Accountant

This Accountant position is with Immediate Office of the Assistant Secretary for Management (Department of Veterans Affairs) in Phoenix, AZ. This position is located in the Administrative and Loan Accounting Center (ALAC), Austin, TX. ALAC provides financial management support services to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). This includes support for both Loan Guaranty Accounting and Centralized Administrative Accounting for VBA Regional and field offices (referred to as stations). Key duties: • Major Duties: Prepare, examine, and analyze accounting records and financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting/procedural standards. Provide internal financial documents to supervisor and higher levels of management for internal/external controls over operations. Maintain and ensure the accuracy of accounting record documents and reconciling the general ledger and subsidiary accounts. Establish and maintain constructive and cooperative working relationships with people at all levels. Perform monthly reconciliations between the general ledger and various subsidiary systems. 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 thru Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Yes Telework: Yes, as determined by agency policy. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: PD10009A, PD10010A, and PD10011A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary requiring occasional lifting of small packages. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be found well qualified, applicants must meet the following qualifications: GS-09 - Applicants must demonstrate experience: Applying generally accepted accounting principles, practices, and techniques to perform accounting assignments with supervisory guidance. Reviewing, validating, maintaining, or processing accounting data and transactions in accordance with established policies, procedures, and regulations. Identifying and resolving routine discrepancies in accounting records, transactions, or financial data. GS-11 - Applicants must demonstrate experience: Applying generally accepted accounting principles, practices, and techniques to independently perform complex accounting assignments with limited supervision. Compiling, analyzing, reconciling, and summarizing accounting data resulting from day-to-day accounting operations. Maintaining the integrity of financial accounts and preparing financial statements or reports in accordance with established accounting standards, policies, procedures, and regulations. Identifying and resolving discrepancies or errors affecting accounting records and financial reporting. GS-12 - Applicants must demonstrate experience: Interpreting and applying accounting principles, standards, policies, and procedures to independently perform complex accounting operations. Validating and analyzing complex accounting data, reconciling accounts, preparing financial reports or statements, and investigating and correcting out-of-balance conditions. Evaluating or assisting with the design and implementation of internal accounting controls to ensure the accuracy, validity, and integrity of accounting processes and financial data. Applying accounting and analytical techniques to resolve complex accounting problems and recommending improvements to accounting processes, controls, or organizational efficiency. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. Local Commuting Area: The local commuting area for this position is defined as being within 50 miles of available VA office space. Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/17/2026. 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. For a GS-09 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07 level. For a GS-11 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09 level. For a GS-12 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11 level. 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 some former Federal employees applying for reinstatement, as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. See the Required Document section below for more information regarding the SF-50s needed to verify time-in-grade. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Individual Occupational Requirements: This position includes an Individual Occupation Requirement. Individual Occupational Requirements are requirements e.g., experience or education, for particular occupational series or positions within a series and are used in conjunction with a group coverage (generic) standard. Applicants who do not meet the Individual Occupational Requirements are ineligible for further consideration. A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. 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. AND You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience GS-09: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Applying generally accepted accounting principles, practices, and techniques to perform accounting assignments with supervisory oversight. Validating, maintaining, or processing accounting data or transactions in accordance with policies, procedures, and regulations. 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. Specialized Experience GS-11: 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: Applying generally accepted accounting principles, practices, and techniques to independently perform accounting assignments of a more complex nature with limited supervision, Utilizing established accounting standards to compile, analyze, and summarize accounting data resulting from day-to-day accounting operations, Maintaining the integrity of financial accounts and/or, preparing financial statements and/or reports in accordance with policies, procedures, and regulations. 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. Specialized Experience GS-12: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Interpreting and applying accounting principles, policies, and procedures in day-to-day accounting operations. Independently validating a variety of complex accounting data, reconciling accounts, preparing reports/statement, investigating, and correcting out-of-balance conditions Assisting in designing, implementing, and assessing internal accounting control processes ensuring the validity, accuracy, and integrity of accounting processes Applying conventional accounting and analytical techniques to independently solve accounting problems and making recommendations for improvements/enhanced organizational efficiency. Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond the graduate level that exceeds the amount required for the next lower grade. 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. View the full announcement and apply on USAJOBS.gov.