Staff Accountant

Full Job Description

Incumbent is an Accountant at the VA Central Ohio Healthcare System in Columbus, OH. The medical system is comprised of one hospital campus, and four Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs).

The position is aligned in the Accounting Section of the Fiscal Service.

Fiscal Service performs professional and technical accounting work and provides advisory financial services that affect a major regional healthcare presence.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/17/2026.

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-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.

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.

Individual Occupational Requirement: 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".

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: 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 CPA or a CIA, 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: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: validate a variety of accounting data, reconcile accounts and prepare balance sheets, supply financial statements, plan and conduct studies to determine the requirement for updated financial information, interpret reports and other financial data for program review and analysis, assist management officials in interpreting and applying recorded financial data for management decisions, and establish and maintain local accounting systems for centralized programs.

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 (Transcript required). OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level.

You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond 1 year of graduate-level education is creditable.

(Transcript required) 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..

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: Work is mostly sedentary but requires considerable typing, walking, speaking on the phone with individuals and in group settings, and working at a computer.

May be required to stand, bend, or carry items such as papers, books, and files.The work involves coping with complex, persistent demands from a variety of sources that can be regarded as high-pressure work situations.

Work sometimes requires long hours to meet project deadlines and to devise corrective action for unexpected technical crises.

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:

Duties include but are not limited to providing systems analysis, advice, and design regarding Financial Management and Accounting systems used by VA; assisting Healthcare System customers with various construction accounting inquiries; reconciling financial reports; taking corrective action on financial system issues or reporting errors; provide training to Fiscal and Healthcare System staff; and participating in the financial system(s) annual close out.

As an Accountant, the incumbent performs analytical, evaluative, and interpretive duties on any accounting matter related to the above functions.

The incumbent provides technical expertise to accounting staff, as well as an adviser to higher management throughout the facility on service line activities.

The incumbent will apportion their time reviewing existing systems and workflow procedures to identify discrepancies from system use and review opportunities to validate and improve systems and recommend solutions to national system developers.

The VA Accounting System utilizes a computerized double-entry method of recording transactions in accounts that are maintained on the accrual basis.

The system encompasses the full range of separate, yet integrated units of General Ledger accounts, involving the following classes of accounts: current assets, fixed assets, accrued assets, current liabilities, accrued liabilities, capital, current income, accrued income, current expenses, accrued expenses, depreciation, various budgetary and statistical accounts, Supply Fund accounts, Deposit and Trust accounts, cost accounts, allotment control point accounts, analysis accounts, cost centers, and budget object codes.

These accounts are adapted and augmented to meet the specific requirements of a government agency.

Accounting systems are decentralized in order that accounts may be maintained adjacent to management where data is useful in day-to-day operations; however, systems are centralized in total using automated data processing equipment with feedback data to local management as well as the agency level.

At present, the VA is using the Financial Management System (FMS).

FMS provides for the classifying, recording, and analyzing of valuable information such as a basis for financial planning, data for evaluating performance, the cost of carrying out responsibilities, and the status or financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, the data also enables the safeguarding of public funds and resources as well as assuring compliance with applicable laws.

FMS is also used to process and record obligation and expenditure transactions for major and minor construction projects.

The VA is in the process of transitioning to the integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System (iFAMS).

Most of the daily workload is completed by the processing of local accounting information using automated programs such as IFCAP (Integrated Funds Distribution Control Point Accounting and Procedure), AR (Accounts Receivable), MAXIMO (Fixed Assets), IPPS (Invoice Payment Processing System), FMS at the Financial Service Center in Austin, Texas.

The incumbent will use tools such as macros for formatting reports and uploading transactions and use computer programs such as excel to promote efficiency and accuracy.

The incumbent must be familiar with using web-based reporting systems, such as Roger Software Development (RSD).

The incumbent must possess advanced accounting skills and knowledge to extract information from this complex system.

All of the aforementioned issues and technology have brought about tremendous increases in the duties and responsibilities of the incumbent's position.

The job now requires significantly more skills and knowledge of a wide variety of computer software packages and programs, specific accounting formulas and equations used for calculating accruals and allowances, specialized methods of determining equipment types and numerous procedures for processing the various types of appropriated and non-appropriated funds.

Work Schedule: 8:00am-4:30pm, Monday-Friday Telework: Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Staff Accountant/PD91758A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized