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Accounting Technician

Department of Justice
Justice, Bureau of Prisons/Federal Prison System
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Why work for the Federal Bureau of Prisons?

You can have a meaningful career with an agency that truly values a diverse workforce. You will find a diverse workforce employed from entry level jobs to senior management positions. We protect public safety by ensuring federal offenders serve their sentences of imprisonment in facilities that are safe, humane, and provide reentry programming. Employees at correctional facilities perform correctional work regardless of their specific occupation.

Overview

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Job canceled
Open & closing dates
09/22/2021 to 10/14/2021
Salary
$47,444 to - $64,775 per year
Pay scale & grade
GL 06 - 07
Location
Prince George, VA
1 vacancy
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Travel may be required for training and/or work related issues.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
07
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
Yes
Announcement number
PET-2021-0052
Control number
614966300

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

• BOP Employees nationwide • DOJ Surplus and Displaced (CTAP) Employees in the local commuting area. • Duty Location: FCC Petersburg, VA

Duties

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Primary duties encompass monitoring the obligation status of the Salaries and Expenses (S&E) appropriation, the Buildings and Facilities (B&F) appropriation, Trust Fund Operations, and Inmate Deposit fund accounting. The incumbent is responsible for providing administrative and financial support services and maintaining the daily status of accounting data reflected in the Financial Management Information System (FMIS).

Manages purchase orders, contracts, travel authorizations, government transportation requests, and other source documents and assures they are obligated against the proper appropriated and non-appropriated funds. Reviews documents for coding accuracy and ensures accurate and timely entry into the on-line accounting system.

Maintains automated obligation records and source documents on a daily basis. Prepares, reconciles, and ensures funds are available for obligation accruals, adjusts accruals in the month and quarter in which the obligation is incurred and ensures accurate entry into automated accounting system. Recording of the obligations into undelivered orders and/or accounts payable shall be performed in accordance with GAO Title 7 and other government-wide accounting standards and in conformance with applicable auditing standards.

Perform travel functions in the FMIS Travel Module such as establishing a Travel Authorization (obligation), issuing Travel Advances and preparing Travel Vouchers.

Resolve Travel Advance problems at time of settlement due to the restraints of the module. Research and follow-up will be required when reconciling the Travel Advance account.

Assists in the preparation of monthly account reconciliations and adjustments of accounts for prior year appropriations. Work will involve the Building and Facilities Appropriation, the Trust Fund, the Salaries and Expenses Appropriation, and various multi-year appropriations.

Along with all other correctional institution employees, incumbent is charged with responsibility for maintaining security of the institution. The staffs correctional responsibilities precede all others required by this position and are performed on a regular and recurring basis.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • U.S. Citizenship is Required.
  • See Special Conditions of Employment Section.

The Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provides eligible surplus and displaced competitive service employees in the Department of Justice with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. If your Department of Justice component has notified you in writing that you are a surplus or displaced employee eligible for CTAP eligibility, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your CTAP eligibility; 2) you apply under the instructions in this announcement; and 3) you are found well qualified for this vacancy. To be well qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and score 85 or better on established ranking criteria. You must provide a copy of your written notification of CTAP eligibility with your application. Additional information about CTAP eligibility is at: Click Here

Qualifications

To be considered for the position, you must meet the following qualification requirements:

Education:

GL-06 and GL-07: As a general rule, education is not creditable above GL-5 for most positions covered by this standard; however, graduate education may be credited in those few instances where the graduate education is directly related to the work of the position.

OR

Experience:

GL-06 and GL-07: You must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the next lower grade level. To be creditable, this experience must have equipped the applicant with the particular qualifications to successfully perform the duties of the position.

Some examples of this qualifying experience are:

GL-06:

  • Experience in using and understanding accounting terminology and account codes relating to an automated system.
  • Experience in reconciling accounts; preparing reports or schedules reflecting the status of funds within each account. Locating and summarizing information from files and documents as required.
  • Experience performing balancing, reconciling of detail and reporting and summary information within and between related accounts and records as necessary and creating correspondence to general questions related to financial information.
  • Experience validating, monitoring, controlling, and maintaining accounting transactions and accounting records using a variety of procedures.
  • Experience researching discrepancies between ledgers and making adjustments; and reconciling detailed listing of outstanding transactions to general ledger control accounts.

