What is Finance?
Financial Risk management is the process of understanding and managing the financial risks that your business might be facing either now or in the future.
Financial Risk Management is not about eliminating risks, but rather about understanding what risks you’re willing to take, what risks you’d rather avoid, and how you’re going to develop a strategy.
What 3rd level courses are available?
Universities and colleges in Ireland are offering courses in Financial Risk Management in the following subject areas:
- Economics & Financial Risk Analysis – This course provides advanced training in economic and financial risk analysis and the opportunity for a work placement in this area.
- Finance, Banking, and Risk Management – This course covers the essentials of Risk Management, Strategic Thinking, and Strategic Planning.
- Diploma in Investment and Finance Management – A study of all the aspects of investment and finance management and the relationship between the two.
- MSc in Finance – The MSc in Finance is a one-year Master’s programme providing a leading European finance education.
- Online Diploma in Fundamentals of Accounting & Finance – An introduction to Finance management, Financial Accounting, Management Accounting, and Business management and administration.
Studying Financial Risk Management
Many courses in Financial Risk Management may take place over a few days, weeks, or even 1 year to 4 years depending on the course and modules selected. There are also part-time courses and night courses available so you can be sure to fit in your studies no matter what your schedule is like.
Courses will cover theory work through lectures, assignments, tutorials, and taught modules. Assessments will take place continuously with written examinations and practical assignments combined to achieve a qualification. Employers are increasingly looking for degrees in finance, mathematics, or statistics. Specific degrees relating to financial risk management are available.
You could also consider work experience or a work shadow in the industry. Gaining some type of work experience is an important part of getting professional qualifications. An internship or work shadowing opportunity will show potential employers that you have the skills and practical experience they’re looking for.
Work Experience will not only allow you to obtain a deeper knowledge and understanding of the industry, but it will also give you a chance to do some essential networking with other industry professionals and gain valuable contacts for the future.
Career options
After completing a Financial Risk Management course you will be able to get started in a career that uses specific knowledge of the potential risks to a project or business.
Financial risk analysts identify and analyze the areas of potential risk threatening the assets, earning capacity, or success of organizations in the industrial, commercial or public sector. As a financial risk analyst, you’ll be responsible for predicting change and future trends, as well as forecasting costs to the organization.
There are high degrees of specialization within the profession. Risk analysts may work in sales, origination, trading, marketing, financial services, or private banking, specializing in credit, market, operational or regulatory.
Financial institutions are required to manage market and credit risks daily. Risk analysts are therefore increasingly tasked with responsibilities touching all four key areas.
An alternative but similar role to financial risk analyst is that of a credit analyst, in which the creditworthiness of a business is calculated and a probability of payment determined. Risk analysis is considered by many to be advanced credit analysis.
Working hours will depend on whether you are self-employed, employed by a company with set business hours, or if you are contracted to various businesses or companies. Working hours typically include regular extra hours, although not weekends or shifts.
Related jobs include:
- Chartered accountant
- Chartered certified accountant
- Chartered management accountant
- Chartered public finance accountant
- Company secretary
- External auditor
- Forensic accountant
- Stockbroker
- Actuary
- Arbitrator
- Business development manager
- Data analyst
- Economist
- Licensed conveyancer
- Management consultant
- Mortgage adviser
- Procurement manager
- Retail banker
- Tax adviser
Further study
After completing a course in Financial Risk Management you may choose to pursue further study in a specialist field to increase your knowledge base and skill set. Postgraduate study can also be used as a means to change career focus or to gain professional qualifications required to practice in certain career areas such as accountancy, economics, engineering, finance, insurance, law, mathematics, risk management, and statistics.
FAQ
What is the importance of Financial Risk Management?
Every business and organization faces the risk of unexpected, harmful events that can cost the company money or cause it to permanently close. Risk management allows organizations to attempt to prepare for the unexpected by minimizing risks and extra costs before they happen.
Are there different types of financial risk analysts?
A financial risk analyst’s role is to formalize the process of risk management in an organization. This involves business decision-making and enabling the process of risk-taking and there are different specialties within the field.
· Credit risk specialists analyze the risk to the company of its customers not paying for goods or services or defaulting on loans.
· Market risk specialists analyze the risk of outside factors that may affect the share price or the market. They typically work closely with traders to calculate the risk associated with specific trading transactions.
· Operational risk analysts look at the likelihood of risky events, such as system breakdowns and employee fraud.
· Regulatory risk analysts look at the impact that new legislation may have on the company.
Where can I study Financial Risk Management?
Explore your options here
Did You Know?
· Richard Branson was only 28 when he scraped together $100,000 to buy an uninhabited island in the British Virgin Islands. He may as well have planted money-growing trees on the 74-acre island: the island itself is worth $60 million today, and the luxury villa he built rented for a reported USD 65,000 a night until it was destroyed by Hurricane Irma in 2017.
· Today, Harry Potter books line millions of bookshelves worldwide, but the franchise wasn’t always so popular. After being rejected by 12 publishers, JK Rowling finally sold her first manuscript, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, to Bloomsbury, who only printed 1,000 copies (500 of which were distributed to libraries). The savvy readers who took a chance and purchased the first edition of that book are extra lucky: not only were they among the first to discover Harry Potter, those first editions are now worth between £16,000 and £25,000.
· In 2005, an inexperienced trader at a Japanese bank tried to sell 1 share of J-Com stock for ¥640,000. He accidentally sold 640,000 shares for ¥1 each; the equivalent of selling $3 billion worth of shares for the price of $5,000.
· Ronald Wayne was the third co-founder of Apple, along with Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. In 1976, he sold his 10% share of the company for $800. Today, his 10% would have been worth $35 billion.
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