subject: Are You A Corporate Finance Professional Searching For A Job [print this page] Corporate finance is the area of finance dealing with monetary decisions that business enterprises make and the tools and analysis used to make these decisions. The primary goal of corporate finance is to maximize shareholder value. Although it is in principle different from managerial finance which studies the financial decisions of all firms, rather than corporations alone, the main concepts in the study of corporate finance are applicable to the financial problems of all kinds of firms. Corporate finance jobs require working in dedicated teams, focusing on specific transactions or market sectors. They also work alongside other related professionals such as lawyers and accountants. A typical corporate finance deal involves two stages:
? Origination: assessing a deal's desirability, which is sometimes an innovative idea from the bank rather than the client. Financial models are used to simulate possible outcomes (this requires a deep understanding of a sector).
? Execution: structuring and negotiating the detailed terms of a deal, often in liaison with other professionals.
Corporate finance jobs can be divided into long-term and short-term decisions and techniques. Capital investments decisions are long-term choices about which projects receive investment, whether to finance that investment with equity or debt, and when or whether to pay dividends to shareholders. On the other hand, short term decisions deal with the short-term balance of current assets and current liabilities; the focus here is on managing cash, inventories , and short-term borrowing and lending (such as the terms on credit extended to customers). The terms corporate finance and corporate financier may be associated with transactions in which capital is raised in order to create, develop, grow or acquire businesses. Although dealing with different, specific business areas, project teams liaise with one another during the two phases of a deal in order to obtain relevant specialist information and market intelligence. Typical activities of a corporate finance job on a day-to-day basis include:
? thoroughly researching market conditions and developments
? identifying new business opportunities
? carrying out financial modeling, then developing and presenting appropriate financial solutions to clients
? liaising with the chief executive and chief finance officers of large organizations
? Coordinating teams of professionals, including accountants, lawyers and PR consultants and working closely with them.
Corporate Finance jobs include creating sophisticated strategies for clients corporate finance needs and comprehensive financial solutions.
