Career
Financial examiners
Check that banks and financial firms are sound and follow the law.
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- 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.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on information & systems, then persuasion & leadership?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“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.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking, Active Listening, Writing.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
4 years of education after high school (bachelor's degree), for a median of $94,160 a year and 4,500 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Criminal JusticeSee the degree →
- AccountingSee the degree →
- Suspension and Debarment InvestigationCIP 43.0121
- Financial Forensics and Fraud InvestigationCIP 43.0405
- AccountingCIP 52.0301
- AuditingCIP 52.0303
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Accountants and Auditors$83,680 · +5.0%
- Compliance Managers
- Fraud Examiners, Investigators and Analysts
- Credit Analysts$83,510 · -4.3%
- Treasurers and Controllers
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.