Financial Clerks

Career, Salary and Education Information

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.

Following is everything you need to know about a career as a financial clerk with lots of details. As a first step, take a look at some of the following jobs, which are real jobs with real employers. You will be able to see the very real job career requirements for employers who are actively hiring. The link will open in a new tab so that you can come back to this page to continue reading about the career:

Top 3 Financial Clerk Jobs

  • Financial Screening Clerk - Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center - Hayward, CA

    The Financial Screening Clerk will be responsible for all patients requiring continuous program eligibility review. Will process all new patients and re-evaluate all existing patients for accurate ...

  • Financial services wire clerk - Global Channel Management, Inc - Pasadena, CA

    Financial services wire clerk needs 2 years experience Financial services wire clerk requires: Wire/ACH Operations Excel MS Office Financial services Payments Financial services wire clerk duties

  • Accounting Clerk- Accounts Receivable - Lobel Financial Corporation - Buena Park, CA

    Lobel Financial is a California based full-service motor vehicle sales finance company specializing ... The Accounts Receivable Clerk performs a variety of accounting and bookkeeping duties according to ...

See all Financial Clerk jobs

What Financial Clerks Do[About this section] [To Top]

Financial clerks do administrative work for many types of organizations. They keep records, help customers, and carry out financial transactions.

Duties of Financial Clerks

Financial clerks typically do the following:

  • Keep and update financial records
  • Compute bills and charges
  • Offer customer assistance
  • Carry out financial transactions

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.

Work Environment for Financial Clerks[About this section] [To Top]

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.

Financial Clerk Work Schedules

Most financial clerks work full time.

How to Become a Financial Clerk[About this section] [To Top]

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.

Education for Financial Clerks

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.

Financial Clerk Training

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.

Advancement for Financial Clerks

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.

Important Qualities for Financial Clerks

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.

Financial Clerk Salaries[About this section] [More salary/earnings info] [To Top]

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.

Job Outlook for Financial Clerks[About this section] [To Top]

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.

Employment of Financial Clerks

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.

Employment projections data for Financial Clerks, 2021-31
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


A portion of the information on this page is used by permission of the U.S. Department of Labor.


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