Examiner’s Guide

The Examiner’s Guide is the central resource examiners use to understand and apply NCUA’s supervisory expectations. It provides practical, topic specific guidance that supports examiners in planning and conducting risk focused examinations, evaluating a credit union’s condition, and documenting supervisory conclusions. While examiners are the primary audience for the Guide, certain sections may be helpful to credit unions; however, it is not intended as a manual for them.

Designed to promote consistency in staff judgment, the Guide provides a framework for reaching conclusions about a credit union’s financial and operational condition, including CAMELS rating considerations. It also provides a consistent approach for evaluating the adequacy of a credit union’s relevant risk management processes.

The Guide is organized by topic. Each topic generally provides primary risks and risk mitigation standards, relevant legal or regulatory considerations, and procedures examiners may use when reviewing specific areas or performing supervisory activities. Supervisory guidance detailed in this Guide is not binding unless noted as required by law or regulation.

Scope and Use: The Examiner’s Guide is illustrative—not exhaustive—and does not direct the scope of an examination. Under NCUA’s risk focused supervision, examiners should identify areas of greatest risk and tailor their reviews. The procedures in this Guide are intended as a reference; examiners are not required to complete them. Examiners use their professional judgment to perform exam procedures as risk warrants to ensure compliance and safety and soundness.

NCUA updates sections of the Examiner's Guide on an ongoing basis. For those topics still under revision, the last published guidance is still in effect and is provided as a PDF. Click on any topic in the navigation pane to the left of the screen to explore a topic further.

Please visit the What’s New page for the latest updates to the Examiner's Guide.

This site provides access to the publicly available, redacted version of the Guide. The internal version may contain additional details intended solely for exam staff.

If you have questions or comments on the Examiner's Guide, please let us know at egsuggestions@ncua.gov.

Last updated July 28, 2026