Just because big financial institutions have money doesn’t mean they’ll lend them to anybody without checking whether he, she, or the other institution has the capacity or credit worthiness to pay it back, with interest. Enter credit analyst, whose job is do the very same: examining the financial statements of the person, company, or business through various techniques to determine the amount of risk involved, that the party can be trusted with the money or not, and whether the statements indicate a positive credit worthiness or the ability to pay back the borrowed sum with interest. Also, by going through the large amount of financial information on a daily basis, credit analysts have to provide proper risk assessment strategies to the numerous credit proposals made by the company he/she works for. The further part will let you know about the eligibility requirements to be a credit analyst, courses though which you can enter in the field, the skills required that will help you be there for good, the roles and responsibilities you will have to handle, and the prospects in the field.
Becoming A Credit Analyst
Eligibility
The minimum qualification required for you to enter the field is at least graduation with specialization in finance or business administration. However, a Master’s degree in business administration with specialization in finance will greatly increase your chances of making it into a big firm. You may need to start at the first step as many big companies require services of experienced credit analysts.
Courses Required
You can choose to be a credit analyst through many paths. At the very least, getting graduated in business management or commerce field can land you in an entry level job in the credit industry. Once that is done, you can steadily make your way up through the ladder. However, many companies demand for Master’s degree in business administration as a requirement; reasons being that the candidate must possess an in-depth knowledge of the concepts that he/she will have to practically apply for in the job. The MBA degree also provides for greater industry exposure as compared to Bachelor’s degree program. There are also many certificate and diploma level programs in credit analysis available in the global market that you can add to your resume and get yourself a job as a credit analyst.
Skills Required
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To be able to stay as a credit analyst with growth prospects, one needs to have strong analytical skills of going through the financial records with ease and depict the financial position for what it is, with no errors.
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A credit analyst needs to have strong communication skills, both oral and written to be able to explain to the debtor and the management, why the request for loan has been denied.
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Knowledge in computerized accounting will definitely come in handy as a lot of accounting work takes place on computers. It’s time saving too.
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A credit analyst needs to keep himself/herself updated on the emerging trends in order to come up with the best possible solution.
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A thorough know-how of operation of MS Office is a must.
Roles And Responsibilities
The key responsibility of a credit analyst is to go through the financial statements at hand, by maintaining a fine balance, without taking too much time and without skipping through the information that may negatively cost the company he/she works for, and determining the credit worthiness and risk involved in granting or extending the loan to a particular party. They also need to provide risk assessment of various loan proposals made to the company by analyzing the large amount of financial information on a daily basis and documenting the whole thing, in a neat, precise, and understandable way, without leaving out any important piece of information. Not only that, a credit analyst also needs to guide the company in terms of investment decisions, as to where is it safe to invest the money and where it’s not. He/she also needs to work in collaboration with other departments of the company, demonstrating good people skills, to keep a track of everything so that at the time evaluation he/she has got every bit of information in place.
Career Prospects
With global investment decisions being made by companies and institutions around the world, it’s only believable that career as a credit analyst will definitely part take in the fruits of it. With diverse options to be a credit analyst in banking sector, credit rating agencies, private companies, or institutions; the growth prospects one will only improve from here. With multiple facets related to the job, one can expect definite promotion within the company and even a change of post to CFO or CEO won’t be all that surprising.
It’ll only be a wise decision if you can put your accounting principles to work, and the ability to work your way out of the rather ominous looking financial records with ease by becoming a credit analyst.
