Financial Analyst Job Description (2026): Duties, Skills and Salary
A financial analyst helps a business plan and decide with numbers. In corporate roles, often called FP&A (financial planning and analysis), they build budgets and forecasts, explain variances against plan, model the financial effect of decisions such as pricing or hiring, and prepare reports for leadership.
Financial analysts live in Excel or Google Sheets, pull data from ERP and planning systems such as NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, Anaplan or Adaptive, and increasingly use BI tools. They work with budget owners across the company. Outside corporate finance, the same title covers investment analysis at banks, funds and research firms.
Financial Analyst job description template
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Financial Analyst
[Company] · [City and office days, or remote with the countries or time zones you hire in] · [Full-time]
About [Company]
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, who it serves and why this team matters now.]
About the role
We're hiring a financial analyst to join our FP&A team and support [business units]. You'll build forecasts and models, explain performance against plan, and give budget owners the numbers they need to make decisions.
What you'll do
- Build the annual budget and rolling forecasts for [business units].
- Compare monthly results with budget and forecast, and explain the variances.
- Build financial models for decisions on pricing, hiring plans and investments.
- Prepare management reports, board materials and KPI dashboards.
- Partner with budget owners to track spending and plan headcount.
- Improve forecasting and automate reporting in [planning or BI tool].
- Review month-end results with accounting.
What you'll bring
- [X]+ years in FP&A, corporate finance, banking or consulting.
- Advanced Excel: modeling, lookups, pivot tables and scenario analysis.
- A clear understanding of the three financial statements and how they connect.
- Experience with budgeting and forecasting cycles.
- The ability to explain financial results to managers outside finance.
- A degree in finance, accounting, economics or a related field.
Nice to have
- Progress toward the CFA, or a CPA, ACCA or CIMA qualification.
- [NetSuite, SAP, Anaplan, Adaptive or Pigment].
- SQL, Power BI or Tableau.
- Experience with [SaaS metrics / manufacturing / retail].
What we offer
- [Pay range: e.g. $X–$Y base salary, plus bonus or equity if offered]
- [Annual bonus, exam and certification support, study leave]
- [Health cover, retirement or pension plan, paid time off, parental leave]
- [Work authorization: whether you can sponsor a visa or hire through an employer of record]
[Our process: a recruiter call, an Excel modeling exercise, a case discussion on variance analysis, and meetings with the finance manager and a business partner.]
[Your equal opportunity statement, and how candidates can ask for adjustments during the process]
Put the pay range in the ad. Several US states, including California, Colorado, New York and Washington, require it in job postings, and the EU Pay Transparency Directive gives applicants the right to know the starting pay or its range before the interview.
What real financial analyst job ads ask for
The skills named most often in the 478 newest financial analyst job ads we analyzed (out of 1,400 live postings), as the share of ads that mention each. A skill most ads name is a fair must-have; one few ads name belongs under nice-to-have.
- 1Excel67%
- 2Forecasting65%
- 3Budgeting58%
- 4Financial modeling46%
- 5Process improvement29%
- 6Financial reporting24%
- 7Power BI24%
- 8ERP22%
Certifications mentioned most: CPA (20%), CFA (12%), ACCA (8%). Degrees mentioned most: Bachelor's degree (57%), MBA (17%).
From live job ads · computed November 2, 2026 · refreshed daily
Financial Analyst duties by seniority
What the job usually looks like at each level. Pitch the ad at one level and say which in the title.
Junior
- Updates models and reports, and reconciles the data behind them.
- Supports the budget and forecast cycles.
- Learns the business drivers behind the numbers.
Mid-level
- Owns forecasts and analysis for a business unit.
- Builds decision models and presents the results.
- Works with budget owners directly.
Senior
- Leads planning processes and the most complex models.
- Advises senior leaders on financial decisions.
- Mentors analysts and improves FP&A tools.
Financial Analyst career path
- Financial Analyst
- Senior Financial Analyst
- FP&A Manager
- Finance Director or CFO
Financial analysts usually start after a finance, accounting or economics degree, or move over from audit, banking or consulting. Later paths lead through FP&A management to finance director and CFO, or into strategic finance, investor relations, corporate development and business operations.
Advertised pay for financial analyst jobs
Median advertised base salary in Financial Analyst job ads in the United States: $119,800 (middle half: $97,500–$152,500), from 349 job ads with a published salary in the last 90 days.
This is advertised pay, not total compensation: bonuses, commission, equity and benefits aren't included, and many ads publish no pay at all.
- Financial Analyst salary in the United States · median $119,800, 349 ads
- Remote Financial Analyst salary · median $130,000, 122 ads
Similar roles
- Accountant job description
Records transactions and closes the books; analysts plan and forecast.
- Data Analyst job description
Analyzes business data of every kind, not only financial results.
- Business Analyst job description
Defines requirements and processes rather than financial plans.
- Operations Manager job description
Runs operations and works with finance on budgets and costs.
- Data Scientist job description
Builds statistical models that finance teams use for forecasting.
Financial Analyst job description FAQ
What does a financial analyst do?
Builds budgets, forecasts and financial models, analyzes results against plan, and prepares reports that help leaders decide on spending, pricing, hiring and investments.
What's the difference between a financial analyst and an accountant?
Accountants record what happened: transactions, reconciliations, the monthly close and the financial statements. Financial analysts look ahead: forecasting, budgeting and modeling decisions. They work closely, and some people move between the two.
Do financial analysts need a CFA?
Not for most corporate FP&A roles. The CFA is valued in investment analysis and asset management, while corporate roles weigh modeling skill and business understanding more. Listing it as a plus avoids shutting out strong candidates.