GL-07:

  • Experience in validating, monitoring, controlling and maintaining transactions and accounting records for multiple accounts.
  • Experience in maintaining control accounts and subsidiary accounts.
  • Experience in processing accounting transactions for a wide variety of functions including obligations, accrued expenditures, disbursements, appropriation refunds, reimbursable orders, earnings, collections, expenditure vouchers, cost transfers, rejected transactions, inter-fund bills, and other accounts in connection with the general ledger.

If applicable, credit will be given for paid and unpaid experience. To receive proper credit, you must show the actual time (such as the number of hours worked per week) spent in activities.

**Your eligibility for consideration will be based on your responses to the questions in the application.**

Education

 See Qualifications Section for education requirements, if applicable.

ONLY if education is a requirement/substitution for specialized experience, applicant MUST upload legible transcripts as verification of educational requirement. Transcripts MUST be uploaded and electronically linked from USAJOBS at the time you apply and MUST include identifying information to include School Name, Student Name, Degree and Date Awarded (if applicable). All academic degrees and coursework must be completed at a college or university that has obtained accreditation or pre-accreditation status from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools that meet this criteria, Click Here.

Foreign Education: For information regarding foreign education requirements, please see Foreign Diploma and Credit Recognition at the U.S. Department of Education website: Recognition of Foreign Qualifications

If you are selected for this position and qualified based on education (i.e. basic education requirement and/or substitution of education), you will be required to provide an OFFICIAL transcript prior to your first day on duty.

Additional information

This position IS included in the bargaining unit.

In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 3307, a maximum entry age of 36 has been established for initial appointment to a position in a Bureau of Prisons institution.  

The representative rate for this position is $55,736 per annum ($26.71 per hour).

Special Conditions of Employment Section:

Appointment is subject to satisfactory completion of a urinalysis, physical, and background investigation.  All applicants are subject to National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and credit checks.

All applicants not currently working in an institution will be required to complete a qualification inquiry regarding convictions of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence in order to be authorized to carry a firearm.

The Core Value Assessment (CVA) is an in-person assessment that must be facilitated at a Bureau of Prisons Human Resource Servicing office.  On the day of the scheduled interview, a CVA will be administered.  The applicant assessment must be completed within a 70 minute time period and a passing score must be obtained.  Further employment consideration will not be extended if the applicant fails to complete the examination or fails to achieve a passing score.  Note: The Core Value Assessment will not be administered to current BOP employees.

Successful completion of the "Introduction to Correctional Techniques," three-week training course at Glynco, Georgia is required.

The addresses listed on the USAJOBS account/resume must be the primary residence at the time of application.  You may be required to provide proof of residence.

Additional selections may be made if vacancies occur within the life of the certificate.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

If your composite score exceeds the average score for this job, your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your online assessment questionnaire responses and utilized to determine whether you meet the job qualifications listed in this announcement.  If you rate yourself higher than what is supported by your application materials, your responses may be adjusted and/or you may be excluded from consideration for this job.  If you are found to be among the top candidates, you will be referred to the selecting official for employment consideration.

There are several parts of the application process that affect the overall evaluation of your application:

  • Your resume, which is part of your USAJOBS profile;
  • Your responses to the eligibility questions;
  • Your responses to the online assessment questionnaire;
  • Your supporting documentation, if required.

Time-in-Grade:  Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements for consideration.  You must meet all qualification requirements upon the closing date of this announcement.

If you applied to more than one grade level, BE ADVISED that you may be selected at ANY grade level for which you applied and are found qualified (i.e., if the job is announced at the 9/11 grade levels and you apply for the GS/GL-9 and the GS-11,and you are found qualified at BOTH grade levels, you may be selected at either grade level).

What Competencies/Knowledge, Skills and Abilities are Required for this Position?

The following Competencies/Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA's) are required:

GL-06 and GL-07:

  • Ability to communicate orally.
  • Ability to communicate in writing.
  • Ability to interpret and apply financial policies, procedures, and guidelines.
  • Knowledge of accepted accounting principles.
  • Ability to organize and maintain records and filing systems.
  • Ability to work with data on a computer and other office equipment.

To preview questions please click here.

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