The Role of a Financial Analyst
JR Ahn serves as the executive in residence (EIR) at Sutter Hill Ventures in Palo Alto, California. The venture capital firm invests in technology industry innovators. Before he became an EIR, JR Ahn worked as a financial analyst at Smith Barney, Inc. during the early part of his professional career.
Fundamentally, the role of a financial analyst at an investment bank is to leverage economic, market, competitive, financial and company-specific information to conduct and perform financial analyses for a specific industry and/or an identified target company (either publicly-traded or privately-held). The financial analyst utilizes various financial tools, such as a market-based or an income-based approach to determine the fair value of a given business enterprise. The information derived from the work performed may be presented to a client or included in a research report.
Beyond an investment banking firm, financial analysts, as an overall category, can be found in every type of company, and organizations within a business (Finance, Operations, Accounting, Sales, Marketing, etc.).
