Financial Clerical and Assistance

What the Numbers Say About Financial Clerical and Assistance

Federal agencies employ 6,600 people in the Financial Clerical and Assistance occupation (OPM code 503), accounting for 0.3% of the total federal civilian workforce of 2,289,472 for the March 2025 reporting window. Headcount in this occupation moved down by -6.1% versus the prior period, a useful gauge for job seekers on USAJOBS trying to assess whether this role is expanding government-wide or contracting under hiring freezes and attrition.

Financial Clerical and Assistance pays $57,729 per year on average, 47.5% below the $109,869 federal civilian average, after moving up 3.7% from the prior period (a broad shift as locality pay tables and grade-level adjustments moved through the workforce). Employees in this role stay an average of 10.2 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career.

Financial Clerical and Assistance sits inside the Accounting and Budget Group family (code 5), which contains 18 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Financial Clerical and Assistance postings should also review these sibling occupations, since federal hiring managers often cross-post positions across closely related codes when recruitment is difficult. All figures here come directly from OPM FedScope Employment Cubes, the same official source referenced in federal workforce planning, budget justifications, and GAO reports.

Inside the Accounting and Budget Group family (18 occupations, 124,386 employees combined), Financial Clerical and Assistance holds the #7 spot by headcount, a 5.3% share of the family total. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (33rd percentile) of pay among Accounting and Budget Group occupations.