Accountant

Full Job Description

This position is located in the Finance Service of the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center.

The functional duties of this position are to perform the full range of professional accounting work requiring the application of sound accounting principles, theories, concepts, and practices.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/17/2026.

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-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. 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.

Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

Preferred Experience: Experience in an accounting office performing various accounting responsibilities.

Basic Requirements: To meet the basic requirements for the Accountant position, you must meet one of the following: 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 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: Twenty-four semester hours in accounting or auditing courses of appropriate type and quality.

This can include up to 6 hours of business law; A certificate as Certified Public Accountant or a Certified Internal Auditor, obtained through written examination; or 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.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-7 Qualification requirements: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Professional, comprehensive, knowledge of theories, practices, methods, and techniques of accounting and organizational or program practices, policies, and functions sufficient to: Independently plan and conduct a variety of assignments and utilize accounting systems or adapt conventional accounting and analytical techniques to solve a variety of accounting problems; OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience.

To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 1 year of graduate-level education or superior academic achievement; OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level.

GS-9 Qualification requirements: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Professional, comprehensive knowledge of theories, practices, methods, and techniques of accounting; and organizational or program practices, policies, and functions sufficient to independently plan and conduct a variety of assignments and analyze accounting systems or modify and adapt conventional accounting an analytical techniques to solve a variety of accounting problems.

Advanced knowledge of VA programs and their governing statues, regulations, and practices sufficient to perform accounting assignments using generally accepted Government accounting methods and techniques.

Knowledge of computerized systems utilized to prepare documents, reports, cost comparisons, usage in data analysis.

Knowledge of appropriations, costing structures and regulations governing these requirements; OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience.

To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree; OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level.

GS-11 Qualification requirements: 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.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Professional, comprehensive knowledge of theories, practices, methods, and techniques of accounting; and organizational or program practices, policies, and functions sufficient to: Independently plan and conduct a variety of assignments; Analyze accounting systems or modify and adapt conventional accounting an analytical techniques to solve a variety of accounting problems; OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience.

To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D.

or equivalent doctoral degree; OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level.

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/.

Major Duties:

Reviews the work of Accounting Technicians to assure accuracy and conformity to policy and procedures, instructing them when necessary on proper methods and assigns projects to be accomplished.

Reviews report media, directs and/or prepares and analyzes internal and external statements and reports. Prepares operating changes when revisions are required.

Assignments involve verifying reports with source documents and records, reconciling accounts, investigating to determine if transactions are in accordance with pertinent laws and regulations.

Applies a professional knowledge of accounting theories, principles, practices, and automated systems.

Analyzes and evaluates current general accounting methods and procedures in terms of adequacy and effectiveness; recommends changes, modifications and improvements in operating procedures.

Utilizes a large body of guidelines, regulations and statutory requirements to identify such accounting problems as: inadequate maintenance of fund control, inaccurate records and reports, and lack of documentary evidence to support the performance of regulatory reconciliations.

Required to perform research to determine and certify the availability of funds.

The accountant advises managers on the pertinence of accounting data to program operations; advises on the fiscal management of program operations; and promotes efficiency in the distribution, reallocation and use of different fund categories.

Works closely with systems personnel on the design of automated systems to facilitate the processing of accounting data to assure the results attained meet all accounting requirements.

Makes day-to-day decisions regarding unusual and complex accounting transactions.

Available to consult on solution of management problems and to provide alternatives through sound application of professional knowledge of the accounting system.

Assists in designing, developing and installing accounting forms and adapting same to meet the requirements of special activities and conditions.

Plans, coordinates and performs one-time/recurring comprehensive reviews, special studies and selective internal examinations of finance and accounting functions.

Analyze program operations in relation to financial management systems; analyze trends in accounting systems and their significance to ongoing programs and commercial operations; resolve problems arising within the accounting system or program operation, and determining the need for program redesign, modification and change in system hardware, software or programming.

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 8:00am - 4:30pm Telework: This position is authorized for ad hoc telework.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Accountant/PD10319A, 10320A, 10321A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized