Duties

Summary

This position is located in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of Operations (OO), Office of Finance, Budget, Acquisitions, and Planning (OFBAP), Office of Financial Management (OFM), in Beltsville, MD.

*** THIS ANNOUNCEMENT HAS BEEN AMENDED TO ADD THE COVID-19 VACCINE MANDATE TO THE CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT. ***

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

• Provides expert advice in specialized area of accounting systems; develops policies and financial management program goals.
• Conducts and coordinates long range and comprehensive systems studies for the design, modification, and implementation of automated accounting systems.
• Develops procedural manuals, methods, and directives.
• Provides advice to financial and program managers and other accountants on unusual and difficult accounting systems and/or operations problems or issues.
• Develops and monitors accounting internal control program(s); identifies problem areas and develops solutions to improve operating program effectiveness.
• Conducts financial analyses, audits, and/or investigations of major public and/or private sector entities.
• Reviews, analyzes, and validates financial data; develops and coordinates surveys and systems for gathering, analyzing and validating data; and, resolves accounting discrepancies in reported data.

Travel Required

25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
None

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Citizenship Requirement: You must be a U.S. Citizen to be considered for this advertisement unless explicitly stated otherwise.
• Selective Service Registration: All applicants born male, on (or after) 12/31/1959, must be registered with the Selective Service System OR have an approved exemption. Visit www.SSS.gov for more info.
• FDA participates in e-Verify: All new hires must complete the I-9 form; this information will be processed through e-Verify to determine your employment eligibility. If a discrepancy arises, you must take affirmative steps to resolve the matter.
• Background Investigation Requirement: All employees must pass a security investigation. Failing to pass the background check may be grounds for removal or legal action. If hired, you may be subject to additional investigations at a later time.
• Time-in-Grade Requirement: If you are applying as a current Federal employee, you must meet the time-in-grade requirements described in the Qualifications section, generally, 52-weeks of comparable experience at the next lowest grade.
• You must meet ALL requirements by the closing date of this announcement to be considered. Only education, experience, and qualifications attained by this date will be considered. You must continue to meet all requirements through the hiring process.
• Certification of Accuracy: All information concerning eligibility and qualification is subject to investigation and verification. False representation may be grounds for non-consideration, non-selection, or appropriate legal action.
• Direct Deposit: You will be required to have all federal salary payments electronically deposited into a bank account with a financial institution of your choice.
• Additional selections may be made from this vacancy, within the same geographical area, by other organizational elements from within FDA, through shared corporate recruiting activities.
• THIS POSITION IS SUBJECT TO EXECUTIVE ORDER 14043 MANDATING COVID-19 VACCINATION FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.

Qualifications

The position of Accountant falls under the 0510 occupational series.

To qualify for this position at grade GS-14, you must meet Time-in-Grade requirements by 11:59 pm EST on 10/22/2021.

BASIC QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

1. Degree: in 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 terms accounting and accountant should be interpreted as "accounting and/or auditing" and "accountant and/or auditor" respectively.

OR

2. Combination of education and experience of 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 include one of the following: A) Twenty-four semester hours in accounting or auditing courses of appropriate type and quality. This can include up to 6 hours of business law; OR B) A certificate as a Certified Public Accountant or a Certified Internal Auditor, obtained through written examination; OR C) Completion of the requirements for a degree that included substantial course work in accounting or auditing, e.g. 15 semester hours, but 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; AND (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 non conformance to the requirement of 24 semester hours in accounting, the applicant's education, training, and experience fully meet the specified requirements.

AND

Have one year of specialized experience, equivalent to the GS-13 in the Federal service.

Specialized experience is experience that has equipped an applicant with the knowledge, skills and ability to perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience is defined as performing duties that requires expert knowledge of fundamental accounting principles, practices and methods to perform complex accounting assignments; ability to use Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), in the analysis of financial data; and, knowledge of federal accounting regulations, procedures, and policies to advise and execute professional accounting functions.

In accordance with Office of Personnel Management policy, federal employees are assumed to have gained experience by performing duties and responsibilities appropriate for their official series and grade level as described in their position description. Experience that would not normally be part of the employee's position is creditable, however, when documented by satisfactory evidence, such as a signed memorandum from the employee's supervisor or an SF-50 or SF-52 documenting an official detail or other official assignment. The documentation must indicate whether the duties were performed full time or, if part time, the percentage of times the other duties were performed. It is expected that this documentation is included in the employee's official personnel record. In order to receive credit for experience in your resume that is not within the official series and grade level of your official position, you must provide a copy of the appropriate documentation of such experience as indicated above.

