Duties

Summary

NEH is an independent grant-making agency of the government dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities.

The Accounting Office is responsible for processing administrative and program payments, providing external and internal reports, and maintaining the integrity of the accounting records for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

Multiple selections may be made through this vacancy announcement.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

The incumbent will perform the following:

• Processes NEH vendor, panelist, grantee, and federal agencies invoices, and other fiscal items for payments on a daily basis. This payment function includes one or more of the following types of payments: domestic and foreign civilian travel vouchers, travel and purchase credit card transactions, single-funded and multi-funded grants, contracts, utilities, Intra-governmental Payment and Collection system (IPAC) and other miscellaneous payments. Resolves, as necessary, payment bulk file data formatting issues resulting from missing or erroneous information contained in the agency financial system. Ensures that expenditures are within amounts authorized and obligated.
• Performs grant close-out functions including reconciliations, financial status reports, and coordinates any deobligations. Prepares accounts receivable transactions for grantees that received amounts paid in excess of allowed amounts.
• Reconciles and interprets complex data and data elements from Oracle system screens, printouts, or manual reports to source records (electronic and/or paper copy) and makes complex adjustments to accounts payable accounting transactions as determined necessary.
• Contacts vendors, grantees, and in some cases, coordinates with division offices to obtain accounting information necessary to process payments.
• Serves as liaison to other offices and service contractors, officials in other government agencies, organizations and institutions regarding financial and budget management to ensure payments are processed in a timely manner.
• Analyzes payment records in order to address manager and staff questions regarding a variety of program, contract, and grant financial transactions.
• Assists other senior accounting staff in identifying and resolving accounting transaction issues.
• Provides technical guidance on travel regulations and regulatory reporting requirements to ensure compliance.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Travel Required

Not required

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
11

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• U.S. Citizen
• Relevant experience and/or education
• Favorable background investigation
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered with the Selective Service
• May be required to successfully complete a probationary period

Qualifications

At the GS-09 level Qualified candidates must possess:
One full year of specialized experience at the GS-07 level that demonstrates the following: Reviewing grantee submitted documents, to include grant payment requests and financial reports or other vendor invoices and documents and providing guidance to grantees or payees on proper preparation of required forms; providing technical guidance on travel regulations; performing grant or purchase order closeout functions to include reconciling and reviewing financial status reports, and coordinating final transaction deobligations; processing vendor invoices; employee reimbursements; panelist and grant payments; reviewing approved payments to verify arithmetic and compliance with travel regulations and agency specific policies; reconciling credit card statements; reviewing and reconciling various transactions involving multiple accounting lines; using federal reporting systems (e.g. IPAC, OTCnet) and Oracle financial system software applications; and identifying, analyzing, and resolving Treasury payment file errors.
OR
Have successfully completed a Master's degree or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LLB., or J.D. (if related). Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position.
OR
Have a combination of specialized experience and education as described above that equates to one year of experience.

As part of the online application process you will need to respond to a series of questions designed to assess your possession of the following knowledge, skills, abilities, and/or competencies:

• Accounting
• Budget Administration
• Financial Management
• Oral Communication
• Problem Solving
• Writing

Education

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Additional information

1. If you are an eligible Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) applicant you may apply for special selection over other candidates for this position. To be well-qualified and exercise selection priority for this vacancy, displaced Federal employees must be rated at 85 or above on the rating criteria for this position. ICTAP eligibles must submit one of the following as proof of eligibility for the special selection priority: a separation notice; a "Notice of Personnel Action" (SF-50) documenting separation; an agency certification that you cannot be placed after injury compensation has been terminated; an OPM notification that your disability annuity has been terminated; OR a Military Department or National Guard Bureau notification that you are retired under 5 U.S.C. 8337(h) or 8456.

2. If you are a male applicant who was born after 12/31/59 and are required to register under the Military Selective Service Act, the Defense Authorization Act of 1986 requires that you be registered or you are not eligible for appointment in this agency.

3. Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) allows eligible veterans to apply and compete for positions announced under merit promotion procedures when the hiring agency is recruiting from outside its own workforce. To be eligible for a VEOA appointment, a veteran must be separated from the military under honorable conditions and either a preference eligible or have substantially completed three (3) or more years of continuous active military service. If you wish to be considered under the VEOA, you must submit a copy of the Member Copy 4 of your DD-214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty Record of Military Service), in addition to any other required documents listed on this announcement.

4. All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions. It is available for your review in our office, in other Federal agency personnel offices, and on OPM's web site at http://www.opm.gov/qualifications.

5. This position may require completion of a 1-year probationary period.

6. Time-in-grade must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

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 and rated under the Merit Staffing Selection Procedures. We will review your resume and supporting documentation and compare this information to your responses on the occupational questionnaire to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications for this position. You will be further evaluated against job-related criteria and placed in one of two pre-defined categories:

• Best Category - Meets the basic qualification requirements for the vacancy announcement and has successful experience in the same or similar job that has demonstrated outstanding proficiency in applying knowledge, skill, and ability in the critical competencies for this position.
• Qualified Category - Meets the specialized experience outlined in the minimum qualifications requirements section of the vacancy announcement.

Any exaggeration of an applicant's experience, false statements, or attempts to conceal information may be grounds for rating an applicant ineligible, not hiring the applicant, or for termination after he/she begins work. If a determination is made that in responding to the competency-based question an applicant has rated themselves higher than is evident in their resume, experience, and/or education, the applicant's score may be manually adjusted by a Human Resource Specialist.

INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS will receive a rating of IFM (ineligible due to missing forms). Requests for reconsideration will not be considered for applicants who fail to submit a complete application package. We cannot be held responsible for incompatible software, fax transmissions, etc.

Only send documentation as requested/required by this announcement and that directly supports your qualifications for this position.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Not Required

Drug test required
No

Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk

Trust determination process
Suitability/Fitness

Required Documents

• Resume

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.