Summary The Accountant is responsible for the detailed and efficient operation and control of day-to-day fiscal activities at this facility. The incumbent must be experienced in applying professional concepts and methodologies as well as knowledgeable in functional program characteristics and requirements. Responsibilities 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. Major duties include, but are not limited to: Plans, establishes, and maintains a commercial-type double entry accounting system covering several appropriations and programs. Develops and maintains controls as may be necessary to assure that accounting records accurately reflect the financial condition of the medical center. Responsible for maintaining appropriate daily transactions and updating records, subsidiary journals, operating ledger accounts and fund control points. Responsible for verifying, analyzing, and/or reconciling a large number of computer generated reports validating general ledger control accounts to their related subsidiary records maintained in Fiscal, Logistics, Engineering, Voluntary Services, etc. Responsible for the preparation, analysis, and submission of a variety of financial statements and reports to local management, VACO management, and other agencies or organizations Develops and furnishes selected accounting date and/or comparative analysis as requested by management or thought useful. Responsible for training new IFCAP and FMS users both inside and outside of Fiscal Service, trouble shooting when problems occur and generating specialized reports for management. Work Schedule: Monday- Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm Telework: Available, determined by agency policy Remote: Available for Highly, Qualified Applicants, will be discussed during interview process. Position Description Title/PD#: Accountant/PD081220 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. Some light lifting, bending and stooping may be required to maintain office files. Work may also require walking and standing in conjunction with travel to and from meetings and conferences away from the worksite. 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. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. Basic Requirements: 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: 1. 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 2. 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. NOTE: CANDIDATES MUST SUBMIT AN UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT OF CONFERRED DEGREE BY THE ANNOUNCEMENT CLOSING. LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: In addition to the Individual Occupational Requirements, you must also meet specialized experience as described below to qualify for the Accountant position at the GS-9, and/or GS-11 grade level. GS-9 QUALIFICATIONS GS-9 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. Specialized experience 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; providing training on queries to standard systems and the use of individual applications; project management and delegating assignments to accounting staff; collaborating with systems personnel on designing automated systems to facilitate the processing of data; planning and coordinating accounting closeouts or reorganization events. 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 QUALIFICATIONS 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. Specialized experience 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. 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: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this GS 11 level. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Principles of Accounting Building and Construction Critical Thinking Interpersonal Skills Problem Solving 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. 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/. Education Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. Additional Information VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be well-qualified, applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors if applicable, and must be proficient in most of the requirements of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website which can be found at https://www.opm.gov/. Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.