to efficiently track, record and manage financial transactions in a firm. Key work areas that accountancy forms an integral part of are: financial data analysis, financial reporting, financial data management, financial data modeling, and many more. Getting skilled in accountancy and successfully implementing its best practices can help a finance student bags reputed roles like Chartered Accountant, Certified Public Accountant, and many more.
3.Knowledge on Business Intelligence & Technology: It is not a coincidence that finance is often called the bloodline of a business. Indeed, the finance department plays a crucial role in steering the direction of a business through predictions of inventory, sales numbers, and other related information. That is why there is always a reliance on advanced technologies for executing these financial functions like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software (e.g. Oracle, SAP, etc) as well as business analytics and data visualization tools like Tableau, etc. Today’s market demands that every finance student builds their expertise in these technologies for efficiently handling organizational-level financial functions like inventory management, future purchase planning, labor hour allocation, etc.
4.Financial Modeling & Reporting Skills: Financial modeling is a skill that enables one to create abstract mathematical simulations representative of the real-world financial conditions and future financial projections of a particular firm/project/asset/portfolio/business/etc. An individual gains the ability to conduct valuations and comparisons of different financial assets or businesses, as well as carry out strategic planning activities like calculating project expenses, budget estimation or testing a particular project scope. The second component is financial reporting, which involves the disclosure of financial results to management and stakeholders. Here, one has to create financial statements, balance sheets, income sheets, etc. Developing skills in financial modeling and reporting is therefore very important for every finance student.
5.Cash Flow & Financial Data Management Acumen: Poor cash flow management practices are often responsible for businesses going bankrupt. Therefore it is very important that every finance student acquires this management skill in order to facilitate their employer with careful analyses, monitoring and optimizations of the receipts being generated after cash expense deductions. As this skill ultimately helps an organization evade financial losses, generate long term profits, develop sustainable strategies, as well as effectively manage the nuances of business funds. The other component is data management. Here, a finance professional is responsible for handling the end-to-end circulation of financial data throughout the organization and its networks of stakeholders, partners, vendors, suppliers, customers, etc. Basically, it is the activity of holistically pooling, archiving, managing and maintaining an organization’s financial data. It enables the concerned finance professional to access data repositories, perform financial and predictive analyses with convenience, as well as ensure that the organization’s financial procedures are in compliance with the standardized laws and regulations in practice.
Financial Upskilling at MSU:
Medhavi Skills University (MSU) provides a range of finance courses that include programs like BBA in Fintech & Digital Banking, B.Com in Professional Accounting, B.Com in Banking & Finance, etc. The curriculums are specifically designed to enable young minds in gaining industry relevant skillsets and updated knowledge in specialized fields of finance. Click here to learn more.
Final Thoughts
In today’s world, financial ecosystems demand a synergized approach that involves effective management practices, modern data analysis tools, and core financial skills. With emerging technologies and changing strategic approaches constantly disrupting the finance landscape, it is always essential for students to upskill themselves with the latest industry-aligned practices and harness the in-demand skills for better development of their prospective careers in the ever-evolving field of finance.
