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 3050 Financial Analyst (General) job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 106626 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 $88,658.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $88,732.

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 $78,558.

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	3.55%
Bachelor's Degree	80.94%
Master's Degree	23.77%
Doctoral Degree	1.89%
Other	4.86%

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	34.32%
3 to 5 years	52.13%
6 to 8 years	9.1%
9+ years	4.45%

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 (51.73%)
Forecasting (45.65%)
Microsoft Excel (43.96%)
Communication (43.81%)
Budgeting (38%)
Operations (29.99%)
Detail Oriented (28.85%)
Leadership (28.66%)
Planning (26.25%)
Problem Solving (25.78%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Financial Planning (19.74%)
Financial Analysis (71.28%)
Financial Data (14.96%)
Finance (78.16%)
Accounting (72.21%)
Financial Modeling (22.91%)
Financial Systems (11.07%)
Variance Analysis (13.33%)
Financial Statements (37.6%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Power BI (9.83%)
Reconciliation (8.83%)
Data Analysis (16.44%)
Investments (11.54%)
Economics (16.14%)
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (13.89%)
Process Improvement (14.99%)
Month-End Closing (11.68%)
Auditing (20%)
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (10.3%)
SAP Applications (12%)
Invoicing (9.18%)
Internal Controls (8.5%)
External Auditing (5.15%)
Project Management (13.39%)
Financial Management (11.84%)
SQL (Programming Language) (10.22%)
Financial Services (6.77%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

Consolidation (4.72%)
Ad Hoc Analysis (7.86%)
Decision Support Systems (4.18%)
Financial Accounting (4.17%)
Financial Forecasting (7.72%)
Accruals (5.39%)
Ad Hoc Reporting (7.98%)

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.

Ad Hoc Reporting (9.95%)
Ad Hoc Analysis (9.79%)
Accruals (6.72%)
Financial Forecasting (9.62%)
Decision Support Systems (5.21%)
Financial Systems (13.8%)
Financial Analysis (88.84%)
Financial Modeling (28.55%)

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 Reporting Analyst
Financial Systems Analyst
Financial Planning Analyst
Cost Analyst
Fiscal Analyst
Financial Management Analyst
Financial Data 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.

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 (1995)
Aston Carter (903)
Johnson & Johnson (886)
University of California (827)
Citigroup (826)
Ryder (747)
Lockheed Martin (628)
Randstad (608)
Smx Corporation Limited (565)
Deloitte (503)

North Carolina

Wells Fargo (108)
Robert Half (59)
Truist Financial (55)
Duke University (48)
USAA (38)
Lowe's (35)
Bank of America (33)
Vaco (33)
UNC Health (33)
Cisco (29)

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!

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.

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