Finance Major: Still a Hot Major After the Great Recession

 

Majoring in finance as an undergraduate student is a good choice if you want to pursue business professions after graduation. It will help build a stable education foundation for later pursuing graduate level degrees. Working in finance mainly means managing money for large companies, organizations, or even individuals. There are five things you should understand about finance so as to have a better look at the major that you are going to pursue. 

1> Who are the financial analysts? 

Financial analysts are the ones who research macroeconomics and microeconomics conditions along with company fundamentals to make business recommendations. They often recommend a course of action, such as to sell or to buy a company's stock based upon its overall current and predicted strength. They are also being rational, deeply rational in making tough decisions related to the company's operation so as not to let the company go into debt. Being a financial analyst means building a stable financial base for the company to continue operating successfully. Once you are in it, you are fully participating because every financial decision of the company directly relates to you. 

2> What do they do in finance?

Financial analysts let money change hands in return for profit instead of saving it.

Financial analysts interpret the financial statements of the company to figure out if it is operating with loss or gain in order to attract investors and improve credibility to creditors by issuing stocks or bonds. They also have to be able to react to the cash of the company in the stock market. For example, if the company is having excess cash floating around, they have to quickly buy shares back on the open market to circulate the cash flows and bring up the profit. Additionally, they have to make sure the financial statements of our company is reliable enough for investors to invest in or for the banks to lend the company money.

3> What do they value in finance? 

Financial analysts value numbers the most since what are written can be investigated or analyzed meticulously to reflect the accurate operation of the business. In order to know how to calculate or format it correctly, a financial analyst has to achieve at least a B.S. or B.A. degree in finance and this relates to the value of the degree from which college you are enrolling in. It is obvious that the more famous college you are enrolling in, the more quality your degree has but in some cases, a famous college only provides some best programs for some specific majors. Mentioning about business, the best undergraduate business program belongs to Cornell University, University of Berkeley - CA, etc.

The GMAT is the gate to graduate schools 

for business-related majors.

4> How do they communicate in finance?

Financial balance sheet is extremely

 important for financial analysts.

In finance, communication between co-worker and co-worker is mostly through business documents. They have their own lingo and grammar that would only be understood by the financial analysts. For example, in the picture above, they are analyzing the company's financial growth based on the numerical information instead of making a long speech to show how it should be done. They also gather information about the stock market and daily finance news on the Wall Street Journal and CNNMoney to update information about global finance to make sure the company is on the right track and following the world's economic growth.

5> Dress code for financial analysts

Ladies' office style of 2013

Financial analysts believe dressing elegantly reflects their career position. 

Women financial analysts used to wear a knee-length black skirt, a white blouse and a black blazer outside as a formal type of business dressing. But nowadays, it does not strictly follow that style anymore. Unconventional job descriptions and environments affect a lady's office style, no matter if one just starts her career or is a chairwoman of the board, as long as the dress or the skirt's length reaches the knees. 

 Men financial analysts' dress code is a little bit more traditional when they wear a full suit with a dress shirt and tie.

 Financial analysts believe that when they feel confident with our appearances, they will feel professional and more enthusiastic in their jobs.

Finance is a great major, isn't it?