What They Do: Financial clerks do administrative work, keep records, help customers, and carry out financial transactions.
Work Environment: Financial clerks usually work in offices, including bank branches, medical practices, and government agencies. Most work full time.
How to Become One: A high school diploma is typically required for most financial clerk positions. These workers typically learn their job duties through on-the-job training.
Salary: The median annual wage for financial clerks is $44,760.
Job Outlook: Employment of financial clerks is projected to decline 3 percent over the next ten years.
Related Careers: Compare the job duties, education, job growth, and pay of financial clerks with similar occupations.
Financial clerks do administrative work for many types of organizations. They keep records, help customers, and carry out financial transactions.
Financial clerks typically do the following:
Financial clerks give administrative and clerical support in financial settings. Their specific job duties vary by specialization and by setting.
The following are examples of types of financial clerks:
Billing and posting clerks calculate charges, generate bills, and prepare them to be mailed to customers. They review documents such as purchase orders, sales tickets, charge slips, and hospital records to compute fees or charges due. They also contact customers to get or give account information.
Gaming cage workers work in casinos and other gaming establishments. The "cage" in which they work is the central depository for money and gaming chips. Gaming cage workers sell gambling chips, tokens, or tickets to patrons. They count funds and reconcile daily summaries of transactions in order to balance books.
Payroll and timekeeping clerks compile and post employee time and payroll data. They verify and record attendance, hours worked, and pay adjustments. They ensure that employees are paid on time and that their paychecks are accurate.
Procurement clerks compile requests for materials, prepare purchase orders, keep track of purchases and supplies, and handle questions about orders. They respond to questions from customers and suppliers about the status of orders. Procurement clerks handle requests to change or cancel orders. They make sure that purchases arrive on schedule and that the items meet the purchaser's specifications.
Brokerage clerks help with tasks associated with securities such as stocks, bonds, commodities, and other kinds of investments. Their duties include writing orders for stock purchases and sales, computing transfer taxes, verifying stock transactions, accepting and delivering securities, distributing dividends, and keeping records of daily transactions and holdings.
Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks review the credit history, and get the information needed to determine the creditworthiness, of individuals or businesses applying for credit. Credit authorizers evaluate customers' computerized credit records and payment histories to decide, based on predetermined standards, whether to approve new credit. Credit checkers call or write credit departments of business and service establishments to get information about applicants' credit standing.
Loan interviewers, also called loan processors or loan clerks, interview applicants and others to get and verify personal and financial information needed to complete loan applications. They also prepare the documents that go to the appraiser and are issued at the closing of a loan.
New accounts clerks interview people who want to open accounts in financial institutions. They explain the account services available to prospective customers and help them fill out applications. They also investigate and correct errors in accounts.
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks process applications for insurance policies. They also handle customers' requests to change or cancel their existing policies. Their duties include interviewing clients and reviewing insurance applications to ensure that all questions have been answered. They also notify insurance agents and accounting departments of policy cancellations or changes.
Financial clerks hold about 1.3 million jobs. Employment in the detailed occupations that make up financial clerks is distributed as follows:
| Billing and posting clerks | 445,300 |
| Insurance claims and policy processing clerks | 247,800 |
| Loan interviewers and clerks | 247,000 |
| Payroll and timekeeping clerks | 157,700 |
| Procurement clerks | 63,900 |
| New accounts clerks | 41,700 |
| Brokerage clerks | 41,000 |
| Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks | 17,300 |
| Gaming cage workers | 11,600 |
The largest employers of financial clerks are as follows:
| Credit intermediation and related activities | 21% |
| Insurance carriers and related activities | 19% |
| Healthcare and social assistance | 17% |
| Professional, scientific, and technical services | 8% |
| Administrative and support services | 6% |
Financial clerks work in a variety of industries, usually in offices.
Most financial clerks work full time.
Get the education you need: Find schools for Financial Clerks near you!
A high school diploma or equivalent is typically required for most financial clerk jobs. These workers usually learn their duties through on-the-job training.
Financial clerks typically need a high school diploma or equivalent to enter the occupation. Employers of brokerage clerks may prefer candidates who have taken some college courses in business or economics and, in some cases, who have a 2- or 4-year college degree.
Most financial clerks learn how to do their job duties through on-the-job training. Some formal technical training also may be necessary; for example, gaming cage workers may need training in specific gaming regulations and procedures.
Financial clerks can advance to related occupations in finance. For example, a loan interviewer or clerk can become a loan officer, and a brokerage clerk can become a securities, commodities, or financial services sales agent, after obtaining the required education and license.
Communication skills. Financial clerks should have good communication skills so that they can explain policies and procedures to colleagues and customers.
Math skills. The job duties of financial clerks includes calculating charges and updating financial records.
Organizational skills. Strong organizational skills are important for financial clerks because they must be able to find files quickly and efficiently.
The median annual wage for financial clerks is $44,760. 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 $29,830, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $61,150.
Median annual wages for financial clerks are as follows:
| Brokerage clerks | $54,000 |
| Payroll and timekeeping clerks | $47,610 |
| Loan interviewers and clerks | $45,940 |
| Insurance claims and policy processing clerks | $45,520 |
| Procurement clerks | $45,150 |
| Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks | $44,710 |
| Billing and posting clerks | $38,330 |
| New accounts clerks | $37,840 |
| Gambling cage workers | $29,360 |
The median annual wages for financial clerks in the top industries in which they work are as follows:
| Insurance carriers and related activities | $46,520 |
| Credit intermediation and related activities | $45,260 |
| Professional, scientific, and technical services | $42,160 |
| Healthcare and social assistance | $38,260 |
| Administrative and support services | $38,100 |
Most financial clerks work full time.
Overall employment of financial clerks is projected to decline 3 percent over the next ten years.
Despite declining employment, about 130,500 openings for financial clerks are projected each year, on average, over the decade. All of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to other occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
Projected employment of financial clerks varies by occupation. The availability of online tools, which allow financial customers to perform many tasks themselves, is expected to reduce demand for occupations such as new accounts clerks; procurement clerks; and credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks. Similarly, productivity-enhancing technology is expected to limit demand for other clerks, such as payroll and timekeeping clerks, loan interviewers and clerks, brokerage clerks, and insurance claims and policy processing clerks.
Employment of gambling cage workers will be impacted by the adoption of technology in payout processing and online gambling, which limits the need for cage workers.
Employment of billing and posting clerks is expected to rise in fast-growing healthcare industries; however, automated invoice processing software will increase the productivity of these workers and reduce overall employment growth.
| Occupational Title | Employment, 2021 | Projected Employment, 2031 | Change, 2021-31 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percent | Numeric | |||
| Financial clerks | 1,273,400 | 1,234,900 | -4 | -38,500 |
| Billing and posting clerks | 445,300 | 450,000 | 1 | 4,700 |
| Gambling cage workers | 11,600 | 11,600 | 0 | 0 |
| Payroll and timekeeping clerks | 157,700 | 133,900 | -15 | -23,800 |
| Procurement clerks | 63,900 | 59,600 | -7 | -4,300 |
| Brokerage clerks | 41,000 | 38,900 | -5 | -2,100 |
| Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks | 17,300 | 16,600 | -4 | -700 |
| Loan interviewers and clerks | 247,000 | 245,400 | -1 | -1,700 |
| New accounts clerks | 41,700 | 36,900 | -12 | -4,800 |
| Insurance claims and policy processing clerks | 247,800 | 242,000 | -2 | -5,800 |
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A portion of the information on this page is used by permission of the U.S. Department of Labor.