What are some of the tasks that financial analyst must do wh

What are some of the tasks that financial analyst must do when working for a company that provides educational services ?

(Please be detailed as possible.)

Solution

The financial analyst is required to perform forecasting and reporting roles in an organisation. With reference to an education company analyst would be required to forecast the financial performance of the company in the coming period and analyse the data to ascertain the profitability of the business. The analyst would be required to analyse the past results and see the variance of the actual performance from the planned performance. He is required to work with the accounting team to ensure that the financial reporting is accurate. The analyst must analyse the Trends and recommend actions such as expansion of the educational services or withdrawal of the same from certain areas based upon the performance and variance.

An analyst would be required to conduct market research so as to compare the performance of the company with its competitors. Specifically the analyst must study the student faculty ratio and compare the same with the competitors. The yield on endowments is another ratio that should be studied and it should be seen whether there is an improvement in this ratio. Moreover the financial analyst must study the revenue structure, expense structure and the difference between fund revenues and fund expenditures. The ratio of full time equivalent students to full time equivalent faculty is another important indicator of the performance of a company in the education sector. Moreover the analyst must prepare and assist the capital budgeting decisions by using various techniques to forecast whether the budgeted expansion will be profitable or not.