Business and Financial Operations · Holland code CEI

Financial Examiners

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.

Also called: Bank Examiner, Bank Secrecy Act Anti-Money Laundering Officer (BSA/AML Officer), Credit Union Examiner, Examining Officer, Community Reinvestment Act Officer (CRA Officer), Compliance Analyst, Compliance Specialist, Credit Union Field Examiner.

O*NET 13-2061.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $94,160; Middle half earn $70,660 to $129,600. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Bachelor's Degree; 87% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 4 of 5; Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: +19% · Much faster than average; 65,100 jobs in 2024, projected 77,200. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Financial examiners".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

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.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Reading Comprehension4.1 / 5
Critical Thinking4.1 / 5
Active Listening4.0 / 5
Writing4.0 / 5
Speaking4.0 / 5
Monitoring3.9 / 5

Knowledge areas

English Language4.3 / 5
Economics and Accounting4.1 / 5
Law and Government3.2 / 5
Mathematics3.1 / 5
Administration and Management3.0 / 5
Computers and Electronics2.6 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic6
Investigative43
Artistic0
Social25
Enterprising61
Conventional90

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

credit union manager · DE Manager in einer Kreditgenossenschaft/Managerin in einer Kreditgenossenschaft · FR directeur de caisse de crédit mutuel/directrice de caisse de crédit mutuel
audit supervisor · DE Auditleiter/Auditleiterin · FR directeur de l'audit interne/directrice de l'audit interne
bankruptcy trustee · DE Insolvenzverwalter/Insolvenzverwalterin · FR mandataire judiciaire
financial auditor · DE Finanzauditor/Finanzauditorin · FR auditeur comptable et financier/auditrice comptable et financière
financial controller · DE Finanzcontroller/Finanzcontrollerin · FR contrôleur financier/contrôleuse financière
financial fraud examiner · DE Prüfer im Bereich Finanzbetrug/Prüferin im Bereich Finanzbetrug · FR commissaire aux comptes

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Chartered and certified accountants (2421)233,600 employed
Taxation experts (2423)44,700 employed
Estimators, valuers and assessors (3541)57,000 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€61,714
Germany	€59,529
Ireland	€56,877
Austria	€55,374
Netherlands	€53,595
Sweden	€43,567
France	€41,515
Spain	€35,735
Italy	€33,649
Portugal	€26,072
Poland	€14,380

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.53. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (13-2061).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test