Certified growth: How finance professionals level up with real-world skills

TOGETHER WITH

Hit the ground running. Take on your new finance role with confidence and some CFI-honed skills. CFI’s industry-recognized certifications help finance professionals hone their skills and take every challenge in stride. Whether you’re looking for continuing financial education or pivoting into a new role, CFI has your back. Learn more.

Contrary to its reputation as an unchanging industry, the finance world is constantly evolving and keeping professionals on their toes. New tech, changing regulations, and an unpredictable market mean no two days at the office are the same.

Continuing education is critical to a finance professional’s success. And for those looking to pivot to finance (or simply switch to a new focus in the industry), getting a well-rounded education makes all the difference.

We teamed up with Corporate Finance Institute (CFI) to learn about continuing education in finance, their Financial Planning & Analysis Professional (FPAP) and Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA®) certifications, and how the courses can be leveraged at work right away. Let’s get started.

Attention, future financial planners

Boosting your financial planning skills doesn’t necessarily mean going back to school in the traditional sense. CFI’s FP&A Professional (FPAP) Certification helps finance professionals build the practical, desk-ready skills needed to make accurate forecasts, interpret financial performance, and deliver strategic insights inside any organization.

No waiting for the perfect, niche opportunity to flaunt your new knowledge: The FPAP certification is designed to build skills that translate immediately to real FP&A workflows, whether you’re already in an FP&A role or looking to transition into one.

The program introduces learners to the core responsibilities and strategic impact of FP&A, including how FP&A teams partner with leadership, support decision-making, and bridge operational and financial perspectives. You’ll master a foundation of accounting and financial analysis before advancing into the technical work that defines modern FP&A: monthly forecasting, budgeting, scenario planning, variance analysis, and full three-statement modeling.

From technical and analytical expertise to business partnership skills, the FPAP program helps professionals sharpen both quantitative and qualitative skills with the courses in the following:

• accounting + finance fundamentals
• Excel for analysis + modeling
• financial statement analysis + data analytics
• budgeting, forecasting, + variance analysis
• financial modeling + scenario planning
• data visualization + dashboards
• Power Query + Power BI
• strategic thinking + business partnership
• AI applications for FP&A workflows

Whether you’re brand-new to finance or ready to start a new chapter in FP&A, the FPAP certification is designed to prepare you for work on Day 1, with the skills CFOs and FP&A leaders expect from high-performing analysts.

Let’s talk valuation

What’s the value in becoming a valuation specialist? Valuation professionals sit at the center of major financial decisions, helping leaders act with confidence through clear, defensible financial models.

Becoming a valuation expert begins with honing advanced financial modeling skills and earning industry-standard credentials with CFI’s FMVA® certification. Designed with investment bankers, equity research analysts, private equity analysts, and other corporate development professionals in mind, the FMVA program helps learners master valuation, modeling, and analytical thinking.

Whether you're breaking into valuation for the first time or sharpening your technical edge, the FMVA program offers project-based, practical learning. Through real-world case studies and model-building exercises, you’ll learn to simulate investment decisions, analyze transactions, and evaluate businesses from the perspective of both operators and investors. The curriculum prepares finance professionals for roles in investment banking, private equity, management and acquisition, business valuation, and corporate finance.

Work schedule got you booked solid? No worries: Both the FMVA and FPAP programs are built for busy professionals, with fully self-paced courses you can complete on your own time.

Across more than 30 courses, the FMVA program helps finance professionals hone:

• financial statement analysis
• financial modeling + valuation methods (DCF, comps, precedent transactions)
• accounting, budgeting, + forecasting
• Excel + PowerPoint for finance
• scenario analysis + sensitivity modeling
• presentation skills + model communication

And just like CFI’s FPAP program, the FMVA certification is designed to help you hit the ground running on Day 1 in your new valuation gig. So study up, finance pros: A new role is just around the corner.

Level up

Whether you’re brand-new to finance or a seasoned pro, one thing stays true across every function: Keeping up means continuously building your skills. That’s where CFI comes in.

CFI helps finance professionals master the practical, real-world capabilities today’s roles demand. Its certifications are recognized across the industry because they’re built around how finance actually works, not just theory. Each program is designed to prepare learners for everyday responsibilities, from financial modeling and data analysis to forecasting, valuation, communication, and decision-support.

But the value of certification goes far beyond checking a box or a line on your resume.

Getting certified gives professionals a credible way to prove their skills to hiring managers, leadership teams, and internal stakeholders. It helps show that you understand the technical work, can contribute immediately, and are ready for more responsibility. That’s why CFI graduates report using their certifications to:

• Earn promotions by demonstrating job-ready expertise.
• Pivot into new finance paths, including FP&A, valuation, or corporate development.
• Stand out in competitive job markets.
• Build confidence in their modeling, analysis, + strategic thinking.
• Strengthen performance on the tasks that matter most day-to-day.

Ready to take your finance career to the next level? Learn more about CFI.