20 tasks, each one witnessed by the sources that watched the job — and behind every one, a prompt you can use tonight.
You usually split time between checking alerts and digging into cases. Morning: review Splunk or transaction-monitoring alerts, open the suspected account in Excel and SQL queries, and read emails in Outlook for any urgent requests.
Afternoon: pull financial documents from SharePoint, run Python scripts to trace transactions, interview a witness or take statements, then write a short report in Word and update managers and regulators using PowerPoint or Outlook.
Expect Splunk Enterprise for log and alert monitoring, Microsoft SQL Server to run queries against transaction databases, and Excel for spreadsheets and pivot tables. Outlook, Word, and SharePoint handle daily communications and document storage.
You’ll also use Python for data cleaning or automating searches, and PowerPoint for summaries to managers or regulators. Learn the basics of each — you’ll switch among them during a single investigation.
Begin with Excel (filters, pivot tables), basic SQL for Microsoft SQL Server, and introductory Python for data tasks. Take short courses or tutorials and practice on sample bank statements and transaction logs.
Learn how to read financial statements and basic law relevant to fraud. Volunteer for audits or compliance projects if possible, and practice writing short investigation reports in Word and slides in PowerPoint.
AI can speed tasks like summarizing documents or spotting patterns in transaction data, but never feed AI with personal data or sealed evidence unless your employer allows it. Treat AI output as a draft — always confirm with Splunk, SQL queries, or original documents.
Keep a clear audit trail: record which AI tool you used, save the prompts and the source files in SharePoint, and only use models approved by your organization or legal team.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were 132,130 people employed in this occupation. Median pay is $81,100 per year, the lowest 10th percentile is $48,460, and the top 10th percentile is $151,490 per year. These numbers come from BLS.
Actual pay depends on employer, location, and whether you do arrests or regulatory liaison work. Large banks or government agencies often pay more.
A fraud analyst focuses on detecting and investigating suspicious activity using tools like Splunk, SQL, and Python, and writing reports or testifying. Forensic accountants focus more on deep financial statement analysis and audits, often using Excel and accounting systems.
AML investigators (anti-money-laundering) overlap a lot: they run transaction tracing and file suspicious activity reports with regulators. The difference is mostly scope: AML usually targets money-laundering patterns; fraud analysts cover broader scams and internal fraud.
Learn to run and read SQL queries in Microsoft SQL Server and export results into Excel. That skill lets you pull transaction histories, filter suspicious entries, and make quick charts for managers.
Combine that with basic report writing in Word and saving your work in SharePoint. With SQL+Excel+Word you can gather evidence, document findings, and present a case.