If you are applying based on some other qualifying eligibility (i.e. you are not applying as a current Federal employee), you must meet the specific requirements of the eligibility you are claiming, and must have sufficient past experience to demonstrate that you are minimally qualified for this position. See Unique Hiring Paths on USAJOBS for more information about various ways you may be eligible to apply!

PHS Commissioned Corps Officers interested in performing the duties of this position within the Commissioned Corps may apply online to this announcement. Candidates will be referred to (CC) personnel and not as candidates for conversion to a permanent career or career-conditional appointment.

NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. To verify your application is complete, log into your USAJOBS account, https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login , select the Application Status link and then select the More Information link for this position. The Details page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and any correspondence the agency has sent related to this application.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Qualifications are based on breadth/level of experience. In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time. As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, failure to provide this information may result in disqualification. Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder to develop their federal resume.

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; religious; 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.

You must submit supporting documentation to verify your eligibility to apply for this vacancy. For most applicants, an SF-50 will be required. However, if you are applying as a Veteran , individual with a qualifying disability , or a displaced employee , you will be required to provide other supporting documents as applicable. See the Required Documents section for more details. Be sure that any files you upload as supporting documentation are free of security or compression features which render such documents unreadable to our system.

Education

Foreign Education: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For more information about this requirement, please visit the U.S. Department of Education website for Foreign Education Evaluation .

Additional information

For some advertisements, the Food & Drug Administration receives hundreds, even thousands, of applications from job-seekers. Because of this high level of interest, FDA reserves the option of setting an application number limit.
When an application limit is set, USAJOBS will close the vacancy at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on either:
(A) the day the limit is reached, -OR-
(B) the pre-defined closing date of , whichever comes first.
If the limit is reached before 11:59 pm ET, all applications in excess of the limit will continue to be accepted until 11:59 pm ET.
The application limit for this advertisement is: 75
For more information about announcement closing, see: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/faq/job-announcement/expiration/

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT THAT MAY BE REQUIRED

Pre-employment physical: No

• Drug testing: No
• License: No
• Mobility agreement: No
• Immunization: No
• Bargaining Unit Position: No
If you are serving, or have served in the last 5 years, as an Executive Branch political, Schedule C, or Non-career SES appointee, HHS/FDA may be required to obtain approval by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) prior to beginning employment. You can find out if you have held one of these appointment types by looking at your Standard Form 50s in your Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF), in Section 5 where the legal authorities are listed. If you have served or are currently serving, you must provide a copy of your SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, documenting this appointment. In addition, you will be required to respond to the question in the assessment and certify your responses to the questionnaire. Political Appointees FAQ - OPM Special Appointing Authorities: If you are applying to this announcement based a special eligibility, such as those for people with disabilities, veterans (or military spouses), or displaced employees under a career transition program, please pay careful attention to the Required Documents section for details on application requirements for each eligibility path, to include supporting document requirements.

All requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement (10/22/2021); only education and experience gained by this date will be considered. You must continue to meet all requirements throughout the entire hiring process.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Once the job opportunity announcement closes (at 11:59 pm EST on 10/22/2021), a r eview of your resume and supporting documentation will be conducted, the information will be compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine your eligibility for Federal employment, and then whether you are qualified for this particular position.
If you are referred to the hiring manager for consideration, you may be further evaluated based on an interview; review of requested work samples, writing samples, most recent performance evaluation(s), or professional references; or results of an oral presentation or work-related test. Failure to comply with any of the additional assessment requirements will result in removal from further consideration. These assessment methods/tools may also be listed under Key Requirements.
If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your responses when compared to your background information, you may be deemed ineligible, or your score may be adjusted to more accurately reflect your skills and abilities. Additionally, we will review your supporting documents and resume to determine if you are in the "Area of Consideration" for this vacancy. Government-Wide Merit Promotion vacancies may only accept applications from a limited audience, pay careful attention to the "Who May Apply" and the "Hiring Paths" information. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.
Basis of Rating: Merit Promotion Procedures for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be used to rate and rank candidates. The category assignment is a measure of the degree in which your background matches the competencies required for this position. Qualified candidates will be ranked into one of three categories: Best Qualified, Well-Qualified or Qualified.
Interagency / Career Transition Assistance Program (I/CTAP):Well-Qualified is defined as an applicant who meets the qualification standards and eligibility requirements for the position, including minimum educational and experience requirements; any qualifications and suitability; is able to perform the essential duties of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation; meets any applicable selective placement factors for the position (such as the ability to speak a specific language or any other factor required immediately upon hire); and is able to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position upon entry. To be well-qualified and exercise selection priority for this vacancy, surplus or displaced Federal employees must be rated at 85.0 or above on the rating criteria for this position. Learn more on the USAJOBS Career Transition Assistance Site .
Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics). You need not respond to the KSA's separately, but your resume should contain sufficient information to demonstrate possession of these competencies.

