Clarification from the agency

This position is open to Wilkes-Barre VAMC facility employees only.

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• Serves in a developmental capacity at the Medical Center.
• Accomplishes a prescribed agenda of formal/informal training, rotational job assignments, and self-development. Performs developmental assignments involving the review and processing of accounting documents.
• Assists in maintaining, analyzing and reconciling general ledgers and subsidiary ledgers.
• Assists in preparing related reports and in initiating corrective actions.
• Provides advice and assistance to technicians, analysts and clerical personnel on transactions requiring professional accounting determinations.
• Maintains liaison with serviced activities, providing advice on availability of funds, reporting methods and account reconciliations.
• Participates with higher grade accountants in furnishing assistance and advice to operating elements, recommending solutions to problems, and devising new or alternative procedures for accounting or related functions involving analysis of accounting operations.
• Studies and charts the flow of accounting documents.
• Observes and reports on prevailing practices concerning the treatment of selected transactions.
• Analyzes current procedures and systems to determine if improvement or simplification is needed.
• Studies, analyzes and interprets manuals and other accounting regulations from higher authority and discusses their application with supervisor.
• In a developmental capacity, will work to gather and analyze data from a variety of sources.
• Coordinates with specialists in other units of the Comptroller or affected elements of the Command and serviced activities to develop corrective approaches to problem situations.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

Work Schedule: 7:00 am to 3:30 pm, Monday thru Friday
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Accountant/PD02645S, PD02646S, and PD02647S

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/11/2026.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07.For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09.The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade.



You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: providing professional level skill in analyzing and reconciling a variety of accounts and transactions; formulating a variety of financial reports; preparing procedural instructions to be used in the development or modification of automated accounting systems; resolving differences between the general ledger and subsidiary accounts; entering, modifying, retrieving, and deleting information in an automated accounting system .

AND;
Education: Degree inaccounting; or a degree in a related field such as business administration, finance, or public administration that included or was supplemented by 24 semester hours in accounting. The 24 hours may include up to 6 hours of credit in business law.

OR

• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education. Must have at least 4 years of experience in accounting, or an equivalent combination of accounting experience, college-level education, and training that provided professional accounting knowledge..

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Accounting Operations
• Communications
• Planning and Evaluating
• Principles of Accounting

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Physical Requirements: : The work is primarily sedentary. Employee must be able to get around the office and to other offices; no significant physical ability or exertion is required.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

How you will be evaluated

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

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.