Accountant

Veterans Health Administration; Lexington (KY); On-site; USD 45,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Veterans Health Administration in Lexington, KY seeks a qualified Accountant to manage day-to-day fiscal activities in a VA medical center. The role supports the Fiscal Service with double-entry accounting and comprehensive reporting across multiple programs.

Responsibilities include maintaining records, reconciling ledgers, producing financial statements, and training staff on IFCAP and FMS. Telework may be discussed during interviews, with standard business schedule.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in accounting or a related field with 24 semester hours in accounting (education requirement).
• Experience with automated financial systems and reporting is expected.
• US citizenship and security/background checks apply.

Responsibilities

• Plans, establishes, and maintains a double-entry accounting system across multiple appropriations and programs.
• Develops controls to ensure accounting records reflect the facility's financial condition.
• Handles daily transactions, updates records, journals, ledgers, and fund control points.
• Verifies and analyzes reports to reconcile general ledger to subsidiary records in Fiscal, Logistics, Engineering, and other areas.
• Prepares and analyzes financial statements and reports for local/VA Central Office management and other agencies.
• Trains IFCAP and FMS users and generates specialized management reports.

Education

Accounting degree, or related field with 24 semester hours in accounting

Tools

IFCAP

FMS

Job description

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.

Duties

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.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

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 through Friday; 8:00AM- 4:30PM

Telework-ADHOC

This position may be authorized for ADHOC telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.

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.

Virtual

This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#

Accountant/PD30308A and PD30163A

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives

Not Authorized

Critical Skills Incentive (CSI)

Not Approved

Permanent Change of Station (PCS)

Not Authorized

Requirements

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government;
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/14/2026.

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 by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. For a GS-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9.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 former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

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:
• 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

• Applicants may substitute education for the experience required for the GS-level.

OR

• 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.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

Specialized Experience for GS7, GS9, GS11

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.

GS-7 QUALIFICATIONS

• GS-7 SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

OR

• EDUCATION: 1 year of graduate-level education or superior academic achievement (Transcript required)

OR

• COMBINATION OF SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this GS 07 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on 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. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional information

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests

If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.

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.

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 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 well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. 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/.

DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY

This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.205) for this occupation.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Benefits

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.