Staff Accountant

The position is located at Portland VA Medical Center, Portland Campus, in Fiscal Service, Accounting section. The incumbent performs technician level work in direct support of budget, accounting, auditing, fiscal, and/or financial management function.To qualify for this position, applicants must meet time-in-grade and specialized experience requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 06/05/2026.

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 within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.

• For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05.
• For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07.
• For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09.

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 Requirement: All applicants must meet one of the following requirements;

1. 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,
2. 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:
3. 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
4. A certificate as Certified Public Accountant or a Certified Internal Auditor, obtained through written examination; OR
5. 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:
6. (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;
7. (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
8. (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.
In addition to meeting one of the Basic Requirements, applicants must also meet the grade specific requirements listed below:

Specialized Experience GS-07: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade, GS-05, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples typically include: applying accounting principles, theories, and concepts; understanding cost accounting and auditing principles, processes, and procedures; extracting data to conduct complex analyses and interpretations from accounting systems; and analyzing subsystems in accordance with generally accepted accounting procedures as well as federal laws, rules, and regulations to meet the requirements of local programs or to solve a variety of accounting problems. OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. Please see Education section for requirements; OR,
• Applicants may qualify based on superior academic achievement: Applicants must be in the upper third of their graduating class; OR have a GPA of 3.0 or higher; OR be a member of an Association of College Honor Societies. Please see Education section for requirements; OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. Please see Education section for requirements.
Specialized Experience GS-09: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade, GS-07, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples typically include: applying accounting principles, theories, and concepts; utilizing cost accounting and auditing processes; extracting data to conduct complex analyses and interpretations from accounting systems; analyzing subsystems in accordance with generally accepted accounting procedures, federal laws, rules, and regulations to meet the requirements of local programs or to solve a variety of accounting problems; and assisting computer programmers in the development, modification, or analysis of automated systems as they relate to current automated systems and functional accounting requirements. OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. Please see Education section for requirements; OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. Please see Education section for requirements.
Specialized Experience GS-11: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade, GS-09, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples typically include: applying advanced accounting principles, theories, and concepts; utilizing cost accounting and auditing principles, processes, and procedures; extracting and analyzing complex data from accounting systems to support responsible decision-making; providing expert analysis of subsystems in accordance with generally accepted accounting procedures, federal laws, rules, and regulations to fulfill requirements of local programs and resolve diverse accounting challenges; collaborating with computer programmers on the development, modification, or analysis of automated systems to ensure alignment with functional accounting requirements; and staying current on policies and regulations such as Comptroller General's Decisions, OMB Regulations, Treasury Regulations, and GAO policies and procedures . OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. Please see Education section for requirements. OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. Please see Education section for requirements.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at . GS-7:
• Education: To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successful completion of one (1) year of graduate-level education in a related field such as business administration, finance, or public administration. This education must be obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college, or university. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED).
• Superior academic achievement (S.A.A.) -- This provision covers advanced trainee positions that provide opportunities for advancement upon attaining required job skills and knowledge, require no prior experience, and have work classified at two-grade intervals. It recognizes students who have achieved superior academic standing as evidenced by one of the three methods described below. In order to be creditable under this provision, superior academic achievement must have been gained in a curriculum that is qualifying for the position to be filled.
• S.A.A. is based on (1) class standing, (2) grade-point average, or (3) honor society membership.
  • Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society -- Applicants can be considered eligible based on membership in one of the national scholastic honor societies listed below. These honor societies are listed by the Association of College Honor Societies (external link) . Agencies considering eligibility based on any society not included in the following list must ensure that the honor society meets the minimum requirements of the Association of College Honor Societies. Membership in a freshman honor society cannot be used to meet the requirements of this provision.
  • Grade-point average (G.P.A.) -- Applicants must have a grade-point average of:
    • 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.
    • 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on their official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or
  • Class standing: Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses. OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an equivalent combination of successfully completed graduate level education (more than a bachelor's degree) and specialized experience to meet total experience requirements.
GS-9:
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed 2 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree in accounting, or a related field such as business administration, finance, or public administration. This education must be obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college, or university. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED). OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and graduate-level education beyond the first year, as described above.
GS-11:
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in accounting; or a degree in a related field such as business administration, finance, or public administration. This education must be obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college, or university. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED). OR ,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and graduate-level education beyond the second year, as described above

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: . 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: .