The finance industry is massive; some would say all encompassing. Finance professionals are faced with many decisions to make about what aspect of the industry they wish to focus on, and there are many resources available to help shed light on each different aspect of the industry. This resource guide directs you to some of the premier resources available to current and prospective finance professionals. This list of forty finance resources includes associations and research organizations, publications (magazines, scholarly journals, and trade journals) and a list of major finance conferences.

Associations and Research Organizations

• The American Finance Association is one of the most influential scholarly organizations in the finance field. The association is devoted to promoting education on and study of the economics of finance.
• Association of Finance Professionals is a global advocacy group for finance professionals. The reach of the organization is long, with over 150,000 members in several countries worldwide. The membership consists of finance professionals representing a great number of industries and countries.
• European Finance Association is an international association based in Europe. The goal of the EFA is to facilitate learning by providing a place for both academics and practitioners to share ideas, criticisms, research, and experience.
• The Commercial Finance Association exists to facilitate the discussions that lead to innovations by providing members from a diverse array of industries the opportunity to share ideas, experiences, and needs.
• Midwest Finance Association exists to develop and communicate new information in the finance industry to those financial professionals and scholars with a particular interest in the Midwest.
• International Banking, Economics, and Finance Association is an association devoted to providing a forum for scholarly discourse and research for its members. The IBEFA promotes both individual and collaborative research both within the organization and with other organizations.
• American Financial Services Association is the national trade association representing the consumer credit industry. The association advocates for the best interest of both the industry and its customers, and also promotes best practice and high ethical standards within the industry.
• Government Financial Officers Association exists to provide advocacy and education to government finance professionals. The association advocates for the best interest of government finance professionals and also spearheads research.
• Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association promotes best practice within the securities and financial markets fields, as well as pursuing research, interacting and conversing with regulators, and attempting to strike the best balance for the welfare of its member firms, their employees, and customers.
• Accounting and Finance Benchmarking Consortium is a research organization comprised of finance and accounting professionals who conduct bench-marking studies that are used to pinpoint best practices within the industries.

