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What does an investigative analyst do?

Updated January 8, 2025
7 min read
What does an investigative analyst do

An investigative analyst is responsible for handling and resolving suspicious activities that pose risks for an organization's reputation and stability. Investigative analysts review incident reports, such as fraud and other law violations, strategizing on effective ways to minimize losses and prevent misconduct reoccurrence. They collect evidence, including documents and interviews, to support their claims and record their findings. An investigative analyst must be highly communicative and organizational, as well as the ability to keep and secure confidential information until further notice.

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Investigative analyst responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real investigative analyst resumes:

  • Manage a team responsible for an audit and complete overhaul of a lab after finding several critical HIPAA violations.
  • Manage reporting, investigating identity thefts, identifying account take over and AML, conducting compliance audits and account closures as needed
  • Manage the Medicaid provider exclusion and reinstatement monitoring and reporting activities to meet customer expectations and government requirements.
  • Provide QA oversight of corrective and preventive actions by reviewing and entering data into the CAPA system.
  • Increase focus on data privacy and breaches, HIPAA compliance, third-party due diligence and export controls.
  • Review ACH, wires and activity on accounts for suspicious activity.
  • Apply appropriate OFAC and AML guidelines to determine regulatory compliance of each individual case.
  • Train and assist branches with possible matches that are identify through the banks OFAC detection software.
  • Assist field investigators with cases by leveraging Teradata through the use of SQL queries to identify relate commonalities.
  • Perform general or focuse external audits of outpatient charges to assess Medicare compliance on CPT and ICD-9/ICD-10 coding.
  • Review high acuity MDR's/ADE's prior to FDA submission; Review/identify potential quality problems using recognize problem solving techniques.
  • Produce well-written reports detailing and analyzing the potentially suspicious activity for review, and when appropriate, filing with FinCEN.
  • Analyze product impact, determine root cause, and implement appropriate corrective action and preventive action (CAPA) procedures.
  • Review daily reports and suspicious activity tips to monitor for fraudulent activity and process BSA closures and SAIRs when need.
  • Create collaborative and detail reports in require systems on a daily basis; proficient in permissions, SQL and security applications.

Investigative analyst skills and personality traits

We calculated that 7% of Investigative Analysts are proficient in Criminal Justice, External Stakeholders, and Anti-Money Laundering. They’re also known for soft skills such as Empathy, Good judgment, and Leadership skills.

We break down the percentage of Investigative Analysts that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Criminal Justice, 7%

    Facilitated case building by liaising with IAB detectives, and procuring data using criminal justice databases.

  • External Stakeholders, 7%

    Insured a culture of information assurance by working with internal and external stakeholders to resolve broken processes.

  • Anti-Money Laundering, 7%

    Conduct time-sensitive, research intensive analysis, of potential suspicious acts of, Anti-Money laundering and anomalous financial related activities.

  • Identify Trends, 7%

    Developed and applied proper analysis techniques to large data sets to identify trends and patterns of insurance fraud and abuse.

  • Management System, 6%

    Researched, procured, and implemented case management system in close coordination with information technology team.

  • Law Enforcement Agencies, 4%

    Communicate with various law enforcement agencies and judicial divisions to collect both public and confidential information for use in suitability consideration.

Common skills that an investigative analyst uses to do their job include "criminal justice," "external stakeholders," and "anti-money laundering." You can find details on the most important investigative analyst responsibilities below.

Empathy. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for an investigative analyst to have is empathy. Their role and responsibilities require that "police officers need to understand the perspectives of a variety of people in their jurisdiction and be willing to help the public." Investigative analysts often use empathy in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "assisted with security-related research to ensure siu remains current in its understanding of new tools and technologies. "

Good judgment. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling investigative analyst duties is good judgment. The role rewards competence in this skill because "police and detectives must be able to determine the best way to solve an array of problems." According to an investigative analyst resume, here's how investigative analysts can utilize good judgment in their job responsibilities: "perform back office functions related to job experience, judgment and research. "

Leadership skills. This is an important skill for investigative analysts to perform their duties. For an example of how investigative analyst responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "police officers must be comfortable with being a highly visible member of their community, as the public looks to them for help in emergencies." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an investigative analyst: "conducted pro-active research to identify potential fraud which was then relayed to siu leadership. ".

