WHEN Ms Mah Ching Cheng snagged an analyst job, she was over the moon. It looked to be the dream job for the self-confessed number cruncher.
But number crunching soon proved to be just half of it. The position with online unit trust firm Fundsupermart five years ago added up to a whole lot more than she realised.
The Nanyang Technological University graduate was tasked to cover initial public offerings, so she expected her role to be limited to inspecting the balance sheets of firms, writing reports and making stock recommendations.
She also assumed that she would spend most of her time with spreadsheet and statistical software packages to analyse data, spot trends and develop forecasts. All in a day's work for an analyst.
But number crunching fills up just a portion of her day, which is stacked with responsibilities quite unrelated to the job she had primed herself for.
'The most fearful thing was public speaking,' said Ms Mah, 29, about the investment seminars and training sessions she gives to groups of financial advisers.
'I was definitely nervous about presenting to them at first, but you have to face up to your fears.'
Ms Mah is not alone.
Other analysts agree that it is not just the nitty-gritty work they do on a firm's financial statements that count, but the more 'showbizzy' stuff as well.
There are investment materials to market, meetings with fund managers and corporate bankers to line up, projects to plan, public relations tasks to complete, and on-the-spot market commentaries to do, especially during this financial turmoil.
'I think the role of analysts has evolved into quasi-sales,' said Mr Brandon Ng, deputy head of research at Phillip Securities Research. 'Because of our constant communication with the companies we cover, clients feel safer talking to us rather than the sales team.'
Mr Ng, 27, holds regular meetings with the head of institutional sales and the firm's chief remisier to listen to their market talk.
'Since these guys are the ones in the front line, they would know which stocks are in play, what are rumoured to have mergers and acquisitions, or even which are being 'cornered',' said Mr Ng.
'This is important so that our analysts do not waste time on stocks that nobody reads, or produce a 20-page report to have the call wrong.'
Recruiters said the role of an analyst has evolved over the past five years, as both clients and employers become more demanding. The job scope has also become more complex due to the rise in corporate governance issues and more rigorous industry standards.
'Many companies now demand that their finance professionals, including managers and analysts, possess other key capabilities such as language and communication skills, and be prepared to assume more responsibilities as their roles expand,' said Mr Tim Hird, managing director of human resource consultancy Robert Half International.
Singapore may even be ahead of Western nations in the 'sophistication' of the role of analysts, as those here have clients from all over Asia and their investment coverage may not be 'country specific', unlike analysts in the United States and Britain, said Mr Gary Howard of Talent2 Asia Pacific.
Mr Trevor Kalcic, 37, regional bank analyst for ABN Amro Asia Securities, believes the analyst role can evolve further in Asia.
'I started out in this job in Europe during the post-dot.com bust in 2001,' he said.
'I moved to Asia last year...My impression is that the relationship between analysts and companies are much more formal in Asia compared to Europe.
'In Europe, companies, especially banks, fall over their feet to try and get the attention of analysts. Here in Asia, my impression is that there is less recognition in the role that analysts play.'
Analysts here say the marketing, or the 'selling of ideas' to clients, is not dull and that they would rather mingle with corporate honchos than be desk-bound.
'The 'outside' work, while seemingly ancillary, is what makes a good analyst great,' said Mr Terence Wong, head of research at DMG & Partners Securities.
'A worldly wise analyst with both people and paper skills beats a 'spreadsheet' analyst any time.'
Naturally, with all these varied functions to balance, the hours can be long with stress levels rising a notch during earnings season, when analysts have to scramble back to their offices after results briefings to write reports for clients.
They may also have to travel extensively, perhaps to Hong Kong for conferences or to Heilongjiang province in China for company visits.
'Going on overseas trips for a plant visit might seem very glamorous on the surface, but few people other than those who are in the trade will appreciate that such trips are usually very tightly planned, with very little room for rest and recreation,' said Sias Research investment analyst Alan Lok.
Analysts and their brokerages should always pay for their own airfares and accommodation for ethical and compliance reasons, said UBS Investment Research strategist Tan Min Lan.
'Once on the trip, the wining and dining are acceptable provided they are not overtly extravagant. You can't possibly insist on room service every night or refuse to dine with management,' she said.
Mr Kalcic said that despite the 12-hour days and the 'other stuff' he has to do such as talking to the media, being an analyst can be rewarding in the 'intellectual sense'.
'One day I will be looking at rural banking in Indonesia, and the next day, I might be busy trying to understand what is happening with sub-prime mortgages in the US.'
Mr Wong agreed: 'There is hardly a dull moment, with financial markets being so fluid.'
UOB Kay Hian Research associate director Jonathan Koh can attest to that.
Into the fifth month of his first job as an analyst at Phillip Securities, he witnessed how rogue trader Nick Leeson single-handedly brought down Britain's Barings Bank.
Mr Koh recalled blue-chip stocks starting to plummet wildly on the first day of trading after the fraud was uncovered.
'Our research team gathered around the TV monitor at 9am to witness history in the making,' he said with a laugh.
He added that the collapse of Barings has led him to avoid financial derivatives and structured products.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on November 17, 2008.
