Financial analyst

A financial analyst who deals with the preparation of financial analyzes a person or profession.

Qualification professional financial analysts

The quality of financial analysts, in addition to its special education, for example through membership of a professional body such as the SFAA ( Switzerland ), ÖVFA ( Austria ) and the German Association for Financial Analysis and Asset Management - are documented (DVFA Germany ). The members of these associations and other organizations of the European Association EFFAS analysts have subjected themselves to a code of conduct which is intended to serve the establishment of ethical standards, and thus the protection of investors.

An analyst must have good " craft " skills, such as knowledge of the valuation methods, financial statement analysis and financial mathematics, for his recommendation should be based on a systematic analysis and on reasonable and consistently derived forecasts. In general, financial analysts therefore complete after graduating in business or economics a subject-specific additional training, such as the Certified European Financial Analyst ( CEFA), Certified International Investment Analyst ( CIIA ) or the Chartered Financial Analyst ( CFA). These programs teach skills in analysis and evaluation of equities, bonds and derivatives, portfolio management, financial statement analysis and capital market law and allow the analyst only to leverage financial analytical methods. The Europe established training programs teach financial analysts additionally relevant knowledge of international accounting as well as European and national capital market regulation, which is mandatory for operators within the EU.

Regulatory

The work of professional financial analysts is regulated in Germany by § 34b of the German Securities Trading Act ( WpHG). This requires the analyst basically to " skill, care and diligence ". It also relates to possible conflicts of interest between the financial analysis department and other departments (for example, investment banking ) of the same organization. Such conflicts are kept as low as possible and - are published together with the corresponding financial analysis - if inevitable.

This regulation is less strict than the corresponding U.S. laws that prescribe a strict separation (Chinese Wall ) between the different departments.