Financial Examiners
Additional Information
Duties
- The following are typical tasks performed by financial auditors:
- Inspect the health of financial institutions, including banks.
- To verify an institution's assets and liabilities, review balance sheets, operational revenue and expense accounts, and loan paperwork.
- Prepare reports detailing the safety and soundness of an institution.
- Take a look at meeting minutes from the board of directors and managers.
- Financial examinations can be taught to other examiners.
- Determine the influence of new rules and policies on an institution by reviewing and analyzing them.
- New and altered rules necessitate new and changed processes and policies.
- Risk assessment or consumer compliance are the two major specialties of financial examiners.
Risk assessors keep tabs on the well-being of financial institutions. Banks and other financial organizations rely on them to make sure that lending is secure and that they have enough cash on hand to deal with unforeseen losses. These measures aid in the preservation of financial stability. Bank managers are also evaluated by these examiners.
To guarantee that borrowers are treated properly, financial examiners working in consumer compliance monitor loan activities. They make sure that banks lend money to those who can afford to repay it. Loans with high interest rates can be profitable for banks, but they can also be expensive for borrowers and ruin their credit ratings. These loans are known as "predatory loans." It is also up to examiners to guarantee that banks do not discriminate against customers on the basis of ethnicity or other criteria.
Education
A bachelor's degree is usually necessary. Most have a bachelor's degree in business administration or a closely related field. Accounting, finance, and related concepts should be taught in school.
Licenses and certifications
Even if it isn't required, certified financial examiners are more competent. The Society of Financial Examiners offers AFE and CFE qualifications (SOFE). To obtain one of these credentials, you must first meet certain criteria and then complete a series of tests. The distinctions require ongoing education to maintain.
Only a few financial examiners are CPAs (CPAs). Licensed by the state's Board of Accountancy. To become a CPA, you must pass a national exam and meet state requirements.
Training
Once hired, financial inspectors learn on the job. Senior examiners mentor new hires as they learn the ropes. Training can take months or years, but this is the average.
Advancement
Senior financial examiners are experienced professionals who have worked in the area for some time. Senior examiners are increasingly directing examination teams. A master's degree in accounting or business administration, or CPA certification, are preferred qualifications for these positions (CPAs).
Important traits
Analytical prowess financial examiners must assess a financial institution's management' and loans' abilities to manage risk.
A stickler for minutiae. To find problematic assets, financial examiners must scrutinize balance sheets down to the smallest detail.
Math skills. Financial examiners must compute and check balance sheets to ensure a financial institution has enough cash.
Writing ability financial examiners routinely investigate financial institutions' safety and soundness. They must be able to convey complicated ideas concisely.
Pay
The median annual wage for financial examiners was $90,400 in May 2024. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $53,420, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $171,540.
Job Projections
Employment of financial examiners is projected to grow 21 percent from 2023 to 2033, much faster than the average for all occupations.