What Is the Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA) Certification?

You might consider financial modeling certification if you’re interested in private equity, investment banking or a related field. The Corporate Finance Institute offers the Financial Modeling and Valuation Analyst (FMVA) certification to interested professionals who want to develop their modeling and valuation skills. Like other financial certifications, you’ll need to meet education and exam requirements to qualify.

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What Is a Financial Modeling and Valuation Analyst?

Financial modeling and valuation analysts are professionals who specialize in analyzing financial data and using it to generate models. FMVAs can apply their knowledge in a variety of roles across the financial services industry.

Advisors, for example, can use their modeling skills to conduct equity research to provide their clients with investment recommendations. In the private equity space, financial modeling is used to evaluate which businesses are worthy of investment.

FMVAs are also skilled at developing budgets and forecasting in corporate finance settings. Investment banking, meanwhile, relies on modeling in a variety of scenarios, including mergers and acquisitions. Financial analysis can offer competitive compensation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), financial analysts earned a median salary of $101,910 in 2024. ¹

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Obtaining Financial Modeling Certification

The Corporate Finance Institute administers the FMVA certificate program. You don’t need a finance background to apply, but it may be helpful in completing the required coursework. The certification process is fairly straightforward. Here’s how it works.

1. Enroll in prep courses (optional): The Corporate Finance Institute offers eight prep courses to help you learn or review the fundamental knowledge areas required to earn certification. You’re not required to complete any study prep before beginning the FMVA coursework. However, you may find it helpful if you need a refresher on or introduction to basic modeling concepts.
2. Complete required coursework: The FMVA program spans 33 courses, of which you’re required to complete 17. You must choose 14 core courses and three electives to satisfy this requirement.
3. Complete case study challenges (optional): Case study challenges are designed to test your modeling and analysis skills before you sit for the FMVA exam. You don’t have to complete the challenges; however, you might find it helpful as you wrap up your study prep.
4. Take the FMVA exam: If you achieve 80% or higher on each end-of-course assessment, you can sit for the FMVA exam. A passing score is 70% and once you pass, you’ll receive an FMVA certificate.

The certification coursework is self-study and can be completed online. You’ll also take the exam online, which has a three-hour time limit. Altogether, it takes approximately 150 to 200 hours to complete the certification program, which is similar to other certifications for financial analysts.

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What Does Financial Modeling Certification Cover?

The FMVA coursework is extensive and includes more than 3,200 lessons. However, you don’t have to complete all of them. You can decide which courses you’d like to take, based on what you’re most interested in learning.

If you’re taking any of the optional prep courses, you can choose from these topics:

• Excel fundamentals
• Excel formulas for finance
• Accounting fundamentals
• Reading financial statements
• Corporate finance fundamentals
• Math for finance professionals
• Workflow best practices for analysts
• The role of the financial planning and analysis (FP&A) professional

Again, these are not required. Individual courses take anywhere from 1 to 2 ½ hours to complete. The core curriculum can take up to five hours per course to complete, and covers these topics:

• Financial analysis fundamentals
• Introduction to 3-statement modeling
• 3-statement modeling
• Auditing and balancing a 3-statement model
• Introduction to business valuation
• Operational modeling
• Discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation modeling
• Comparable valuation fundamentals
• Budgeting and forecasting
• Monthly cash flow modeling
• Scenario and sensitivity analysis in Excel
• Excel dashboards and data visualization
• PowerPoint and Pitchbooks
• Professional ethics

Electives focus on specialized topics in financial modeling and valuation. The shortest course takes under one hour to complete; the longest takes 2.5 hours. Some of the topics you can choose from include:

• Advanced Excel formulas and functions
• Comparable valuation analysis
• Mining financial model & valuation
• Introduction to bank valuation
• Startup/e-commerce valuation and modeling
• Real estate financial modeling
• Corporate and business strategy
• Normalizing income statements
• Presentation of financial information

If you opt to complete the case study challenges, there are two you can choose from. The first covers the use of IBISWorld to analyze and benchmark a business, while the second focuses on renewable energy and solar financial modeling.

Taking the FMVA Exam

At the end of each course, you’re required to complete an online assessment. These assessments test your knowledge of the course content and include multiple-choice questions, fill-in-the-blank questions and Excel questions.

You’ll need to earn at least 80% on each assessment to be able to take the FMVA exam. You can retake course assessments as many times as you need to obtain an 80% or better score. There is no penalty for scoring below 80%.

The FMVA exam consists of 50 multiple-choice questions, including Excel modeling case studies. You can take the exam online at your convenience, and a passing score is 70%. If you fail to achieve a passing score and need to retake the exam, you’ll have to wait 30 days between attempts.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Bottom Line

Becoming FMVA-certified is a relatively straightforward process compared to other types of financial certifications. You don’t need to meet education or work experience requirements, other than completing the necessary core and elective coursework and taking the final exam. You can learn more about the FMVA program on the Corporate Finance Institute website.

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• In addition to certificate programs, financial professionals may need or want to obtain securities licenses. A Series 7 license, for example, is required to buy and sell securities products. Licensing involves completing one or more exams, some of which require you to be sponsored by a qualifying employer. Given the complexity of the exams, it’s often recommended that candidates take a study course beforehand.

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