Career Opportunities in Finance

By Dr Himanshu Joshi

[Sponsored]

Corporate finance jobs deal with evaluating the internal financial decisions of a corporate, which encompass strategizing about a company’s organic and inorganic growth opportunities, capital optimization, dividend and buyback decisions, etc.

Perceived as a back office record keeping work in the 1990s, professional engagement in finance has now transformed into one of the most challenging and rewarding career options. In fact, a high ranking finance job with a top-notch investment bank or management consulting firm is now one of the most sought after career options amongst management graduates from premier business schools worldwide.

Historically, finance functions in a corporation have primarily focused on cost control, operating budgets, and internal auditing, however in the age of incredible innovation and significant global impact, the world of finance presents new opportunities and challenges for corporate managers. Today, Investment Banking, Management Consulting, Investment Management, Corporate Finance, and Financial Risk Management attract the brightest minds from the business school ecosystem.

Investment banks recruit graduates from premier business schools, who can demonstrate proven skills in financial modeling and business valuation. Functions of investment banks have now become ubiquitous, ranging from fund raising in domestic and international capital markets to deal structuring for mergers and acquisitions. In fact, investment banks support a range of corporate decisions requiring strategic interventions. Management consulting firms recruit graduates for corporate strategy, demanding thorough knowledge in strategic management concepts, market opportunities, and financial analysis. Investment Management corporations, which include mutual fund houses, hedge funds, and private equity firms, often deal with secondary market trading of equity, debt, and derivative securities. They manage investment portfolios worth billions of dollar for high net worth individuals, pension & retirement plans for large corporates, and government & pooled public investments.

India has observed unprecedented growth in capital market investments via mutual funds and SIP routes. Corporate finance jobs deal with evaluating the internal financial decisions of a corporate, which encompass strategizing about a company’s organic and inorganic growth opportunities, capital optimization, and dividend and buyback decisions, in addition to day-to-day liquidity management. After the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09, Financial Risk Management is another area in finance which has emerged as the forefront of career opportunities for management graduates. Due to increased economic globalization and market integration, corporations nowadays are facing several systemic and idiosyncratic risks. These risks can arise on account of market forces like volatile interest rates, exchange rates, and commodity prices, or owing to involvement of counter parties in business transactions. Every corporation has limited capacity to bear risk. When they approach their potential risk-bearing capacity, one risk comes at the cost of another risk. Some of these risks are productive while others are unproductive. These risks can be hedgeable or un-hedgeable. A firm can create value by undertaking productive risks that are not hedgeable and also by hedging unproductive risks. Banking and financial institutions and their regulators, like SEBI and RBI, need to develop and implement robust risk management metrics to safeguard the interest of their shareholders and other stakeholders. Therefore, risk management has become one of the key career options for management graduates.

There are plenty of job opportunities in Credit Risk Management, Foreign Exchange Risk Management, and Operational Risk Management. Credit Rating agencies like Moody’s, S&P, Fitch, and CRISIL, insurance companies, and market regulators are the major recruiters in the arena of risk management.

Conventionally, in India, Chartered Accountancy profession has been in the forefront of career options in finance. However, over the years, PGDM with Finance specialization / MBA (Finance) from a premier business school has emerged as the preferred choice among the brightest career aspirants in finance. Globally, Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Financial Risk Manager (FRM) of Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) are two programmes that provide excellent structured coverage of a variety of courses pertaining to finance. However, these programmes lack classroom experience, exuberance of learning through real corporate case studies, and exposure to leading finance databases like Thomson Reuters / Bloomberg. The PGDM in Financial Management (PGDM-FM) programme at FORE School of Management brings together benefits of both the worlds: structured coverage of global finance programmes and the academic rigour of classroom teaching in a premier business school.

The PGDM-FM programme at the B-School provides excellent coverage of core finance courses including Financial Accounting, Corporate Finance, Management Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, and Spreadsheet Modeling for Finance. These courses set the ground for students to absorb advanced, practice oriented, and corporate ready courses like Equity Valuation and Portfolio Management, Fixed Income Securities and Structured Products, Investment Banking, Commercial Banking Practices and Treasury Management, Wealth Management and Alternative Investments, Multinational Finance and Risk Management, Financial Derivatives, Project Finance, Management of Financial Services, and Financial Econometrics.

FORE School of Management has dedicated multi user terminals of Thomson Reuters - Eikon database, CMIE Prowess database, and Euro-monitor to support data backed projects and research.

For the PGDM-FM programme, the B-School has also collaborated with a global leader in Finance and Risk Management education – Risk Management Institute (RMI) of National University of Singapore (NUS) – to offer ‘Specialist Diploma in Credit Risk Management’.

Apart from the excellent coverage of core and elective courses in finance, the PDGM-FM programme also provides a number of augmented core courses from auxiliary management disciplines like Human Resource Management, Marketing Management, Strategic Management, Information Technology, and Operations and Quantitative Techniques, which are considered essential for any corporate aspirant.

About the Author:

Dr. Himanshu Joshi is the Associate Professor (Finance) and Professor in Charge, International Relations, FORE School of Management