SUPERVISORY ACCOUNTANT

Summary

This position is located in the Office of Compliance (OC), Finance Office, Business Center, Rural Development. The incumbent is responsible for planning, organizing, directing, and coordinating functions related to external entities' compliance with Rural Development (RD) regulations related to financial assistance provided to RD awardees in support of the accounting, financial management, and program requirements of multiple mission areas.

Duties

• Directs and coordinates the Division's activities relating to the development and evaluation of RD imposed awardees' accounting practices and procedures, assures accounting policies, procedures, and systems meet regulatory requirements.
• Directs or oversees the performance of studies and analyses of practices and procedures concerning RD awardee accounting operations.
• Directs the development and preparation of regulations, bulletins, and staff instructions to communicate and ensure uniform accounting and requirements throughout the Agency and among all awardees.
• Incumbent exercises first and second level supervisory responsibilities, including, but not limited to: Directs, coordinates, and oversees work through subordinate supervisors.
• Directs and supervise all Human Resources administrative responsibilities and programs.
• Directs or oversees the performance of studies and analyses of practices and procedures concerning RD awardee accounting operations
• Determines requirements for CPA-prepared audit reports of borrowers' financial statements, including the issuance of instructions and standards for the performance of attestation.
• Provides technical advice and assistance to RD program officials concerning the interpretation and application of accounting principles and standards, and to awardees on functions and responsibilities.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including time-in-grade restrictions, specialized experience and/or education, as defined below Time in Grade: Current federal employees applying for a promotion opportunity must meet the time in grade requirement of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. For the GS-15 level: Applicants must possess one (1) year of specialized experience in the accounting field equivalent to at least the next lower grade level; or its non-Federal equivalent that demonstrates the knowledge of accounting theories, concepts, principles, and practices to conduct a variety of assignments related to accounting and financial transactions. Experience in directing and coordinating the Division-level activities relating to the development, maintenance of external controls related to the operation of a multi-hundred-billion dollar loan portfolio accounting system. Experience in overseeing the External Compliance Reviews of project awards and Audited Financial Statement (AFS) reviews. Experience in reviewing of industry accounting standards and update of regulations affecting accounting operations of awardees. Experience in managing the development and implementation of strategic compliance efforts to ensure that the portfolio is sufficiently collateralized, and the risk of external fraud, waste and abuse is minimized. Experience in directing or overseeing the performance of studies and analyses of practices and procedures concerning RD awardee accounting operations. Experience in managing the overall Division's review of financial statement reporting provided by awardees and analyzing the work performance of CPAs whose audit services have indicated a deficiency or inadequacy. Experience in determining, implementing, and evaluating policy and procedures governing borrower auditing requirements and the minimum standards for audit reports. Experience interpreting legislation and/or regulations for applications and developing short, intermediate, and long-range plans for meeting Rural Development and CFO goals and objectives. Experience in dealing with organizations and advising higher level management officials; making decisions on work problems presented by subordinates; evaluating staff to ensure performance standards are equitable; making and/or approving selections for subordinate positions; hearing and resolving group grievances or employee complaints; reviewing/approving disciplinary actions; approving awards, bonuses, selections, overtime, travel and within-grade increases etc. Experience accomplishing Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) goals and objectives and recommending actions to eliminate such barriers. 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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Requirements

You must be a US Citizen or US National. Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt. Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check. Direct Deposit - Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution. Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/. Subject to one year supervisory/managerial probationary period unless prior service is creditable. New USDA supervisors must successfully complete all components of the required training program before the end of their probationary period.

Education

Basic Requirements: Applicants must provide documentation (such as a transcript, CPA certificate, etc.) to show they meet the Basic Requirements, either Alternative A or Alternative B for this position. Failure to provide documentation may result in loss of consideration for this position. Alternative A: 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 semester hours may include up to 6 hours of credit in business law. OR Alternative 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). Under Alternative B, the applicant's background must also include one of the following: (1) 24 semester hours in accounting or auditing courses of appropriate type and quality (including up to 6 semester hours of business law); (2) A certificate as a Certified Public Accountant or Certified Internal Auditor, obtained through written examination; or (3) Completion of the requirements for a degree that included substantial course work in accounting or auditing (at least 15 semester hours) provided that (a) the applicant has successfully worked at the full performance level in accounting, auditing, or a related field; (b) a panel of at least two higher level professional accountants has determined that the applicant has demonstrated a good knowledge of accounting and related fields that is equivalent to a four-year course of study leading to a degree as describe in Alternative 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.

How to apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. Resumes cannot exceed two pages.The application process is as follows: Click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside about 1-2 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status:Visit https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/howto/application/status/. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration. Please ensure your resume does not exceed two pages. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, your system failure, etc.