Clarification from the agency

Current, permanent employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs and CTAP eligible only

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The Accountant position is located in a VA Medical Center within the Midsouth Healthcare Network (VISN 9). The Accountant is organizationally aligned within the Fiscal Service. The major duties of this position include but are not limited to:

• Displays knowledge of and applies new and old VA accounting principles, concepts, and methodologies to routine day to day operations.
• Receives data submitted to finance, analyze for accuracy, and record in accordance with policy by processing appropriate transactions.
• Maintains accurate financial records and validates data through the completion of periodic reconciliations.
• Provides back-up support and training to Accounting Technicians and other Accountants.
• Communicates efficiently/effectively with external customers as well as internal Finance staff.
• Periodically completes reports for management or other stakeholders. Promptly notifies management of irregularities.
• Builds and maintain healthy working relationships with internal and external customers.
• Obtains access to and safeguards data provided in financial and subsidiary systems.
• Responsible for maintaining appropriate daily transactions and updating records, subsidiary journals, operating ledger accounts, and fund control points.
• Assists with the internal and external audits and reviews.

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: Monday - Friday | 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM CST
Telework: This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.
Virtual: This is a virtual position-Must comply with the RTO and report to the closest VA facility
Position Description/PD#: Accountant/PD70293A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
• 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 identification 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, 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, 05/29/2026.

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-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7.
• For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9.

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.

• Examples of appropriate SF-50s include:
  • Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or
  • Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or
  • SF-50s at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.

Individual Occupational Requirements: This occupation also has Individual Occupational Requirements. The education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained. To qualify for the GS 0510 occupational series, applicants MUST have one of the following:

A. Degree: accounting; 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. (The term "accounting" means "accounting and/or auditing" in this standard. Similarly, "accountant" should be interpreted, generally, as "accountant and/or auditor.")

OR

B. Combination of education and experience: 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. The applicant's background must also include one of the following:

1. Twenty-four semester hours in accounting or auditing courses of appropriate type and quality. This can include up to 6 hours of business law;
2. A certificate as Certified Public Accountant or a Certified Internal Auditor, obtained through written examination; or
3. Completion of the requirements for a degree that included substantial course work in accounting or auditing, e.g., 15 semester hours, but that does not fully satisfy the 24-semester-hour requirement of paragraph A, provided that (a) the applicant has successfully worked at the full-performance level in accounting, auditing, or a related field, e.g., valuation engineering or financial institution examining; (b) a panel of at least two higher level professional accountants or auditors has determined that the applicant has demonstrated a good knowledge of accounting and of related and underlying fields that equals in breadth, depth, currency, and level of advancement that which is normally associated with successful completion of the 4-year course of study described in paragraph A; and (c) except for literal nonconformance to the requirement of 24 semester hours in accounting, the applicant's education, training, and experience fully meet the specified requirements.

ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: In addition to the Time-in-Grade Requirement and Individual Occupational Requirement, you must also meet the specialized experience/education requirement as described below to qualify for the Accountant position at the GS-7/9/11 grade levels.

Specialized Experience for GS-9, GS-11 is defined as:

• Applying professional accounting theories, concepts, practices, principles, methods and techniques to programming, budgeting and financial systems.
• Utilizing analytical tools and research techniques to solve accounting issues and providing recommendations for improvement.
• Knowledge and experience maintaining fund accounts.
• Preparing financial statements and reports.
• Monitoring, analyzing, and reconciling a variety of accounting reports, ledgers and data utilizing financial management and automated accounting systems.
• Advising and presenting briefings on finances.
• Developing and providing training on queries to standard systems and the use of individual applications.
• Project management and delegating assignments to accounting staff.
• Reviewing the work of accounting staff to assure accuracy and conformity to policy and procedure and providing feedback for improvement.
• Collaborating with systems personnel on designing automated systems to facilitate the processing of data;
• Planning and coordinating accounting closeouts or reorganization events.

GS-9 QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT

GS-9 SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must have one year of specialized experience as stated above equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.
OR
EDUCATION: 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree.
OR
COMBINATION OF SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this GS 09 level.

GS-11 QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT

GS-11 SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.
OR
EDUCATION: 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree
OR
COMBINATION OF SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION: You must have one year of specialized experience as stated above equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.


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.

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following Competencies for this position:

• Accountability
• Arithmetic/Mathematical Reasoning
• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. 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. IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

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.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.