Clarification from the agency

Open to IRS Career/Career-Conditional, Treasury/IRS CTAP & IRS RPP employees

The following are the duties of this position at the full working level. If this vacancy includes more than one grade and you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform these duties and receive training to help you grow in this position.

• Reviews and interprets federal legislation, rules, standards, and regulations pertaining to accounting and financial management.
• Analyzes and evaluates agency-wide accounting operations, policies, procedures, and systems for compliance with standards and internal controls.
• Participates in the design of and implements and assesses internal control processes and systems pertaining to agency-wide accounting and financial management activities.
• Prepares, analyzes, interprets, reviews, and presents accounting data, reports, and financial statements.Provides technical support to the financial statement audit.
• Applies cost accounting methodologies to agency-wide data and systems, in partnership with business units, to report the cost of major activities for management information purposes.

STANDARD POSITION DESCRIPTIONS (SPD): PD96893, PD95205, and PD95206
Visit the IRS SPD Library to access the position descriptions.

Conditions of employment

Qualifications

You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

QUALIFICATION REQUIRMENTS:
To qualify for this position, you must meet the qualification requirements outlined below:

BASIC REQUIREMENTS (IOR): To be minimally qualified for this position, you must meet the following basic requirements:

EDUCATION: A Degree in 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
COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: A combination of education and experience that includes 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 in 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.
OR
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, provided that you can demonstrate that you have successfully worked at the full-performance level in accounting, auditing, or a related field, and/or have the education, training, and experience that fully meets the specified requirements.

AND

EDUCATION/SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE FOR GS-07: In addition to the basic requirements, you must have one (1) year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-05 grade level in the Federal service.
Specialized experience for this position includes:

Demonstrated knowledge of accounting concepts; analytical methods and techniques applicable to administering mission-related accounting and financial management programs; rules, regulations and other guidance promulgated by governing federal accounting practices; and knowledge of and skill in data gathering techniques.
OR
You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows: One (1) full academic year of graduate level education in a related field of study such as accounting, business administration, finance, or public administration.
OR
Superior Academic Achievement. Superior Academic Achievement may be met by having a Bachelors degree, with one of the following: A GPA of 2.95 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all completed undergraduate courses or those completed in the last 2 years of study, or a GPA of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all courses in your major field of study or those courses in your major completed in the last 2 years of study, or rank in the upper one third of your class in the college, university, or major subdivision, or membership in a national honor society recognized by the Association of College Honor Societies
OR
You may qualify by a combination of experience and education.
EDUCATION/SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE FOR GS-09: In addition to the basic requirements, you must have one (1) year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-07 grade level in the Federal service.
Specialized experience for this position includes:

Demonstrated a knowledge of accounting principles and techniques; basic theories, techniques and practices of change management, project management, and business process re-engineering techniques and practices to improve quality effectiveness; analytical and evaluative methods applicable to the administering mission related accounting and financial management programs and knowledge of and skill in data gathering techniques; and a general knowledge of rules, regulations and other guidance promulgated by bodies governing federal accounting practices; and familiarity with the systems, concepts and regulations, and operations of a Federal program.
OR
You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows: Two (2) full academic years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's or equivalent graduate degree in a related field such as business administration, finance, or public administration that included or was supplemented by 24 semester hours in accounting.
OR
Master's or equivalent graduate degree in a related field of study such as accounting, auditing, finance, economics, business administration or other related fields from an accredited college or university.
OR
A combination of qualifying graduate education and experience equivalent to that described above.

EDUCATION/SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE FOR GS-11: In addition to the basic requirements, you must have one (1) year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service.
Specialized experience for this position includes:

Demonstrated knowledge of federal accounting principles and techniques; rules, regulations and other guidance promulgated by bodies governing federal accounting practices; theories, techniques and practices of change management, project management, and business process re-engineering techniques and practices to improve quality effectiveness; evaluative methods and techniques applicable to administering mission-related accounting and financial management programs to advise on the effectiveness and efficiency; analytical skills necessary to identify systematic issues and recommend operational changes; ability to analyze data, draw sound conclusions and develop concise solutions to problems; data gathering techniques and their use with technical program areas to ensure quality of analyses; and automated accounting systems and related systems (e.g., payroll) to ensure proper application of accounting standards and practices.
OR
You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows: Three (3) full academic years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph. D. or equivalent doctoral degree in a related field of study such as accounting, auditing, finance, economics, business administration or other related fields.
OR
Three (3) years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree in a related field such as business administration, finance, or public administration that included or was supplemented by 24 semester hours in accounting.
OR
Equivalent doctoral degree.
OR
A combination of qualifying graduate education and experience equivalent to that described above.
AND

You must also meet the following requirement(s):

• TIME AFTER COMPETITIVE APPOINTMENT (TACA): Current civilian employees must have completed at least 90 days of federal civilian service since their latest non-temporary appointment from a competitive referral certificate, known as time after competitive appointment. For this requirement, a competitive appointment is one where you applied to and were appointed from an announcement open to "All US Citizens".
• TIME IN GRADE (TIG): For positions above the GS-05,applicants must meet applicable time-in-­grade requirements to be considered eligible. One year (52 weeks) at the next lower grade level is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the grade you are applying for. For positions at the GS-5, you cannot advance to the GS-05 if you have held a GS-02 in the past 52 weeks. There is no TIG restriction for GS-02, 03, or 04 positions.For more information on qualifications please refer to OPM's Qualifications 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. Applicants who disqualify themselves will not be evaluated further.

You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

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

The USA Hire Assessments includes a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

Rating: Your application will be evaluated in accordance with the Service's Merit Promotion Plan. A quality group rating will be used to rank and select eligible candidates. If qualified, you will be assigned to one of three quality level groups, Superior/Best Qualified, Highly Qualified and Qualified Referral: Eligible applicants rated in the highest quality group, may be referred to a selecting official for consideration. Candidates, if required to participate in a selection interview (telephonic and/or in person at the discretion of the Selecting Official in accordance with hiring practices), will be interviewed in quality group order. We will not reimburse costs related to the interview such as travel to and from the interview site.

Performance Appraisal and Awards - Will not be used in determining your overall rating. Any performance appraisal/evaluation and award documentation you provide will be forwarded to the selecting official. The selecting official will review this documentation and give it due weight consideration during the overall selection process. IRS employees may obtain their most recent awards listing at https://persinfo.web.irs.gov/.

If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee (eligible for the Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), you must receive a score of Highly Qualified orbetter to be rated as "well qualified" to receive special selection priority.