Financial Examiner Career Assessment
Checking that banks follow the money rules
Welcome
Financial examiners are the people who check banks, credit unions, and trust companies. They look at the records and decide whether the money is being handled safely and legally.
This is a small but well-paid career in North Dakota. You will explore what the work is really like and whether it fits you.
This takes about 15 minutes.
What is a Financial Examiner?
A financial examiner works for a government agency, not for the bank. You go into a bank or credit union, read its loan files and financial records, and write a report saying what is safe, what is risky, and what breaks the rules. Two big parts of the job have names: safety and soundness means checking whether the bank has enough money to survive bad times, and compliance means checking whether the bank followed consumer protection laws.
The Reality: Be honest with yourself about three things. First, this is not an entry-level job you can walk into. Federal and state agencies ask for a bachelor's degree with a set number of college credits in accounting and business, and they check your grades. Second, North Dakota is a tiny market. O*NET shows about 200 financial examiners in the whole state and about 20 openings a year. Third, the job means travel. You go to the bank, not the other way around, and overnight travel is normal.
Your Responsibilities:
- Read a bank's loan files and financial records
- Test whether loans are likely to be paid back
- Check that the bank follows consumer protection laws
- Look for signs of fraud or bad record-keeping
- Interview bank managers about how they run things
- Write clear reports about what you found
- Explain problems to bank leaders and give them deadlines
- Keep everything you see confidential
You are the check that keeps people's deposits safe.
A Day in the Life
7:30 AM — Drive to a small-town bank with your exam team. You will be here all week.
8:30 AM — Set up in a conference room. Ask the bank for the loan files you picked.
9:00 AM — Read 15 farm loan files. Check the paperwork and the borrower's numbers.
11:30 AM — Flag two loans where the value of the collateral looks too high.
12:00 PM — Lunch with the team at the cafe across the street.
1:00 PM — Interview the loan officer about how the bank decides who gets a loan.
3:00 PM — Write up your part of the exam report in plain, exact language.
5:00 PM — Team meeting to compare findings. Back to the motel.
Reading, asking questions, and writing. Often away from home for a week at a time.
Training in North Dakota
You need a bachelor's degree, and the college credits have to be the right ones. Agencies do not just want any four-year degree. A posted federal opening for an entry-level examiner asked for a bachelor's degree in accounting, banking, business administration, finance, economics, or a related field, with at least 24 semester hours in business subjects and at least 6 semester hours in accounting, plus good grades. Plan your classes with that list in front of you.
Training Pathways:
- Start at a two-year college (2 years): Take accounting, economics, and business classes at a community college, then transfer into a four-year business or finance degree. This is the cheapest way to start and it counts toward the credit requirements.
- Bachelor's degree in banking or finance (4 years): This is the normal path. Pick a program that names banking, credit analysis, and financial statements in its courses.
- Bachelor's in accounting, then examine (4 years): An accounting degree easily covers the 6 accounting credits agencies require and gives you the strongest background for reading a bank's books.
Where to Train in North Dakota:
- University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) — Banking and Financial Economics, BBA, 120 credits, on campus or online. UND's own program page lists bank examiner as one of the jobs this degree prepares you for, along with loan officer and credit analyst — und.edu
- University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) — Finance, BBA, 120 credits, on campus or fully online, about 4 years — und.edu
- North Dakota State University (Fargo) — Finance, BS, 120 credits, with an optional Commercial Banking Track that adds four banking courses including Advanced Bank Management, credit analysis, and risk management — catalog.ndsu.edu
- Minot State University (Minot) — Finance, BS, 120 credits, on campus, about 4 years — minotstateu.edu
- Bismarck State College (Bismarck) — Financial Technologies, AAS, on campus or online, with stackable certificates in Accounting, Management, and Data Analytics; credits stack into BSC's Bachelor of Applied Science in Finance, also offered online or on campus — catalog.bismarckstate.edu
Before You Start: High school diploma or GED first. You should be comfortable with regular math, careful with details, and a solid writer. Agencies test writing, so grammar and clear sentences matter more here than most people expect. A valid driver's license, because you travel to the banks.
Tip: Start with financial aid, scholarships, and any help an employer offers — that is where the money starts. After that, ask a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota whether WIOA or other programs can help with what is left over, like training, tools, work boots, or exam fees. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you sign up rather than after. Registered apprenticeships let you earn a paycheck while you learn — see jobsnd.com/job-seeker/apprenticeships for ND programs.
