Financial Analyst
Financial analysts build the forecasts and models a business uses to decide where its money goes.
- Median salary*
- $109,200
4.1%vs last year, before tax
- People employed
- 128,400
1.3%vs last year
- Projected growth*
- +12.4%
to 2035
- AI exposure*
- Moderate
- 6 out of 10
- Average hours*
- 42/wk
+2h vs all jobs
- Shortage status
- Not in shortage
national
- You'll find these analysts in banks, insurers, manufacturers, government agencies and the finance teams of large companies.
- People mix the role up with management accounting, but a management accountant records what has already happened while you work on what comes next.
- Most employers ask for a bachelor degree in accounting, finance, economics or commerce, and the investment research route often wants a CFA or postgraduate study.
How much do financial analysts earn?
The median full-time salary for a financial analyst is $109,200 per annum, before tax, up $22,900 since 2018.
Investment banks, funds managers and insurers pay above the median for this work, while government, education and not-for-profit finance teams usually sit below it. In banking and funds management a meaningful share of your pay can arrive as a bonus, so find out how the bonus is calculated, what the team was paid last year and whether any of it is guaranteed. Long hours around month end and budget are built into the salary in most corporate roles, so check whether overtime or time off in lieu is on offer.
What does a financial analyst do day to day?
The list below is what fills most weeks; the exact mix shifts with seniority and whatever stage the current work is at.
- Pulling and reconciling numbers from finance systems to build the models the business actually decides on
- Chasing down why a business unit missed or beat budget, and explaining the drivers in plain terms
- Stress-testing pricing and investment cases before they go to a decision-maker
- Building the packs and slides that go in front of management and the board
- Fielding last-minute questions from business units during planning and reporting cycles
What skills do financial analysts need?
Employers look for financial analysis and modelling, budgeting and forecasting, data analysis, backed by Excel fluency and strong presenting and data storytelling.
Specialist skills
- Financial analysis and modelling
- Budgeting and forecasting
- Data analysis
Software and tools
- Excel
- Power BI
- SQL
- Anaplan
General skills
- Presenting and data storytelling
- Problem solving
- Stakeholder management
Is the job growing?
About 128,400 people work as financial analysts in Australia, and employment is projected to grow 12.4% over the decade to 2035. That's healthy, above-average growth, and the role should stay in solid demand.
How do you become a financial analyst?
Here's the path most financial analysts take, step by step.
- 1Start with a bachelor degree
Accounting, finance, economics and commerce are the common choices, and a three-year degree is enough for most graduate roles. A double degree that includes data or law helps if you want investment-side work.
- 2Get a paid vacation program or internship
Banks, insurers and large corporates recruit in the second-last year of study, and most graduate offers go to people who have already spent a summer with the firm.
- 3Take a graduate or analyst role and pick a direction
Corporate finance teams build budgets and management reporting, while investment research and funds management focus on valuations and markets. The first two years usually tell you which one fits.
- 4Add a professional qualification
Chartered Accountants ANZ, CPA Australia and the CFA program are the main options, and employers commonly cover fees and give study leave while you work.
Study routes we have checked
Qualifications that are a recognised way into this role, and what else you need.
- Bachelor of Accounting
A recognised route into this role
Complete the accounting major and relevant professional subjects. Professional designations, statutory audit sign-off and tax-agent registration have further requirements; this route does not confer them.
- Bachelor of Accounting and Finance
A recognised route into this role
Complete the accounting major and relevant professional subjects. Professional designations, statutory audit sign-off and tax-agent registration have further requirements; this route does not confer them.
- Bachelor of Accounting/Bachelor of Business
A recognised route into this role
Complete the accounting major and relevant professional subjects. Professional designations, statutory audit sign-off and tax-agent registration have further requirements; this route does not confer them.
- Bachelor of Accounting/Bachelor of Laws
A recognised route into this role
Complete the accounting major and relevant professional subjects. Professional designations, statutory audit sign-off and tax-agent registration have further requirements; this route does not confer them.
- Bachelor of Business (Accounting)
A recognised route into this role
Complete the accounting major and relevant professional subjects. Professional designations, statutory audit sign-off and tax-agent registration have further requirements; this route does not confer them.
- Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting)
A recognised route into this role
Complete the accounting major and relevant professional subjects. Professional designations, statutory audit sign-off and tax-agent registration have further requirements; this route does not confer them.
- Bachelor of Professional Accounting
A recognised route into this role
Complete the accounting major and relevant professional subjects. Professional designations, statutory audit sign-off and tax-agent registration have further requirements; this route does not confer them.
- Master of Applied Finance
A recognised route into this role
Complete the core finance and modelling subjects. Employers assess analytical skills, and professional designations have further requirements this route does not confer.
- Master of Finance
A recognised route into this role
A recognised route into financial analysis; employers often also look for modelling skills and relevant experience.
- Graduate Certificate in Finance
A step towards this role
Build on the certificate with further finance study or relevant experience. Employers assess analytical and modelling skills, and professional designations have their own requirements.
Ready to apply as a financial analyst?
Whether you're working toward becoming a financial analyst or already are one and want a hand with the next step (sharpening your resume for ATS screening, tightening your cover letter, or knowing what you'll actually be asked at interview), here are examples grounded in this specific role, not generic templates.
What jobs can a financial analyst move to?
Moving into Private Equity Associate typically comes with the biggest pay rise, worth $39,000 a year more on average.
- Private Equity AssociateSuggested move$148,200+$39,000
- Cost ControllerSuggested move$110,000+$800
- Management AccountantSuggested move$104,200−$5,000
- Revenue ManagerSuggested move$79,000−$30,200
Thick lines are moves people were recorded making in Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility (income tax records, 2011-12 to 2020-21). Thin lines are moves we suggest from skill overlap and entry requirements.
| Move to | Typical pay change | Overlap | Retraining |
|---|---|---|---|
Private Equity Associate Financial analysts bring valuation, modelling and reporting skills to private equity, though deal execution experience and a short course are needed. | +$39,000 | 47% | short course |
Cost Controller Financial analysts bring budgeting, forecasting and variance analysis to cost control, with a short course covering project cost systems. | +$800 | 53% | short course |
Management Accountant Financial analysts bring budgeting, forecasting and variance analysis into management accounting, and both roles share the same accounting degree base. | −$5,000 | 73% | minimal |
Revenue Manager Financial analysts bring forecasting, pricing and performance analysis to revenue management, so the move needs little retraining beyond industry context. | −$30,200 | 69% | minimal |
Pricing Analyst Financial analysts already model costs, margins and demand, so pricing analysis is a close step with a short course in pricing methods. | −$30,200 | 58% | short course |
Moves are chosen from Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility, which follows income tax records between 2011-12 and 2020-21, together with entry requirements and skill overlap. A known move is one people were seen making in that data. Pay change compares median full-time pay for the two roles.
Who works as a financial analyst?
The typical financial analyst is 40 years old; 54% are women, 78% work full-time, and full-timers average 42 hours a week.
- 40
- Median age
- 54%
- Female share
- 78%
- Full-time
- +2h
- vs all-jobs avg
What's it like being a financial analyst?
Some weeks are quiet, with long stretches of modelling at your desk, and others fill up with meetings when a forecast or board pack is due. You'll spend more time explaining figures to people outside finance than producing them, and budget season stacks fresh deadlines on top of the monthly reporting cycle. If turning a messy set of numbers into a story someone can act on appeals to you, the variety holds up well. If defending your assumptions in front of a room sounds uncomfortable, the review meetings will be the part you dread.
What people like
- You see what your numbers decide. A model usually sits next to a live choice, whether that is a price change, a new site or a hire, and you often hear how it turned out within weeks.
- The technical skills compound. Excel, SQL, Power BI and planning platforms such as Anaplan reward practice, and each one you pick up opens roles that ask for it by name.
- The role opens several doors. Management accounting, pricing and private equity all draw on the same modelling and forecasting base, so you have time to work out which one fits.
- Standard weeks in most corporate teams. Outside budget and year end, many analysts in corporate finance work close to ordinary hours, which is less common in investment banking.
What people find hard
- Month end and budget season collide. The monthly close and the annual plan often land in the same fortnight, and late nights come with them.
- Your assumptions get challenged in public. Managers who wanted a different answer will push back on your forecast in the room, and you need evidence ready to defend it.