Knowledge of accounting principles

Skills in analysis and evaluation

Oral

Written

To preview the application questionnaire, click the link below
https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11257080

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Position sensitivity and risk
Moderate Risk (MR)

Trust determination process
Suitability/Fitness

Required Documents

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:

• Resume

Resume Requirements:

• Resume Writing Tutorial
• Resume Writing FAQ

ACCEPTED DOCUMENTS:

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (Schedule A)
• Disability Letter (VA)
• Other supporting documentation not listed above
• PCS Orders
• Performance Appraisal
• Professional Certification
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

*Accepted documents may be required for some applicants depending on which eligibility options you're applying for, see the list below for details for each eligibility. If you need help submitting documentation, please see Applicant Help Site - Documents . If you are still unsure what documents might be required of you, please contact the FDA Applicant Help Desk before the announcement closes. For transcript submission requirements, see the Education section.

Current and Former Federal Employees:
To properly verify eligibility and time-in-grade, you must submit the following:

SF-50 from your most recent Promotion, Within Rate/Grade Increase (WRI/WGI), Appointment, or Separation showing you are/were in the competitive service and the highest grade or promotion potential held. SF-50 submitted cannot be an annual pay adjustment or award. Your SF-50 must show the following information:

Full position title;

Appointment type;

Pay Plan, Series, Grade & Step;

Tenure code; and

Service Computation Date (SCD).

Learn more on the USAJOBS SF-50 Help Page .

Veterans & Military Spouses:
You must submit a DD-214 form (Certificate of Release or Discharge) that has the dates of service and discharge status.

• Active Duty Members: To claim status Under the VOW (Veterans Opportunity to Work) to hire Heroes Act of 2011, submit written documentation from the armed forces that certifies the service member is expected to be discharged or released from active duty service in the armed forces under honorable conditions not later than 120 days after the date the certification is submitted with your application package.
• Parents of Deceased or Disabled Veterans: To claim status under Gold Star Fathers Act of 2015, you must submit a copy of the deceased or disabled veterans' DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from the armed forces that has the dates of service and discharge status AND the SF-15, Application for 10-point Veterans' Preference. Please follow the instructions in the SF-15 on required documentation to be submitted.
• Widow or Widower: To claim preference, you must submit a copy of the deceased or disabled veterans' DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from the armed forces that has the dates of service and discharge status AND the SF-15, Application for 10-point Veterans' Preference. Please follow the instructions in the SF-15 on required documentation to be submitted.
• Spouse of a Living Veteran: To claim preference, you must submit a copy of the veterans' DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from the armed forces that has the dates of service and discharge status AND the SF-15, Application for 10-point Veterans' Preference, and Documentation of Veteran's Inability to Work Because of a Service-Connected Disability. Please follow the instructions in the SF-15 on required documentation to be submitted.

See Feds Hire Vets or USAJOBS' Veterans page for more details.

People with Disabilities (Schedule A):
Individuals with intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities, may apply for appointment through the Schedule A hiring authority. Certified verification of a disability from a licensed medical professional; a licensed vocational rehabilitation specialist; or any Federal, state, or District of Columbia agency or U.S. territory that issues or provides disability benefits will be required. Learn more on the USAJOBS Individuals with Disabilities Site .

Displaced employees:
If you are a former Federal employee who was displaced due to a Reduction-in-Force (RIF) or surplused by some other means, please submit a copy of the separation letter or RIF notice from your agency. To be selected under I/CTAP, you must still be found well-qualified for this position. See the How You Will Be Evaluated section for the agency's definition of well-qualified. Learn more on the USAJOBS Career Transition Assistance Site .

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.