WHAT DOES A FINANCIAL BUSINESS ANALYST DO?
Published: Mar 25, 2025 - The Financial Business Analyst supports Sales & Marketing by recommending prices, administering quotations, and maintaining daily pricing levels. Analyzes market feedback, and customer profitability, and assists with trade spending program compliance to ensure competitive pricing and profitability. Collaborates on special projects, synthesizes data for business decisions and supports the Finance team in monthly closing and operational reporting.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Financial Business Analyst
1. Financial Business Analyst Duties
- Sales Support: Support Sales & Marketing through price recommendation and quotation administration activities and maintenance of day-to-day pricing levels.
- Market Analysis: Formulate and analyze the tracking of market feedback from the Sales team and customer base to ensure competitive pricing.
- Profitability Analysis: Formulate and analyze the tracking of customer profitability to ensure required margin & profitability returns to Handgards, and make recommendations on how to improve.
- Technology Implementation: Recommend, implement, and maintain technological tools including Proposal Generator pricing tools utilized by Sales & Marketing Teams within established guidelines, plus other tools for use in evaluating price/product mix objectives.
- Program Support: Support Trade Spending Analyst, as needed, in trade spending program analyses, compliance, and audits.
- Product Development: Participate in special projects related to product development.
- Data Synthesis: Synthesize and analyze data to inform and guide business decisions, measure and manage business performance, predict trends and possibilities, and provide solutions to add value aligning Finance activities to best support the business.
- Closing Support: Assist in monthly closing activities and the Finance & Accounting team completes its responsibilities.
- Financial Planning: Preparation and evaluation of operating plans, forecasts, and other financial operating reports.
- Revenue Reporting: Provide information to other departments related to performance against revenue.
2. Senior Financial Business Analyst Details
- Reporting: Ensure accurate, complete, and timely financial reporting and analysis to key stakeholders.
- Expertise Development: Develop an expert-level understanding of Red Hat's workflows, policies, and business rules.
- Analysis: Analyze monthly and quarterly variances, historical trends, quarter-over-quarter and year-on-year analysis to provide visibility and recommendations to key stakeholders.
- Forecasting: Provide forecast and pipeline analytics that will improve the leadership team's ability to guide the business and surpass targets.
- Communication: Communicate and cooperate with team members and business partners across locations to accomplish goals and generate, validate, publish, and deliver reports.
- Project Participation: Participate in various structured and ad hoc projects to support key stakeholders.
- Improvement: Continuously look for ways to improve productivity or the level of services provided to the business.
- Time Management: Work under tight deadlines and for extended hours during quarter and year-end periods.
3. Financial Business Analyst Responsibilities
- Process Analysis: Analyze and map the current "AS IS" business processes and lead gap fit analysis to develop future 'TO BE' business processes.
- Standardization: Standardize, simplify, and automate business processes.
- Process Optimization: Make recommendations for the optimization of processes and lead process improvement within the Pharmacy.
- Process Improvement: Review, develop, and implement improvements to new and existing controls/processes, as well as administer the ongoing maintenance of controls/processes documentation.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Engage with stakeholders to build and analyze priorities and requirements, with a strong risk and controls mindset, and to understand, specify, and deliver future process improvements.
- Training Delivery: Deliver and support training sessions in new systems or processes.
- Documentation: Document and map processes, with a strong risk and control mindset.
- Trend Analysis: Critically analyze and review activity and financial trends to provide insight into the business and its operations to assist decision-making.
- Risk Management: Identify risks and make recommendations for changes to ensure appropriate controls are in place to meet audit requirements and mitigate risks.
4. Financial Business Analyst Accountabilities
- Reconciliation: Prepare the monthly reconciliation between Salesforce & the accounting system.
- Budget Monitoring: Monitor moving budget.
- Financial Analysis: Assist the Finance and Administration Manager in conducting business & financial analysis (business plan of new products, profitability, cash consumption…).
- KPI Management: Definition/Implementation/Monitoring of weekly & monthly business KPIs.
- Budget Assistance: Assist the Finance and Administration Manager in the Annual Budget preparation & modeling.
- Forecast Assistance: Assist the Finance and Administration Manager in the Quarterly Reforecasts preparation & modeling.
- System Training: Assist and train team members on how to use the system, providing guidance on existing tools, and assisting with researching issues.
- Vendor Support: Assist Vendors and Contract Owners with invoice and purchase order issues, understanding CapEx, OpEx, accruals, etc.
- Problem Solving: Assist team members in solving problems relating to tasks, which may relate to the financial systems.
- Governance Management: Conduct and manage monthly Finance Governance meetings with Vendors.
- Audit Assistance: Assist with finance and audits with other outside accounting requirements.
- Process Review: Review, maintain, and suggest modifications as appropriate, to the current procedures and processes.
- Reporting Development: Develop financial reporting for the Vendor Management Office.
5. Sr Financial Business Analyst Functions
- Financial Documentation: Ensure the accurate and timely preparation of work papers and analyses relating to the financial statements/operations of the company.
- Data Analysis: Determine and devise data survey collection and interpretation methods, analytical methodologies, and research techniques.
- Financial Reporting: Perform monthly financial reporting and budgeting tasks set forth in goals and objectives.
- Data Interpretation: Ensure correct data interpretation, physician profiling, market assessment, and utilization trending.
- Market Analysis: Prepare supply and demand analysis via an array of methodologies.
- Project Management: Manage multiple ongoing projects.
- Departmental Liaison: Interface with various departments regarding financial plans, reports, and issues.
- Financial Analysis: Prepare on-demand financial analyses including analysis of costs by account, department, FTE studies, overtime studies, contract labor, etc.
- Project Oversight: Oversee special projects as assigned as well as other staff working on MSDPS.
- Ethical Practice: Practice and adhere to the “Code of Conduct” philosophy and “Mission and Value Statement.”