Fancy a career in corporate finance?
As part of our series on different career paths within accountancy we turn to a popular route for those wanting to work in the city: corporate finance.
What is corporate finance?
Corporate finance is the way the companies finance themselves. This includes finding initial start-up capital to financing organic growth or the acquisition of other businesses.
Corporate finance also covers capital structuring (i.e. the balance and forms of equity and debt that a company is finance by) as well as playing a key role in the investment appraisal process.
Generally corporate finance is concerned with maximising shareholder value through both short and long term financial planning and strategies. This helps ensure that existing shareholders remain confident in the entity whilst attracting potential new investors.
What type of work does this involve?
Corporate finance work focuses heavily on understanding the structure and availability of finance to enable a company to run effectively and make informed decisions regarding potential investment opportunities.
Work that you might carry out may include:
Preparing financial projections
Drafting proposals and tender documents
Investment appraisal (e.g. NVP calculations)
Securing finance (e.g. loans from a bank or raising equity from share issue)
Coordinating large teams of professionals, communicating with lenders, lawyers and senior leadership
Strategic business planning
Why work in corporate finance?
A career in corporate finance offers accountants the chance to be at the epi-centre of large business operations. Your role allows you to actively contribute to the commercial success of a business, helping it to secure the right finance options at the right time.
Working in corporate finance also creates great opportunities for a move between working in practice and industry. Not only will you develop your technical accounting skills, you will get the chance to develop your soft skills as you will be working directly with senior team members a lot of the time.
Would corporate finance suit me?
Corporate finance roles would suit an individual that:
Has a strong interest in the market and great commercial awareness
Is a team player
Has strong numerical and analytical skills
Has great interpersonal and communication skills
Has excellent negotiation skills