Course Overview

Making investments after reviewing all relevant information is a complex process and requires specific expertise to achieve successful results. Investment analysts are finance professionals with specific expertise in valuation and analysis of various financial instruments, risk assessments, investment documentation and processes and portfolio management.

Their responsibilities range across equity valuation and analysis, fixed income valuation and analysis, derivative valuation and analysis, corporate finance, financial investment management and investment portfolio management.

Given the wide range of responsibilities they handle, acquiring a certification in this domain increases its market value and enhances their professional portfolio for greater career opportunities.

This Zoe’s Certified Investment Analyst course will empower you with detailed knowledge and adequate exposure to all relevant, critical areas for specialisation as an investment analyst.

This Certified Investment Analyst course will not only provide you with the confidence to successfully handle multiple roles as an investment analyst but also place you ahead of others in view of receiving a formal education and training, at par with other related certifications in the market. This will afford you greater opportunities and rapid career progression.

Course Objectives

The key objective of this Certified Investment Analyst course is to empower professionals with—

• detailed knowledge and adequate exposure to all critical aspects of financial management, especially those important for investment analysts
• the necessary experience and confidence to handle any role and responsibility in any sphere as an investment analyst, thereby demonstrating one’s dynamism and inviting attractive growth opportunities across one’s organisation
• multitasking skills to simultaneously review and analyse several aspects important during investment analysis
• superior analytical skills to review and accurately analyse available financial information to draw accurate conclusions for one’s organisation and/or clients
• adequate confidence, knowledge and experience to train other professionals on aspects important for investment analysts
• enhanced foresight and perspective to accurately identify risks and take precautionary steps to prevent adverse effects
• the skill and knowledge to stay updated with changing market trends and ensuring that one’s organisational processes and policies are in line with these
• the ability to work with advanced technology to efficiently perform various analytical assignments to achieve accurate results
• the overall skill set and capabilities to work across any organisation in the industry and successfully fulfil the requirements of one’s role, thereby inviting further opportunities for one’s growth and progression across the industry

Training Methodology

Zoe Talent Solutions lays great focus on customising its course content to make it relevant to its training audience. Thus, before the commencement of each session, the course content is thoroughly reviewed to check for any changes as per the professional experience of its training audience.

Training is delivered through attractive, helpful audio-visual presentations by experienced professionals from the relevant domain. The trainer also encourages trainee participation through group activities and discussions, including role-plays, projects, debates, etc. Experiential learning is focused upon in this training format.

The above format of training was invented by Zoe Talent Solutions and is followed for all its courses. It is called the Do–Review–Learn–Apply Model.

Organisational Benefits

With professionals undergoing this Certified Investment Analyst training course, organisations will derive the following benefits:

• Trained and experienced professionals as investment analysts, working at par in skill and confidence as other certified professionals in the market
• Organisational credibility because of the team of highly experienced and trained professionals working within
• Successful risk prediction, assessment and mitigation because of complex problems solved by experts
• Organisational growth and development as a result of increased credibility and greater success rate
• Adherence to investment market standards and benchmarks, thus staying relevant and competitive in the industry
• Application of advanced systems and processes, mainly technology, for analyses, thus reducing the room for error
• Ability to compete globally and stay ahead of the competition because of a skilled team of analysts
• Organisational branding through a skilled team of trained professionals working at par with other certified analysts in the market
• Regular training of other employees on complex and critical aspects of investment analysis, making them trained professionals too

Personal Benefits

Professionals opting for this Certified Investment Analyst training course will benefit in the following ways:

• Complete understanding and detailed information about all areas important to become a successful investment analyst
• Increased flexibility and confidence to work in any sphere of one’s role and successfully carry out the responsibilities, in turn demonstrating one’s potential to assume higher roles and responsibilities fostering career progression
• Greater multitasking skills to handle several responsibilities, placing one ahead of colleagues and affording faster progression across the organisation
• Supreme analytical skills to closely review available financial information and draw accurate conclusions to safeguard interests of investors
• Greater confidence and experience to train other professionals on becoming successful investment analysts
• Better foresight and perspective to closely analyse data and appropriately predict risks that could harm investors and set up systems to prevent the impact of these on the business
• Increased knowledge and confidence to stay updated with market trends and requirements in order to stay relevant and ahead of the competition in the market, aiding faster career growth
• Increased ability and confidence to work with advanced technology to conduct analyses as required in one’s role
• Enhanced skill set and capabilities to work across any organisation in the industry, broadening one’s scope of receiving exciting opportunities for growth and progression

Who Should Attend?

• Executives working in financial institutions and performing analyses for clients before investment decisions
• Managers overseeing functions concerning the financial analysis
• Members of the senior management of organisations who need to understand investment analysis and the need for continuous training of their professionals
• Legal and financial advisors playing their respective roles in investment analysis and investment management
• Potential investors who need to understand various aspects of investment analyses conducted by their investment analysts
• Any professional aspiring to build a career in investment analysis, with formal certification and education to support
• Any other professional interested in knowing more about the roles and responsibilities of investment analysts

Course Outline

The Certified Investment Analyst course covers the following topics necessary for investment analysts:

Module 1 – Types of Financial Statements

• Balance sheet
• Income statement
• Cash flow statement
• Free cash flow and other valuation statements

Module 2 – Parameters Assessed through Financial Analysis

• Profitability
• Solvency
• Liquidity
• Stability

Module 3 – Methods of Financial Analysis

• Horizontal analysis
• Trend analysis
• Vertical analysis
• Ratio analysis
• Fund flow analysis
• Cash flow analysis

Module 4 – Types of Corporate Finance Tasks

• Capital investments
• Capital financing
• Short-term liquidity

Module 5 – Three Equity Valuation Models

• Present value models
• Multiplier models
• Asset-based valuation models

Module 6 – Process of Conducting Equity Valuation

• Understand macroeconomic factors and the industry
• Make reasonable forecasts of company performance
• Select the appropriate valuation models
• Arrive at a valuation figure based on forecasts
• Take action based on arrived valuation

Module 7 – Approaches for Analysing Fixed Income Products

• Fundamental approach
• Technical approach
• Relative value approach

Module 8 – Variables and their Impact on Derivative Valuation

• Stock price
• Interest rate
• Foreign exchange rate
• Commodity prices
• Others

Module 9 – Types of Portfolio Management

• Discretionary
• Non-discretionary
• Passive
• Active

Module 10 – Common Risks Faced by Firms

• Project-specific risks
• Competitive risks
• Industry-specific risks
• International risks
• Market risks