Auditor

U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Washington, DC, seeks a specialized auditor to design national audit policies and oversee compliance with GAGAS/GAAS standards within the Trade Regulatory Audit (TRA) division.

The role emphasizes quality assurance of audit outputs, data-driven planning, and collaboration with headquarters and field offices to resolve complex audit issues. A CBP career path requires meeting education and experience requirements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in accounting, auditing, or a related field that included or was supplemented by 24 semester hours in accounting.
• Alternative: 4 years of accounting experience plus 24 semester hours in accounting or related coursework, or professional certification (CPA/ CIA) etc.

Responsibilities

• Design and issue national audit policies, technical guidelines, and standardized procedures for field audit operations to align with GAGAS/GAAS and agency objectives.
• Conduct quality assurance reviews of audit reports, working papers, and memoranda to ensure compliance with GAGAS and internal policies.
• Analyze audit performance data, workflow metrics, cycle times, and resource usage to identify operational issues and support annual audit planning.
• Resolve technical audit issues and support implementation of audit program requirements and national initiatives.
• Communicate and coordinate with headquarters, field offices, program managers, and leadership to resolve audit issues and gather input.

Education

Bachelor's degree in accounting or related field

Job description

Organizational Location:

This position is with the Department of Homeland Security, within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Trade, Trade Regulatory Audit (TRA), located in Washington, DC.

Additional selections may be made for other organizational divisions and/or units within the duty location(s) listed above.

Basic Requirement:

You must provide supporting documentation in your application to show you meet the basic requirement below:

A. Degree: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree in accounting, auditing, or 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. Transcript must include date degree was awarded or conferred.

OR

B. A 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:

• 1. Twenty-four semester hours in accounting or auditing courses of appropriate type and quality. This can include up to 6 hours of business law (provide transcripts);
• OR
• 2. A certificate as a Certified Public Accountant or a Certified Internal Auditor, obtained through written examination (provide certification);
• OR
• 3. Completion of the requirements for a degree that included substantial coursework in accounting or auditing, e.g., 15 semester hours, but that does not fully satisfy the 24-semester-hour requirement of paragraph A (provide transcripts), 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 non-conformance to the requirement of 24 semester hours in accounting, the applicant's education, training, and experience fully meet the specified requirements

You qualify for this position if you possess one year of specialized experience as described below and meet the basic requirement listed above.

Experience:

You qualify for the GS-13 grade level if you possess 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level, performing duties such as:

• Designing and issuing national audit policies, technical guidelines, and standardized procedures for field audit operations, ensuring alignment with Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS), or Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS), statutory requirements, and agency program objectives
• Conducting quality assurance reviews of audit reports, working papers, technical memoranda, and field audit operations to assess compliance with GAGAS, internal policies, and established audit methodologies
• Analyzing audit performance data, workflow metrics, cycle times, resource usage, and automated system information to identify operational issues and support annual audit planning activities
• Resolving technical audit issues, providing guidance and supporting implementation of audit program requirements and national audit initiatives
• Communicating and coordinating with headquarters divisions, field offices, program managers, technical experts, external stakeholders, and leadership to resolve audit issues, deliver briefings and gather input

NOTE: Your resume must explicitly indicate how you meet this requirement, otherwise you will be found ineligible. Please see the "Required Documents" section below for additional resume requirements.

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:

• Meet all qualification requirements, including education if applicable to this position, subject to verification at any stage of the application process; and
• Meet all applicable Time in Grade requirements (current federal employees must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent grade band in the federal service) by 10/06/2026.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Background Investigation:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is a federal law enforcement agency that requires all applicants to undergo a thorough background investigation prior to employment in order to promote the agency's core values of vigilance, service to country, and integrity. During the screening and/or background investigation process, you will be asked questions regarding any felony criminal convictions or current felony charges, the use of illegal drugs (e.g., marijuana, cocaine, heroin, LSD, methamphetamines, ecstasy), and the use of non-prescribed controlled substances including any experimentation, possession, sale, receipt, manufacture, cultivation, production, transfer, shipping, trafficking, or distribution of controlled substances. For additional information on the preemployment process, review the following link: Applicant Resources | CBP Careers

Residency:

There is a residency requirement for all applicants not currently employed by CBP. Individuals are required to have physically resided in the United States or its protectorates (as declared under international law) for at least three of the last five years. If you do not meet the residency requirement and you have been physically located in a foreign location for more than two of the last five years, you may request an exception to determine if you are eligible for a residency waiver by meeting one or more of the following conditions:

• Working for the U.S. Government as a federal civilian or as a member of the military
• A dependent who was authorized to accompany a federal civilian or member of the military who was working for the U.S. government
• Participation in a study abroad program sponsored by a U.S. affiliated college or university
• Working as a contractor, intern, consultant or volunteer supporting the U.S. government

Probationary Period:

All employees new to the federal government must serve a one year probationary period during the first year of his/her initial permanent federal appointment to determine fitness for continued employment. Current and former federal employees may be required to serve or complete a probationary period.

Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) Eligibles:

If you have never worked for the federal government, you are not CTAP/ICTAP eligible. View information about CTAP/ICTAP eligibility on OPM's Career Transition Resources website. To be considered well qualified under CTAP/ICTAP, you must be rated at a minimum score of 85 for this position. In addition, you must submit the supporting documents listed under the Required Documents section of this announcement.