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Job Title: Sr. Financial Analyst
Type of Company: My current employer is an international medical device company.
Education: MBA Finance from Boston University •• BS in Mathematics from UMass Lowell
Previous Experience: I have over 20 years experience in Financial Analysis as both an individual contributor and as a manager at two consumer products manufacturers, supporting various operations from Marketing/Sales to IT, Distribution and Manufacturing.
Job Tasks: I support the Corporate Information Systems (IS) group as a member of the IS controller's department We are responsible for monthly closing and reporting of IS operating expenses and capital projects, annual budgets and quarterly forecast updates. The work I do is mostly project based ad hoc analysis for the Controller, to analyze and report to IS management where the company's resources are being deployed. I also research project spending, close capital projects when complete and ensure fixed assets are set up in appropriate cost centers.
Best and Worst Parts of the Job: The best part of the job is the scope of responsibility. We have a large IS organization that is growing at this time. We are engaged in numerous projects to automate, integrate, streamline and improve business efficiency and effectiveness. IS is also the infrastructure that runs the company. In this tough economy, our group is still hiring technical programmers, developers, IS project managers.
The worst part of the job is we are constantly changing. It is very tough to track and manage all the changes, orient the new people, and these jobs are not 40 hours per week, but often much much more.
Job Tips:
1. Corporate Finance and Accounting is great technically if you have math, logical, technical accounting and analytical abilities. It fits if you like working with spreadsheets, databases, and figures, rather than more with people.
2. However, we all do have customers, so there is people interaction.
3. It is not easy to balance work/life however in this field. Deadlines are frequent, not usually flexible and the finances must get reported.
Additional Thoughts: To be ultimately successful, you need to be technically competent but also be able to "impress" the boss. You need to be able to present your findings, support your arguments or recommended actions from your analysis. There are many accounting/finance jobs in the middle, but if you aspire to the corner office, you will need an MBA and CPA from a good school. Most of corporate finance requires an excellent accounting background as well as financial analysis.
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