How will generative AI impact financial analysis and your profession?
Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2024 10:10 am
Over time, as people become more comfortable working with data, it becomes increasingly important to understand business concepts. Analysts often get lost in the details and lose strategic perspective.
What is the role of storytelling in financial analysis?
For any professional who has to communicate with superiors, storytelling is important. When management and other stakeholders are data-driven in their decision-making, it’s easier. But not everyone is like that. The analyst’s job is to present the analysis or recommendation in a way that appeals to them.
Too often, financial analysts are too attached to their data to understand it, and they don’t realize their full potential because they can’t tailor the information to the recipient.
In today’s day and age, everything is a talent. Someone is exceptionally good at Excel list of georgia cell phone numbers Python, math, creative thinking, etc. Others are good at storytelling. But there are techniques that you can learn and apply to build your storytelling strategy.
This topic has fascinated me for a while now, even before generative AI became popular with the general public. It’s a fascinating world that is evolving at an incredible speed. Even ChatGPT has improved significantly in recent weeks in terms of understanding and tackling data-driven problems.
AI has the potential to transform the field of financial analysis – but I don’t think it will ever replace the human eye. At least not in the near future.
It can immediately help automate routine tasks and extend the analyst’s skills beyond their current scope, for example by providing insights. It can also serve as a consulting tool, which will allow you to verify your processes and formulas.
One aspect that can truly revolutionize is problem solving. When you get stuck on an Excel formula, a VBA macro, or a SQL query, finding the answer on Google is possible – that’s what I was taught. But finding the answer through ChatGPT is much faster and the accuracy is much higher.
Are there skills that will remain useful regardless of the evolution of AI?
Critical thinking, strategic insight, communication, interpersonal skills, decision-making. I can ask ChatGPT to help me understand my income statement or balance sheet, or to help me find the next VLOOKUP formula in Excel. But what I decide to do with it is up to me.
The CEO and CFO won’t be logging into my ChatGPT account to get answers from there. I still have to craft a story and present it in a way that grabs their attention. And there’s no substituting that skill.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in finance?
What applies to any career, but especially for someone working with data, is constant learning. When I was first starting out, I spent hours learning and playing with Excel, Tableau, and SQL.
Even now I can take apart an Excel file created by one of my team members because I went through the learning process myself. This is crucial, especially at the beginning of your career. It becomes harder to keep up as you progress. So it's better to do it at the beginning.
If you’re going to go beyond finance, look elsewhere for experience. One of the things I love about Amazon is the ability to move horizontally within the company. Not everyone will have that opportunity, and not every company is the same.
But if you can find a way to dive into something completely different, like marketing, sales, or account management, do it. That will give you an advantage over others who are just focused on their area. I got there the hard way. I spent years in finance, as a product manager, and as a business leader. If you don't have that opportunity, create it for yourself.
What is the role of storytelling in financial analysis?
For any professional who has to communicate with superiors, storytelling is important. When management and other stakeholders are data-driven in their decision-making, it’s easier. But not everyone is like that. The analyst’s job is to present the analysis or recommendation in a way that appeals to them.
Too often, financial analysts are too attached to their data to understand it, and they don’t realize their full potential because they can’t tailor the information to the recipient.
In today’s day and age, everything is a talent. Someone is exceptionally good at Excel list of georgia cell phone numbers Python, math, creative thinking, etc. Others are good at storytelling. But there are techniques that you can learn and apply to build your storytelling strategy.
This topic has fascinated me for a while now, even before generative AI became popular with the general public. It’s a fascinating world that is evolving at an incredible speed. Even ChatGPT has improved significantly in recent weeks in terms of understanding and tackling data-driven problems.
AI has the potential to transform the field of financial analysis – but I don’t think it will ever replace the human eye. At least not in the near future.
It can immediately help automate routine tasks and extend the analyst’s skills beyond their current scope, for example by providing insights. It can also serve as a consulting tool, which will allow you to verify your processes and formulas.
One aspect that can truly revolutionize is problem solving. When you get stuck on an Excel formula, a VBA macro, or a SQL query, finding the answer on Google is possible – that’s what I was taught. But finding the answer through ChatGPT is much faster and the accuracy is much higher.
Are there skills that will remain useful regardless of the evolution of AI?
Critical thinking, strategic insight, communication, interpersonal skills, decision-making. I can ask ChatGPT to help me understand my income statement or balance sheet, or to help me find the next VLOOKUP formula in Excel. But what I decide to do with it is up to me.
The CEO and CFO won’t be logging into my ChatGPT account to get answers from there. I still have to craft a story and present it in a way that grabs their attention. And there’s no substituting that skill.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in finance?
What applies to any career, but especially for someone working with data, is constant learning. When I was first starting out, I spent hours learning and playing with Excel, Tableau, and SQL.
Even now I can take apart an Excel file created by one of my team members because I went through the learning process myself. This is crucial, especially at the beginning of your career. It becomes harder to keep up as you progress. So it's better to do it at the beginning.
If you’re going to go beyond finance, look elsewhere for experience. One of the things I love about Amazon is the ability to move horizontally within the company. Not everyone will have that opportunity, and not every company is the same.
But if you can find a way to dive into something completely different, like marketing, sales, or account management, do it. That will give you an advantage over others who are just focused on their area. I got there the hard way. I spent years in finance, as a product manager, and as a business leader. If you don't have that opportunity, create it for yourself.