Business and finance
Financial examiner
Enforce or ensure compliance with laws and regulations governing financial and securities institutions and financial and real estate transactions. May examine, verify, or authenticate records.
Median pay
$94,160
Growth to 2035
+9%
faster than average
Openings a year
4,500
Time to qualify*
12 months
* From a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field.
Pay
Financial examiner
Getting in
- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
- On-the-job training
- Long-term on-the-job training
- Prior experience
- None
What the work is like
Dealing with the public
Unpleasant or angry people
Time pressure
Cost of a mistake
Freedom to make decisions
Repeating the same tasks
Time sitting
Time standing
Financial examiner: 26% usually work over 40 hours a week
Core tasks
- Direct and participate in formal and informal meetings with bank directors, trustees, senior management, counsels, outside accountants, and consultants to gather information and discuss findings.
- Recommend actions to ensure compliance with laws and regulations, or to protect solvency of institutions.
- Prepare reports, exhibits, and other supporting schedules that detail an institution's safety and soundness, compliance with laws and regulations, and recommended solutions to questionable financial conditions.
- Resolve problems concerning the overall financial integrity of banking institutions including loan investment portfolios, capital, earnings, and specific or large troubled accounts.
- Investigate activities of institutions to enforce laws and regulations and to ensure legality of transactions and operations or financial solvency.
- Review balance sheets, operating income and expense accounts, and loan documentation to confirm institution assets and liabilities.
- Plan, supervise, and review work of assigned subordinates.
- Review audit reports of internal and external auditors to monitor adequacy of scope of reports or to discover specific weaknesses in internal routines.
Also called: Bank Examiner · Bank Secrecy Act Anti-Money Laundering Officer (BSA/AML Officer) · Community Reinvestment Act Officer (CRA Officer) · Compliance Analyst · Compliance Specialist · Credit Union Examiner · Credit Union Field Examiner · Examining Officer
Outlook and AI
Financial examiners held 70,000 jobs in 2025. BLS projects 76,500 by 2035 (+9%, faster than average; all jobs: +3.5%).
Compare with
- Financial examiner vs. Accountant
- Financial examiner vs. Managers, all other
- Financial examiner vs. Financial specialists, all other
- Financial examiner vs. Credit analyst
- Financial examiner vs. Financial manager
- Financial examiner vs. Financial risk specialist
- Financial examiner vs. Financial analyst
- Financial examiner vs. Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks
- Financial examiner vs. Loan officer