Financial Analyst (General)
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Financial Analyst evaluates investment opportunities and makes recommendations to individuals and businesses. Analyzes the performance of different types of investments, studies business and economic trends and analyzes data to project company earnings
Job Outlook
There were 2934 Financial Analyst (General) job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 97380 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Financial Analyst industry, which includes the Financial Analyst (General) career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Financial Analyst (General) jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $88,453.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $88,087.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Financial Analyst (General) postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $76,544.
Education and Experience
Posted Financial Analyst (General) jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 81.32% |
| Master's Degree | 24.35% |
| Doctoral Degree | 1.88% |
| Other | 4.92% |
Posted Financial Analyst (General) jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 33.6% |
| 3 to 5 years | 52.2% |
| 6 to 8 years | 9.69% |
| 9+ years | 4.51% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Financial Analyst (General) positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Management (50.98%)
- Forecasting (45.48%)
- Communication (44.53%)
- Microsoft Excel (43.43%)
- Budgeting (38.25%)
- Detail Oriented (29.42%)
- Operations (29.26%)
- Leadership (28.01%)
- Problem Solving (25.95%)
- Planning (24.85%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Variance Analysis (13.5%)
- Accounting (70.42%)
- Accruals (5.49%)
- Financial Statements (37.91%)
- Finance (77.61%)
- Financial Systems (11.46%)
- Financial Planning (20.01%)
- Financial Analysis (70.59%)
- Financial Modeling (23.39%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Ad Hoc Reporting (7.8%)
- Profit And Loss (P&L) Management (7.77%)
- Account Reconciliation (3.44%)
- Month-End Closing (11.6%)
- Billing (7.62%)
- Auditing (18.95%)
- Accounts Payable (5.53%)
- Reconciliation (8.44%)
- Dashboard (7.87%)
- Balance Sheet (7.09%)
- Internal Controls (8.74%)
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (10.62%)
- Investments (10.49%)
- Corporate Finance (9.85%)
- Financial Data (16.14%)
- External Auditing (4.67%)
- Financial Services (6.48%)
- Economics (16.41%)
- Pivot Tables And Charts (7.57%)
- Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (13.44%)
- Data Analysis (16.82%)
- Invoicing (8.95%)
- General Ledger (6.85%)
- Project Management (13.13%)
- Process Improvement (15.44%)
- Financial Management (11.82%)
- SAP Applications (11.84%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (10.66%)
- Power BI (10.79%)
- Tableau (Business Intelligence Software) (8.22%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Cost Accounting (5.24%)
- Ad Hoc Analysis (7.23%)
- Financial Forecasting (7.67%)
- Decision Support Systems (4%)
- Oracle Essbase (3.47%)
- Financial Accounting (3.89%)
- Consolidation (4.36%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Variance Analysis (36.81%)
- Decision Support Systems (10.89%)
- Oracle Essbase (9.45%)
- Financial Modeling (63.77%)
- Consolidation (11.9%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Financial Analyst (General) skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Financial Analyst
- Financial Planning and Analysis Analyst
- Finance Analyst
- Financial Systems Analyst
- Financial Reporting Analyst
- Financial Planning Analyst
- Financial Management Analyst
- Lead Financial Analyst
- Fiscal Analyst
- Cost Analyst
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Financial Planning Manager
- Financial Manager (General)
- Controller (General)
- Accounting Analyst
- Financial Operations Specialist
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Financial Analyst (General) jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Robert Half (1579)
- Johnson & Johnson (960)
- Amazon (837)
- Aston Carter (742)
- University of California (694)
- CBRE (545)
- Lockheed Martin (520)
- Lumen Technologies (509)
- Lincoln Financial Group (496)
- Citigroup (453)
North Carolina
- Wells Fargo (103)
- Truist Financial (77)
- Duke University (60)
- Vaco (55)
- Robert Half (48)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (46)
- Bank of America (46)
- Insight Global (42)
- First Citizens Bank (38)
- USAA (33)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
- Accounting Master's Degrees
- Finance Graduate Certificates
- Management, Marketing Analytics Master's Degrees
- Management, Risk and Analytics Master's Degrees
- Operations Research Master's Degrees
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.