- Some of the work repeats every cycle. A monthly pack can be the same report with new figures, and rebuilding it sits in the job description of most analyst teams.
- Chasing data across systems. Reconciling odd entries between an ERP, a spreadsheet and a planning tool can take longer than the analysis you were hired to do.
Based on our synthesis of professional-body surveys and public accounts of the role, not first-person verified reviews.
Which industries employ financial analysts?
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services employs the largest share of financial analysts, followed by Financial and Insurance Services.
Top employing industries
- 1Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
- 2Financial and Insurance Services
- 3Manufacturing
- 4Public Administration and Safety
- 5Health Care and Social Assistance
Ranked by employment share; the source doesn't publish an exact percentage per industry.
| Bachelor degree | 52% | |
|---|---|---|
| Postgraduate | 26% | |
| Diploma / Advanced Diploma | 13% | |
| Other | 9% |
Will AI replace financial analysts?
Moderate exposure. Not replaced, but changed. AI is taking on some tasks and the rest of the job shifts around them.
Financial analysis is moderately exposed to AI: gathering data, cleaning it and drafting the first version of monthly commentary are increasingly handled by tools built into Excel, Power BI and planning platforms such as Anaplan. Deciding which assumptions drive a forecast, and explaining why they changed, is still the analyst's call, and arguments about the result still happen in a meeting. New analysts get further by learning to query data in SQL and to pull apart a forecast somebody else has built, since checking models is becoming as common as writing them.
How a typical week splits
- Pulling and cleaning data from finance systems30% of the week
Extraction and reconciliation are largely automated now, and planning tools can load the same numbers without anyone rebuilding a spreadsheet by hand.
- Variance analysis and monthly commentary25% of the week
Software drafts the standard explanation for a missed budget, but you still have to work out whether that reason actually holds up.
- Building and maintaining forecast models25% of the week
Excel and Anaplan speed up the mechanics, while the choice of drivers, scenarios and assumptions stays with the analyst.
- Presenting to managers and the board20% of the week
Explaining a forecast to someone who disagrees, and answering questions on the spot, is still a room you have to be in.
How we work this out
We break each job into its main tasks, estimate the share of a typical week each one takes, and judge how far current AI and automation tools reach into it. The score out of 10 starts from the job's overall rating (low is 1 to 3, moderate 4 to 6, high 7 to 10) and the task split places it within that range. Source: Career Tips analysis of each role's main tasks.
Common questions about becoming a financial analyst
Straight answers to the questions people ask most.
How much do financial analysts earn?
The median for full-time financial analysts is $109,200 per year before tax, and bonuses can add a substantial amount on top in banking and funds management. Bonuses vary by firm and by year, so find out what the team was actually paid last time rather than relying on a headline range.
How do you become a financial analyst?
Most financial analysts hold a bachelor degree in accounting, finance, economics or commerce, and many enter through a paid vacation program in their second-last year of study. If you already work in accounts, the move across is realistic once you can build a forecast and explain the drivers behind it.
Are financial analysts in demand?
Financial analysts are currently not in shortage, and employment is projected to grow 12.4% over the decade to 2035. Openings also come from people leaving the occupation, so check the graduate intakes at the large employers in your city and apply a year ahead.
How many hours do financial analysts work?
Full-time financial analysts average around 42 hours a week, with the extra time landing at month end, year end and budget season. Ask how the team handles those peaks, and whether anyone gets flexible hours back the following week.
Will AI replace financial analysts?
Producing the first draft of a report is the most exposed area: pulling data, cleaning it and writing initial variance commentary can now be automated. The judgement about which assumptions matter, and the conversation with the manager who disagrees with them, still needs you, so learn to interrogate a model as well as build one.
What can financial analysts move into?
Management accountants do the same budgeting and variance work on the same accounting degree base, so the step across is short, though pay there is $5,000 less. Pricing analysis draws on the same cost and margin modelling and needs a short course in pricing methods, while private equity suits analysts with valuation and deal exposure, where pay is $39,000 more.
Related roles
- Management Accountant
- Revenue Manager
- Pricing Analyst
- Cost Controller
- Private Equity Associate
- Paraplanner
Not sure this is you? Take the career quiz and get a ranked shortlist of roles that fit how you like to work.
Career advice
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