"Financial analyst" is one of the most sought-after titles among finance master's students, and one of the vaguest. Depending on the employer, it can mean an equity analyst who publishes buy or sell recommendations, an analyst at an investment fund, or an analyst inside a company's finance department. Here is what the job really involves, how to get in, what it pays and where it leads.
What does a financial analyst actually do day to day?
Apec 🔗, the French executive employment association, describes the financial analyst as the person who assesses in depth the financial situation of a company, an activity or a project using financial and economic indicators, in order to anticipate future developments and advise on investments or decisions to make.
Day to day, this breaks down into four families of tasks:
- Collecting and processing information: financial statements, earnings releases, specialist press, market databases.
- Modeling: building or updating valuation models (DCF, comparable multiples), earnings forecasts and scenarios.
- Writing: summary notes, analysis reports and investment memos for executives, portfolio managers or clients.
- Presenting and defending: explaining conclusions orally and arguing with people who challenge the assumptions.
Three contexts, three jobs
The French Society of Financial Analysts (SFAF) 🔗 distinguishes two main worlds:
- Sell-side: the analyst works at a bank or broker and publishes research (with a recommendation) for client investors.
- Buy-side: the analyst works at an asset manager or fund, and the analysis is used internally to decide what to buy or sell.
Alongside these is the corporate route, where the financial analyst works in a company's finance department (management control, financial planning, investment project analysis). The job is less market-oriented there, but closer to operational decisions.
💡 Learn more: if quantitative analysis appeals to you, also see careers in quantitative finance, which share some tools but not the same relationship to risk.
Education and routes in
The job is open at the five-year post-secondary level (bac+5, master's level). The SFAF and CIDJ 🔗 agree on this and cite several routes:
- a business school with a finance specialization;
- a university master's in finance, economics or management (market finance, financial engineering, portfolio management);
- an engineering school with a quantitative finance focus;
- additional certifications, notably the CIIA and CESGA, which the SFAF prepares, or the CFA.
A few benchmarks for building a coherent path:
- Internships count as much as the degree. An internship in financial analysis, asset management or M&A proves you have already handled financial statements and a valuation model.
- A certification does not replace a master's. It complements it. To choose between the two, our article on finance certifications (CFA, FRM) details what each brings.
- Tools must be proven. Advanced Excel is the foundation, then a data terminal (Bloomberg, FactSet, Capital IQ) depending on the employer. Python is gradually becoming standard for automating data collection and processing.
Key skills recruiters expect
Technical skills:
- critical reading of financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow);
- valuation (DCF, trading and transaction multiples);
- Excel modeling, with a clean, auditable model structure;
- command of at least one market data tool;
- professional English, since many source documents are in English.
Behavioral skills:
- Critical thinking: not just producing a number, but challenging its assumptions.
- Written communication: an analysis note must be readable in two minutes by someone who did not follow the file.
- Rigor and time management: earnings seasons follow a calendar that cannot be negotiated.
- Persuasiveness: defending a recommendation in front of a portfolio manager or a committee.
That last point needs preparation because it weighs in interviews. See our guide to essential soft skills in finance to word them with evidence.
Salary and pay at each stage
Figures vary strongly with the employer and the city. Here are the ranges published by reference sources.
| Level | Indicative range (gross annual) | Source | |---|---|---| | Junior analyst | €35,000 to €45,000 | SFAF | | Experienced analyst | €55,000 to €75,000 | SFAF | | Senior analyst | €80,000 to €120,000 and above | SFAF | | Average of published job offers | about €44,700 | Apec |
Two important clarifications:
- The CIDJ indicates a starting salary of around €2,500 gross per month, with fast progression.
- Variable pay can be very significant at large investment banks (the SFAF mentions bonuses of 50 to 100% of base pay in the best-paying structures), while it is noticeably more modest in corporate roles.
To place these figures within the sector as a whole, see our overview of finance and investment banking salaries.
Career paths and next steps
The analyst role is rarely an end in itself. According to the SFAF, experience opens the way notably to:
- portfolio manager, after a few years of buy-side or sell-side analysis;
- investment banker (M&A), for those who have built strong valuation expertise;
- chief financial officer or an executive role in a company, via the corporate route;
- strategy consulting or ESG specialist, two growing fields;
- founding your own firm, increasingly common among experienced profiles.
The CIDJ also notes that an experienced analyst can "sell themselves" to the highest bidders: research firms, banks and large groups regularly look for these profiles.
⚠️ Warning: moving from one path to another is prepared from the first job. Choose assignments that give you concrete achievements (valuation of a listed company, investment pitch, sector coverage), because they will make up your CV for the next step.
How to showcase this profile on your CV
A recruiter reads an analyst's CV looking for three things: rigor, ability to synthesize and command of the tools. Here is how to show them.
Write results-driven bullets. Instead of "Performed financial analyses", write "DCF and multiples valuation of 3 listed industrial companies, presented to the investment team (recommendation retained for the portfolio)". The subject, method, deliverable and outcome are readable in one line.
Give the tools context. "Excel" alone says nothing; "three-statement Excel model fed by Bloomberg" conveys the level.
Mention certifications in progress. "CFA Level I: registered, exam planned for May" shows initiative, provided the date is real.
Polish the summary. It should state the type of analysis targeted (equities, credit, corporate, ESG) and what precisely you bring. Our guide to mistakes to avoid on a finance CV will help you review the whole document before sending.
One last practical point: an analyst is judged on clarity. If your CV is poorly structured or misread by a recruiter's screening software, that flaw costs you before anyone reads a line. FinanceCV removes this pitfall: you focus on the content (your valuations, tools, results) and the tool handles layout, giving you an ATS-compatible document that gets through automated filters.
Ready to build your finance CV? Use our free generator to get a professional document in a few minutes.