Duties

Summary

This position is located in Office of Finance and Accounting (OF&A) in The Smithsonian Institution. The employee is responsible for the planning, developing, implementing and evaluating financial management and accounting policy, systems, and processes.

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Responsibilities

• Responsible for significant portions of broad financial management projects and studies relating to planning, developing, implementing and evaluating financial management and accounting policy, systems, processes, methods and procedures affecting the Department, the Office and/or the SI community at large to enable and ensure the timely and effective collection and delivery of financial information
• Participate in or lead working groups addressing new/improved approaches to SI's financial management systems, system integration, and quality assurance. Ensure automated systems are integrated, function with overall financial systems and/or processes meet functional needs while also ensuring both trust and federal requirements are met
• Utilize broad knowledge of financial management systems to analyze current processes to ensure reports, queries, etc. meet the needs of the office and SI as a whole. Identify areas of improvement; develop systems requirements for new and/or revised reporting requirements; collaborate with Chief Information Officer's group to ensure reports/queries are developed. Test solutions to ensure reports/queries are performing as intended

Travel Required

Occasional travel - May require occasional local or domestic travel.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
13

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered with Selective Service
• U.S. Citizenship is required
• Maintain a Bank Account for Direct Deposit/Electronic Transfer
• May need to complete a Probationary Period
• Pass Pre-employment Background Investigation

Qualifications

To qualify at this GS-13 grade level, you must have at least one FULL year specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 grade level. For this position, specialized experience is defined as experience: 1) Monitoring and correcting account relationships and trial balance anomalies; 2) Reconciling data between financial and reporting systems; 3) Preparing organization information for the Financial Reporting Package, including the applicable Financial Statements and Footnote data; 4) Analyzing, explaining, and correcting financial statement variances; 5) Analyzing compliance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP); and 6) Utilizing a comprehensive knowledge of common Government Accountability Office (GAO), OMB, Treasury, and Departmental standards and regulations to prepare financial and accounting reports, execute financial transactions, and implement internal controls

There is no substitution of education for experience at the GS-13 level.

Additional qualification information can be found from the following Office of Personnel Management website:
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/#url=GS-PROF

Individual Occupational Requirements link:
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0500/accounting-series-0510/
All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

Applicants must meet the following basic education requirements of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualifications Standards Manual:

In addition to the Specialized Experience requirement for this position, applicants must meet the Education Requirements described below:

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.

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 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.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You must submit your transcripts or other documents to verify that you meet this educational requirement.

Additional information

Flexible Spending Accounts - https://www.fsafeds.com/
Health Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/index.asp
Leave - http://www.opm.gov/oca/leave/index.asp
Life Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/life/index.asp
Long Term Care Insurance - http://www.ltcfeds.com
Retirement Program - https://www.opm.gov/retirement-services/

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above. The applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:

• Knowledge of and skill in applying federal financial regulations, laws, procedures and budget processes, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and/or fund accounting in not-for-profit or U.S. federal accounting
• Knowledge of and skill appplying automated accounting systems design practices and limitations to identify potential system issues and to discuss and/or describe possible automated solutions
• Knowledge of and skill applying financial analysis methods and techniques, mathematical/cost models, qualitative and quantitative analytical procedures
• Skill in oral and written communication to disseminate complex concepts, clearly and concisely.

Applicants who meet or exceed minimum qualifications will be assigned to one of three category groups based on job-related criteria: Best Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and excels in most of the job related competencies above. Better Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and satisfies most of the job related competencies above. Good Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements, but does not satisfy most of the job related competencies above to a substantive degree. This category rating process does not add veterans' preference points or apply the "rule of three", but protects the rights of veterans by placing them ahead of non-preference eligibles within each category. A selecting official may make selections from the highest quality category (Best Category) provided no preference eligible in that category is passed over to select a non-preference eligible in that category unless the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 3317(b) or 3318(b) are satisfied. Preference eligibles who meet minimum qualification requirements and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent must be listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-9 grade level or higher. Applicants who have not submitted a resume in the USAjobs system and/or have not answered all of the vacancy questions will not be considered for this position.

Important Note:

Your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses to the occupational questionnaire or other assessment tool for consistency. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Your resume should provide sufficient information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Not Required

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

Your application package should include the following documents:

• Resume - Your resume can be uploaded and attached to your application or created using the USA Jobs on-line resume builder. If you want to receive full credit for relevant experience your resume MUST contain the job title (including the occupational series and grade if it is Federal), duties, starting and ending dates (month and year), hours worked per week, and salary.
  
  USAJOBS has guidance on how to ensure that you submit a complete resume: If you have not written a Federal resume before, you may watch this Resume Writing Tutorial video on the USAJOBS YouTube channel , or read through a helpful Resume Writing FAQ article on the USAJOBS Help Site to learn what details you should, and should not, include in your resume. If any of the above information is not included in your resume we may not be able to fully credit you for your experience.
  
• Proof of Veteran's Preference - DD214 (Member 4 Copy), if you are a veteran. Additionally, applicants claiming 10-point preference must complete Standard Form (SF) 15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference, as well as additional documentation required by the SF-15, such as a VA letter.
• Unofficial school transcripts, if the position has an education requirement or if you are using education to qualify. If selected for the position, you must provide an official transcript before appointment.
• Proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study, if applicable.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.