You’re a seasoned accountant looking to switch to finance. What’s the first skill you need to learn?

2 Why It Matters

As an accountant, you’re already familiar with financial statements and how they reflect the financial health and activities of a business. But in finance, you need to go beyond reporting the past and present numbers. You need to forecast the future outcomes and implications of various decisions and events. You need to create models that can test different assumptions and scenarios, such as growth rates, cash flows, valuation methods, and sensitivity analysis. You need to use your models to support your opinions and arguments, and to persuade others to take action.

3 How to Learn It

If you want to learn financial modeling, you have several options. You can enroll in online courses or programs that teach you the basics and best practices of financial modeling, such as how to structure, format, and audit your models, how to use common formulas and functions, and how to create different types of models, such as discounted cash flow, leveraged buyout, or merger and acquisition models. You can also find free resources and tutorials online that can help you learn the concepts and techniques of financial modeling. You can also practice your skills by building your own models using real-world data and cases, or by taking part in competitions or challenges that test your ability to create and present your models.

Financial modeling is not the only skill you need to switch from accounting to finance, but it’s a fundamental one that can give you a competitive edge and open up many opportunities. By learning financial modeling, you can demonstrate your analytical and problem-solving skills, your attention to detail and accuracy, and your understanding of financial concepts and markets. You can also showcase your creativity and flexibility, as you can adapt your models to different situations and objectives. Financial modeling is a skill that can help you make an impact in finance, and it’s one that you can start learning today.

4 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?