Physical strength. investigative analyst responsibilities often require "physical strength." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "police officers must be strong enough to physically apprehend suspects and to assist people in precarious situations." This resume example shows what investigative analysts do with physical strength on a typical day: "instructed the cashiering department to deliver and receive securities through dwac, dtc or physically. "

Communication skills. A commonly-found skill in investigative analyst job descriptions, "communication skills" is essential to what investigative analysts do. Investigative analyst responsibilities rely on this skill because "police and detectives must be able to speak with people and to express details in writing about an incident." You can also see how investigative analyst duties rely on communication skills in this resume example: "handled all communications with medicare carrier (msprc) regarding overpayment requests from the federal government. "

All investigative analyst skills

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Compare different investigative analysts

Investigative analyst vs. Credit officer

A credit officer is responsible for evaluating financial documents and account statements to determine the eligibility of an applicant for a loan option. Credit officers communicate with the applicant to discuss the loan process, explain the terms of service, and provide them alternative options that would fit their payment ability and loan needs. They create financial reports and recommend the qualified applicant to the manager for approval. A credit officer should have excellent communication and analytical skills, ensuring that the loan policies adhere to the federal and state regulations.

If we compare the average investigative analyst annual salary with that of a credit officer, we find that credit officers typically earn a $3,503 higher salary than investigative analysts make annually.Even though investigative analysts and credit officers are distinct careers, a few of the skills required for both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require anti-money laundering, strong analytical, and bank secrecy act in the day-to-day roles and responsibilities.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, investigative analyst responsibilities require skills like "criminal justice," "external stakeholders," "identify trends," and "management system." Meanwhile a typical credit officer has skills in areas such as "risk management," "credit risk," "credit analysis," and "real estate." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Credit officers really shine in the finance industry with an average salary of $120,621. Comparatively, investigative analysts tend to make the most money in the professional industry with an average salary of $117,323.On average, credit officers reach higher levels of education than investigative analysts. Credit officers are 6.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Investigative analyst vs. Credit administrator

A credit administrator oversees the credit operations in a company, ensuring efficiency and client satisfaction. They typically conduct research and analysis, handle credit portfolios, perform credit risk assessments, monitor credit accounts, validate requirements, evaluate applications, and develop strategies to optimize operations. A credit administrator may also perform a variety of clerical tasks such as preparing and processing documents, answering calls and correspondence, organizing information, and maintaining records. Moreover, they must lead and encourage staff to reach goals, all while enforcing and promoting the company's policies and regulations.

On average, credit administrators earn a $66,704 lower salary than investigative analysts a year.A few skills overlap for investigative analysts and credit administrators. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "anti-money laundering," "ach," and "financial statements. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real investigative analyst resumes. While investigative analyst responsibilities can utilize skills like "criminal justice," "external stakeholders," "identify trends," and "management system," credit administrators use skills like "credit card payments," "real estate," "customer service," and "loan portfolio."

Average education levels between the two professions vary. Credit administrators tend to reach similar levels of education than investigative analysts. In fact, they're 4.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Investigative analyst vs. Credit negotiator

A credit assistant is responsible for processing credit requests and assisting customers. They usually answer inquiries, explain procedures, provide instructions, and deal with customer concerns. In some companies, a credit assistant is also in charge of providing support to managers, supervisors, or investigators by preparing and processing documents, handling calls and correspondence, arranging appointments, and coordinating with different departments. They may also participate in training new employees.

On average, credit negotiators earn higher salaries than investigative analysts, with a $81,873 difference per year.

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from investigative analyst resumes include skills like "criminal justice," "external stakeholders," "anti-money laundering," and "identify trends," whereas a credit negotiator is more likely to list skills in "outbound calls," "consumer debt," "collection agencies," and "computer system. "

Credit negotiators typically earn lower educational levels compared to investigative analysts. Specifically, they're 6.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 4.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Investigative analyst vs. Credit assistant

Credit assistants tend to earn a lower pay than investigative analysts by an average of $92,234 per year.While their salaries may vary, investigative analysts and credit assistants both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "powerpoint," "data entry," and "ach. "While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "criminal justice," "external stakeholders," "anti-money laundering," and "identify trends" are skills that commonly show up on investigative analyst resumes. On the other hand, credit assistants use skills like customer service, credit card payments, past due accounts, and credit applications on their resumes.credit assistants enjoy the best pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $34,643. For comparison, investigative analysts earn the highest salary in the professional industry.In general, credit assistants hold lower degree levels compared to investigative analysts. Credit assistants are 5.9% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 2.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of investigative analyst

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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