Financial Examiner

What a Financial Examiner Does

A financial examiner helps businesses and individuals comply with financial and real estate laws and regulations. They also investigate companies and major transactions to make sure that no illegal activity is taking place and that securities laws are being followed. Financial examiners must have a strong understanding of the laws they are expected to enforce, and may even help criticize and develop new laws and regulations. Depending on your exact job or position, you may also approve mergers and acquisitions, investigate companies, review cash reserves and bank operations, and review audit reports. Financial examiners write up reports explaining their findings and recommendations, and they need to have good communication skills to enable them to work productively with law enforcement, securities officials, banks and regular companies. They will most likely have to sign confidentiality agreements and be responsible for handling very private financial information, legal cases, and personal identifying information.

How to Become a Financial Examiner

There isn't one specific academic track to becoming a financial examiner, but an educational background in both business and law enforcement would be helpful to a financial examiner. A bachelor's degree is usually preferred by employers and typically takes four years to complete. Much of the job -- including reading and analyzing tax forms and other financial and securities regulations -- can be learned after gaining employment, but understanding the basics of financial transactions, business finance, accounting, and tax law and business law will be extremely helpful. Other good characteristics of financial examiners include good attention to detail, strong research skills, and the patience to look over stacks of documents to find small pieces of information. Depending on what state you are seeking employment in, you may need to become licensed or certified to work as a financial examiner, and may have to satisfy continuing education credits every few years to keep your license current and valid.

Career Outlook for Financial Examiners

Overall, the career outlook for financial examiners is expected to stay strong. The highest concentration of jobs will be found with health care companies, giving examiners a higher than average job growth projection. Nearly 21,000 jobs are expected to be added through 2018 to the overall claims adjusters and financial examiners industry, and a very small percentage of financial examiners are self-employed and are responsible for finding their own work. Improvements in technology mean that the work will be more streamlined and won't require as many new hires, but retiring examiners will result in the need for skilled professionals in the field. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the median annual wage for investigators, claims adjusters and financial examiners was $55,760 in May 2008, with the middle 50% earning between $42,400 and $70,860.