For someone who loves numbers. In the corporate finance world, money and problem-solving are where you combine your love of both.
The best part about choosing a career in corporate finance is that you will always be needed. You will always be a necessity. Why? Because a company needs money to survive and thrive. It will be your job to look after every aspect of those finances and funding. Without you, a company won’t make it. Not for long, anyway.
What Is Corporate Finance?
Corporate finance refers to the financial resources of a given company. As a corporate financier, it is your job to ensure the company’s finances are optimized to the best of its ability. For example, when a project needs to be done, one of your responsibilities will be to arrange for the project’s funding at the lowest possible cost.
Your primary responsibility is to maintain the company’s capital structure. The corporate-financier has a lot of responsibility and accountability resting on their shoulders. This is because they hold a crucial role in determining the expansion and growth of the company’s business.
Other responsibilities include managing financial resources, acquisitions, and planning the company’s financial roadmap. You will deal with all sorts of individuals in this line of work. This includes finance providers, lawyers, researchers, and other key professionals crucial to the company.
If you are thinking of pursuing a career in corporate finance, there are many contract finance jobs available. They will help you gain experience while navigating the finance career path.
Here are some possible pathways you can consider:
Financial Analyst
A financial analyst will handle the business’s financial aspects, such as annual budget revenue estimation. A financial analyst is also responsible for monitoring the company’s finances, so it doesn’t deviate too much from the budget.
Other responsibilities include assessing capital proposals. The financial analyst must carefully weigh each financial option to ensure they make the best decision for the company.
Investor Relations Officer
If you love forging strong relationships, you will love your job as an Investor Relations Officer. Here, you will maintain excellent relationships with all the company’s investors, top executives, and other key individuals in the business.
Treasurer
As a treasurer, you will be responsible for supervising the treasury department. Your responsibilities include financing, cash management, risk management, and pension management. A treasurer essentially has an all-encompassing role within the company.
Benefits Officer
A benefits officer is a person who does a little bit of finance and a few human resources. As the benefits officer, you will cost-effectively manage the health care benefits, plans, and pension funds. However, they should also be for the benefit of the employee.
Controller
A controller has a managerial role within the company. The controller manages the business’s financial planning, accounting, cost analysis, and reporting. To be in this role, you must have a sound financial background and the ability to develop forecasting models. This will play a crucial role in helping you project costs and revenue.
As a controller, your work scope will involve dealing with revenue, derivatives, property, benefits, and joint venture accounting. When the company needs someone to handle a complex costing issue, it is the controller that they will call upon.
Cost Analyst
A cost analyst is responsible for making decisions about the company’s cost. This includes the costs of products or services. The cost analyst would also need to determine which aspects of the company could benefit from cost reduction where products and services are concerned.
Credit Manager
As a credit manager, your role is to manage all the credit decisions of the business. You will need to carefully scrutinize the credit guidelines, collection of receivables, supplier credit, rates, and more. You need an analytical mind to do this job well because the company’s finances are in your hands.
You will also need a strong understanding of your customers and their profile. This is crucial, or you might have trouble making the strong decisions that you need to.
Cash Manager
A company has short-term and long-term cash requirements. To handle those requirements, they need a cash manager to deal with them. Companies must keep a good and healthy relationship with the banks to safeguard their interests. The cash manager is responsible for maintaining that relationship, bearing in mind that the company always needs adequate working capital. Keeping on good terms with the banks is how the cash manager does that.
The cash manager is also responsible for investing any company’s surplus cash. Investments should be in areas that can bring significant interest to the company. International fund transfers are also something the cash manager will be responsible for. It is a meticulous job, but it is also exciting, for which you will need excellent negotiation skills to help you succeed.
