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Financial Analyst Job Aid

Competency

In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competency:

• Describe the purpose and function of financial management in an organization

Scenario

You’ve been an entry-level financial analyst for six months. Your supervisor plans to fill another entry-level financial analyst position on your team. Your supervisor has asked you to create a job aid for the financial analyst role. The purpose of the job aid is to help the new hire move smoothly into the role. The job aid must describe the responsibilities of a financial analyst. It must also describe the impact the role has on a business.

Directions

Using the Financial Analyst Job Aid (linked in the What to Submit section), create a job aid for a new hire to an entry-level financial analyst position. Your job aid should be thorough, but it should also be easy to understand for someone new to the field of finance.

In your job aid, you’ll give a general overview of financial management and its importance to a business. Specifically, you must address the following:

1. Financial Responsibilities: Describe the responsibilities of a financial analyst.
   1. Write five to seven bullet points outlining the responsibilities of a financial analyst. Write in complete sentences.
2. Financial Management Decisions: Use an example to discuss the importance of analyzing and managing finances to help make business decisions.
   1. Consider the bullet points you outlined in the previous section. Then write a brief paragraph that answers the following questions. Use examples to support your claims.
      1. How do these responsibilities help inform management decisions?
      2. What would happen if management didn’t have this information?
3. Accounting Principles: Explain how to use accounting principles to analyze a business’s financial health. Give examples to support your claims.
   1. Write a brief paragraph that explains how financial analysts use accounting principles to analyze a business’s financial health. In your paragraph, also answer the following questions:
      1. What accounting information do financial analysts use?
      2. What would happen if that information was not available or was not accurate?
4. Financial Statements: Describe how to use financial statements to help businesses make finance-related decisions. Give examples to support your claims.
   1. Think about how financial analysts identify the information contained in financial statements. Then write a brief paragraph that answers the following questions. Use examples to support your claims.
      1. What does a financial analyst need to do their job?
      2. What types of finance-related business decisions would this information help businesses to make?
5. Financial Terminology: Explain how a financial analyst uses key financial terms every day. Ensure your response is clear and easy to understand.
   1. Define each term listed below. Then, for each term, write one or two sentences showing how a financial analyst might use the term and how the concept is used to make important financial decisions.
      1. Financial statement
      2. Liquidity
      3. Working capital
      4. Diversification
      5. Time value of money

Financial Analyst Job Aid

To complete this project, you must submit the following:

Financial Analyst Job Aid
Submit your completed Project One: Financial Analyst Job Aid that includes sources cited according to APA style.

Project One Rubric

CriteriaExceeds Expectations (100%)Meets Expectations (85%)Partially Meets Expectations (55%)Does Not Meet Expectations (0%)ValueFinancial ResponsibilitiesExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerDescribes the responsibilities of a financial analystShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include describing in more detail the responsibilities of a financial analystDoes not attempt criterion17Financial Management DecisionsExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerDiscusses the importance of analyzing and managing finances to help make business decisions and gives examples to support claimsShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include discussing in more detail the importance of analyzing and managing finances to help make business decisions or giving examples to support claimsDoes not attempt criterion18Accounting PrinciplesExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerExplains how to use accounting principles to analyze a business’s financial health and gives examples to support claimsShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include explaining in more detail how to use accounting principles to analyze a business’s financial health or giving examples to support claimsDoes not attempt criterion16Financial StatementsExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerDescribes how to use financial statements to help businesses make finance-related decisions and gives examples to support claimsShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include describing in more detail how to use financial statements to help businesses make finance-related decisions or giving examples to support claimsDoes not attempt criterion16Financial TerminologyExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerExplains how a financial analyst uses key financial terms every day; writes responses that are clear and easy to understandShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include explaining in more detail how a financial analyst uses key financial terms every day or writing responses that are clearer and easier to understandDoes not attempt criterion18Clear CommunicationExceeds expectations with an intentional use of language that promotes a thorough understandingConsistently and effectively communicates in an organized way to a specific audienceShows progress toward meeting expectations, but communication is inconsistent or ineffective in a way that negatively impacts understandingShows no evidence of consistent, effective, or organized communication10Citations and AttributionsUses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with few or no minor errorsUses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with consistent minor errorsUses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with major errorsDoes not use citations for ideas requiring attribution5Total:100%

Financial Analyst Job Aid

• What are the core responsibilities of a financial analyst?,

• Why is analyzing and managing finances important for decision-making?,

• How do accounting principles help assess a business’s financial health?,

• How are financial statements used to make finance-related decisions?,

• How do financial analysts apply key financial terms in their daily work?