Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply certification or qualification, is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task. Not all certifications that use post-nominal letters are an acknowledgement of educational achievement, or an agency appointed to safeguard the public interest.
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United States, the CPA is a license to provide accounting services to the public. It is awarded by each of the 50 states for practice in that state. Additionally, all states except Hawaii have passed mobility laws to allow CPAs from other states to practice in their state. State licensing requirements vary, but the minimum standard requirements include passing the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination, 150 semester units of college education, and one year of accounting-related experience.
Certified Management Accountant (CMA) is a professional certification credential in the management accounting and financial management fields. The certification signifies that the person possesses knowledge in the areas of financial planning, analysis, control, decision support, and professional ethics. There are many professional bodies globally that have management accounting professional qualifications. The main bodies that offer the CMA certification are:
- Institute of Cost Accountants of India;
- Institute of Management Accountants USA;
- Institute of Certified Management Accountants (Australia);
- Certified Management Accountants of Canada.
A financial analyst is a professional undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job. The role may specifically be titled securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, investment analyst, or ratings analyst. The job title is a broad one: In banking, and industry more generally, various other analyst-roles cover financial management and (credit) risk management, as opposed to focusing on investments and valuation.
The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program is a postgraduate professional certification offered internationally by the US-based CFA Institute to investment and financial professionals. The program teaches a wide range of subjects relating to advanced investment analysis—including business analysis, statistics, probability theory, fixed income, derivatives, economics, financial analysis, corporate finance, alternative investments, portfolio management—and provides a generalist knowledge of other areas of finance.
Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) is a professional designation offered by the CAIA Association to investment professionals who complete a course of study and pass two examinations. The "alternative investments" industry is characterized as dealing with asset classes and investments other than standard equity or fixed income products. Alternative investments can include hedge funds, private equity, real assets, commodities, and structured products.
Financial modeling is the task of building an abstract representation of a real world financial situation. This is a mathematical model designed to represent the performance of a financial asset or portfolio of a business, project, or any other investment.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to finance:
A master's degree in quantitative finance is a postgraduate degree focused on the application of mathematical methods to the solution of problems in financial economics. There are several like-titled degrees which may further focus on financial engineering, computational finance, mathematical finance, and/or financial risk management.
Following is a partial list of professional certifications in financial services, with an overview of the educational and continuing requirements for each; see Professional certification § Accountancy, auditing and finance and Category:Professional certification in finance for all articles.
Credit analysis is the method by which one calculates the creditworthiness of a business or organization. In other words, It is the evaluation of the ability of a company to honor its financial obligations. The audited financial statements of a large company might be analyzed when it issues or has issued bonds. Or, a bank may analyze the financial statements of a small business before making or renewing a commercial loan. The term refers to either case, whether the business is large or small. A credit analyst is the finance professional undertaking this role.
TBS Education, formerly Toulouse Business School and Groupe ESC Toulouse, is a triple crown business school founded in 1903 by the Toulouse Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This highly selective grande école offers several types of training ranging from Bachelors and Masters in the field of management, including the most prestigious of them called the "Grande Ecole" Program (PGE), and a joint DBA with the University of Toulouse, Toulouse School of Management. It holds triple accreditation-EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA-and is a member of both the Federal University of Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées and the Conférence des grandes écoles (CGE). It offers business courses in English, French, and Spanish to over 7,000 students, many international, trained each year in its initial and continuing training programmes, and has business schools located in Toulouse, Paris, Barcelona, and Casablanca. Research is focused on emerging sectors; the school has developed two clusters: the first dedicated to Artificial Intelligence and data analysis, the second to aerospace mobility.
Forensic accountants are experienced auditors, accountants, and investigators of legal and financial documents that are hired to look into possible suspicions of fraudulent activity within a company; or are hired by a company who may just want to prevent fraudulent activities from occurring. They also provide services in areas such as accounting, antitrust, damages, analysis, valuation, and general consulting. Forensic accountants have also been used in divorces, bankruptcy, insurance claims, personal injury claims, fraudulent claims, construction, royalty audits, and tracking terrorism by investigating financial records. Many forensic accountants work closely with law enforcement personnel and lawyers during investigations and often appear as expert witnesses during trials.
The Master of Finance is a master's degree awarded by universities or graduate schools preparing students for careers in finance. The degree is often titled Master in Finance, or Master of Science in Finance. In the U.S. and Canada the program may be positioned as a professional degree. Particularly in Australia, the degree may be offered as a Master of Applied Finance (MAppFin). In some cases, the degree is offered as a Master of Management in Finance (MMF). More specifically focused and titled degrees are also offered.
Aventis Graduate School is an international graduate business school based in Singapore. It was founded in 2007.
Quantitative analysis is the use of mathematical and statistical methods in finance and investment management. Those working in the field are quantitative analysts (quants). Quants tend to specialize in specific areas which may include derivative structuring or pricing, risk management, investment management and other related finance occupations. The occupation is similar to those in industrial mathematics in other industries. The process usually consists of searching vast databases for patterns, such as correlations among liquid assets or price-movement patterns.
Moody's, previously known as Moody's Analytics, is a subsidiary of Moody's Corporation established in 2007 to focus on non-rating activities, separate from Moody's Investors Service. It provides economic research regarding risk, performance and financial modeling, as well as consulting, training and software services. Moody's is composed of divisions such as Moody's KMV, Moody's Economy.com, Moody's Wall Street Analytics, the Institute of Risk Standards and Qualifications, and Canadian Securities Institute Global Education Inc.
Corporate finance is the area of finance that deals with the sources of funding, and the capital structure of businesses, the actions that managers take to increase the value of the firm to the shareholders, and the tools and analysis used to allocate financial resources. The primary goal of corporate finance is to maximize or increase shareholder value.
Emirates Institute for Finance is an educational institute that was established in 1983 in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. The Institute has three campuses, at Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai.
The CBV Institute, formerly known as the Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators (CICBV), is a Canadian business valuation organization. The CBV Institute is a not-for-profit valuation professional organization that establishes the practice standards, educational requirements, and ethical guidelines for its members.