Certification & Licensing
There is no license to be an examiner. Your employer's own training is the credential. You do not take a state exam to become a financial examiner. You get hired, then the agency trains you for several years until you are trusted to lead an exam on your own. A few optional credentials help.
What Employers Look For:
- No license required. The North Dakota Department of Financial Institutions charters, regulates, and examines state-chartered banks, credit unions, and trust companies, and it hires its own examiners (nd.gov/dfi)
- College credits, checked exactly. A posted federal entry-level examiner job required a bachelor's degree plus at least 24 semester hours in business, accounting, finance, marketing, math, statistics, or economics, including at least 6 semester hours of accounting, and a grade point average of 2.95 or higher (usajobs.gov)
- A writing test. That same posting required passing an automated writing assessment showing you can write clearly and correctly
- Commissioned examiner. This is earned on the job. New examiners work under experienced ones and pass the agency's own training program before they can sign off on exams
- Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) — optional. You join the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, earn at least 40 points to sit for the exam and 50 to be certified (a bachelor's degree is worth 40), have two years of fraud-related experience, and pass an exam covering fraud schemes, investigations and legal issues, and prevention (acfe.com)
- CPA — optional but respected. It is a separate state license from the North Dakota State Board of Accountancy (ndsba.nd.gov)
The Exams: There is no single entry exam. The federal writing assessment is the one test most applicants meet first. The optional CFE exam covers three areas: fraud schemes and financial crimes, fraud investigations and legal issues, and fraud prevention and deterrence.
Cost: Your degree is the real cost. CFE membership and exam fees are set by the ACFE, so check acfe.com for current amounts. Agencies pay for the training you take after you are hired.
Keeping It Current: There is nothing to renew unless you hold an optional credential. CFEs keep their certification with continuing education set by the ACFE.
Salary & Job Outlook
North Dakota Financial Examiner Pay (May 2025):
- Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $29.11–$30.06/hour ($60,560–$62,530/year)
- Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $39.73/hour ($82,640/year)
- Experienced (top 25–10%): $48.51–$61.86/hour ($100,910–$128,670/year)
What that means: The middle North Dakota financial examiner earns about $39.73 an hour, or about $82,640 a year. Read the bottom numbers carefully: the 10th and 25th percentiles are close together, at $29.11 and $30.06, which usually means the starting pay band is narrow and set by a government pay scale. The national middle is higher, about $45.27 an hour, because big-city federal jobs pull it up. This is salary work, not commission, so the paycheck is steady. Travel costs are normally reimbursed on top of pay.
Jobs in North Dakota: About 200 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 220 (about 15% growth). Expect about 20 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is about 19% growth — much faster than average.
Outlook: Growing fast in percent, but tiny in real numbers. About 20 openings a year in the whole state. Expect to wait for a posting and to apply against strong competition.
Who Hires in ND: The North Dakota Department of Financial Institutions, federal banking agencies such as the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, the National Credit Union Administration, and the risk and compliance departments of larger banks and credit unions.
Work Setting: A mix. Some office and home-office work, but much of the year you are working inside the bank you are examining, often in a small North Dakota town, staying overnight during the week.
Physical Demands: Low. The strain is sitting, reading, and driving. Long highway drives in winter weather are the real physical risk of this job.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 13-2061); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.
Where This Leads
Path 1: Assistant or Associate Examiner — Your first job. You work under a senior examiner.
Path 2: Commissioned Examiner — You can run an exam and sign the report.
Path 3: Examiner in Charge — You lead the team at a bank.
Path 4: Compliance or Risk Officer at a Bank — Many examiners move to the bank side for higher pay.
Path 5: Supervisor or Field Manager — Oversee several exam teams.
Path 6: Certified Fraud Examiner — Specialize in finding fraud.
The Real Talk
What's Great:
- Strong, steady government pay
- Work that protects regular people
- You learn how banks really work
- Very good benefits and retirement
- Clear training ladder
- Easy to move to a bank job later
What's Hard:
- Very few jobs in the state
- Needs a bachelor's degree with set credits
- Overnight travel much of the year
- Winter driving between towns
- Bank staff may not welcome you
- Writing is a big part of the job
Be Honest: Can you finish a four-year degree with real accounting classes in it? Can you be away from home for a week at a time? Can you write a clear report that someone will argue with?