Publications

• American Banker is a banking magazine that provides banking professionals with in depth analysis and insight into the world’s financial markets, major companies, business strategies and innovations. The publication seeks to enable its readers to maximize shareholder value in their companies.
• Barron’s is a weekly newspaper and online magazine covering the world of finance. Each issue includes a wrap up of the previous week’s activity and articles featuring in depth analysis of recent economic trends. The online magazine provides up to the minute coverage of major events in finance.
• Business Finance is geared toward senior finance professionals. The magazine focuses on providing these professionals with in depth coverage of and insight into key strategies, trends, and technologies, with the purpose of enabling them to implement sound plans that will help carry their companies forward.
• Kiplinger focuses on providing personal finance advice and insight to finance professionals and laypersons alike. Kiplinger strikes a good balance between the depth of their treatment of subjects and accessibility, making the publication useful and relevant to a wide audience.
• Financial Times is one of the premier finance magazines in the world. The Financial Times is a trusted source of finance news featuring in depth analysis of everything from public policy, to market trends, to innovations in the field.
• Financial Review is a magazine devoted to exhaustively covering every aspect of the finance industry, from ground level personal finance, to high level international finance. The coverage is in depth and analytical, while remaining accessible to the target audience of the given piece.
• Smart Money is a publication of the Wall Street Journal that is hyper focused on the finance industry and personal finance. The magazine is devoted to bringing its readers up to date information with quality analysis and commentary on major finance industry matters.
• The Wall Street Journal is a must read for anybody in any aspect of the business world. The publication features coverage of the business world from every angle, whether from just straight objective reporting, or editorial commentary and analysis.
• The Economist is one of the most trusted names in modern coverage of economics. The magazine offers readers a plethora of perspectives on various economic developments throughout the world, and seeks to provide its readers with objective analysis from an economic perspective.
• International Treasurer has been connecting with treasurers and their banks around the world for fifteen years. The publication features content by treasurers, and for treasurers, with treasurers as sources and people experienced with treasury and journalism as writers.
• Managerial Finance provides its readers with an international forum for the publication of premier research in the fields of finance, financial management, financial strategy, global finance, corporate finance, and insurance and risk management.
• Journal of Banking and Finance provides an outlet for the large increase of scholarly research in banking and finance. Journal of Banking and Finance publishes both empirical and theoretical research with an emphasis on theoretical development and implementation.
• Journal of Economics and Finance is the official journal of the Academy of Economics and Finance. The journal publishes empirical and theoretical research with an emphasis on the relevance of findings to economic and finance policy.
• Journal of Finance and Accountancy is the finance journal of the Academic and Business Research Institute. The journal is refereed and all submissions are blind peer reviewed. JFA publishes original, unpublished research focusing on issues and solutions in business, and education.
• Journal of Applied Finance and Banking is the peer reviewed journal that publishes empirical, applied, and policy oriented research. The goal of the journal is to bridge the gap between various research communities, academic circles, and policy makers.
• The Journal of Finance is published six times per year and is the official journal of the American Finance Association. The journal publishes high level research in finance and is the most widely cited finance journal in the world and one of the most cited economics journals as well.
• Review of Finance is published by Oxford and is the official journal of the European Finance Association. The journal aims for a wide distribution and and publishes high impact research on a wide array of finance and economics subjects.
• Global Finance Journal provides a forum for the discussion of ideas and techniques used by academics and practitioners alike. The primary goal of the journal is to advance applied research in global financial management.
• Quarterly Journal of Finance is the primary journal of the Midwest Finance Association. The journal features articles on research in all areas in finance and has a broad appeal in the industry.
• Journal of Financial Econometrics features articles on research in financial econometrics, one of the fastest growing areas of econometrics study. The journal explores the relationship between finance and econometrics through the examination of empirical research and methodological research.

Conferences

• World Financial Information Conference is hosted by FISD. The goal of this global conference is to provide a neutral forum for the sharing of information by international finance professionals. The conference boasts attendees from more than 35 countries and provides an environment conducive to debate and discussion from a diverse array of perspectives.
• 4th International Conference on Business and Economic Research is devoted to tackling major issues in international finance and economics. Papers presented include a wide range of subjects such as accounting, finance, economics, banking, marketing, and management.
• Quantitative Methods in Finance is hosted by the Quantitative Finance Research Centre, an organization devoted to creating and disseminating quantitative finance information for an international audience of finance professionals.
• Financial Markets and Portfolio Management is a conference hosted by the Swiss Society for Financial Market Research with the goal of advancing the modern finance industry by facilitating constructive conversation between scholars and practitioners.
• 3rd Annual International Conference on Accounting and Finance is a conference devoted to advancing the state of global communication and accounting practices as globalization is developing faster than ever. The conference recognizes that currently there are too many different accounting practices and methods and that ends up creating issues for companies attempting to operate across their nation’s borders.
• The First International Conference on Finance and Banking is the first major international conference being held by the Indonesian Financial Management Association. The conference is designed to fulfill the organization’s mission to promote a deeper understanding of finance and the major issues facing multinational companies and their finance professionals.
• CFO Rising: East is a conference geared specifically toward CFOs with the purpose of providing a forum for the discussion of major finance issues and possible solutions. The conference is designed to impact the primary financial decision makers in the industry for the good of their companies.
• Financial Intermediation Research Society Conference is a forum for the presentation of research, both empirical and theoretical, that impacts the financial intermediation industry.
• The West Coast Trade and Export Finance Conference deals with such sensitive and daunting issues as corporate risk, the increasing complexity of capital management in a volitile market, and the finance challenges of exporting to Asia and Latin America.
• International Workshop on Computational and Financial Econometrics is a workshop conference featuring cutting edge implementations of computational and financial econometrics. The conference features several presentations and workshops that delve deep into the complex world of econometrics.