Supervisory Accountant

Veterans Benefits Administration

Philadelphia, PA

JobSummary

The Insurance Service, which is a Central Office element of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), directs and manages the operation of all VA Government Life Insurance programs. Finance and Business Integration in Insurance Service, is responsible for the Insurance Program's actuary, budget and accounting, and business system support. This position serves as the Supervisory Accountant for the Insurance Budget and Accounting Staff, Finance and Business Integration, VA Insurance Service.

LowGrade

HighGrade

PromotionPotential

None

SubAgencyName

Philadelphia Insurance Services

OrganizationCodes

VA/VALA

Relocation

False

HiringPath

fed-transition
fed-internal-search

MCOTags

TotalOpenings

AgencyMarketingStatement

Vacancy Identification Number (VIN) 12939635 OUR MISSION: "To fulfill President Lincoln's promise to care for those who have served in our nation's military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors." How would you like to become a part of a team providing compassionate care to Veterans? The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) provides a variety of benefits and services to service members, Veterans, and their families. VBA has been undergoing a major transformation that is people-centric, results-oriented, and a forward-looking integration of solutions that will ensure total lifelong engagement with service members, veterans, and their families.

TravelCode

ApplyOnlineUrl

https://apply.usastaffing.gov/Application/Apply

DetailStatusUrl

https://apply.usastaffing.gov/Application/ApplicationStatus

MajorDuties

The incumbent is assigned responsibility for the accounting of all life insurance funds to include the United States Government Life Insurance Fund, the National Service Life Insurance Fund, the Veterans Special Life Insurance Fund, the Veterans Reopened Insurance Fund, the Service-Disabled Veterans Insurance Fund, the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance Fund, the Veterans Insurance and Indemnities Fund, and the Veteran Affairs Life Insurance Fund, in the capacity required. Other duties include but are not limited to: The Supervisory Accountant is a technical expert in Insurance budget and accounting policy and procedure development, the quality and accuracy of financial reports, reconciliation, and processes concerning Insurance Service programs. They also provide technical accounting, budgeting and operational advice, guidance, and general management for the VA Insurance Service. Exercises supervisory responsibility for the planning, formulation, execution, and oversight of the Insurance program budget. Provides direction to staff on budget preparation, cost analysis, and financial reporting. Reviews, approves, and monitors expenditures to ensure compliance with federal fiscal policies and internal controls. Advises senior leadership on resource needs and funding impacts, and ensures the organization operates within authorized budget levels. Incumbent is delegated broad authority for planning and directing the overall Insurance Service budget program. Prepares department position documents on a variety of subjects dealing with the Insurance budget and planning process. Provides financial advice for internal business line operating accounting programs. This may include, but is not limited to research, operations, or program maintenance in direct support of the mission or organizational objectives. Assists Senior Leadership in implementing Organization-wide accounting and administrative policies and standards. Advises on and/or performs professional financial accounting duties. Develops accounting and financial procedures and resolves technical problems in executing a computerized, integrated accounting system. Responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the official accounting records and documents for all Insurance programs and reconciling the general ledger to subsidiary accounts.

Education

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to be credited towards qualifications. Provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. All education claimed by applicants will be verified upon appointment. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript to receive credit.

Requirements

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period OR 2-year trial 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; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period OR 2-year trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary period Subject to background/security investigation Selectees are required to service a one-year supervisory probationary period if not previously completed in a Federal position. Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements I-9 Acceptable Documents.

Evaluations

In describing your experience, please be clear and specific. We will not make assumptions regarding your experience. Applicants who do not fully address the specialized experience needed for the position (as described above in the job announcement) in their resume or who do not possess the education to substitute for it will not be referred for consideration. After you have met the minimum qualifications, you will be rated on the following competencies based on your application for this position: Accounting - Knowledge of traditional accounting practices including accrual, obligations, and costs methods. Budget Administration - Knowledge of the principles and practices of budget administration and analysis; including preparing, justifying, reporting on, and executing the budget; and the relationships among program, budget, accounting, and reporting systems. Financial Management - Prepares, justifies, and/or administers the budget for program area; plans, administers, and monitors expenditures to ensure cost-effective support of programs and policies. Analytical Reasoning - Analyzes (i.e. review and evaluate), comprehend and apply decisions based on data or complex information, weighs relevance and accuracy of information, generates and evaluates alternative solutions, makes recommendations or final determinations. Technical Competence - Understands and appropriately applies procedures, requirements, regulations, and policies related to specialized expertise (for example, engineering, physical science, law, or accounting); maintains credibility with others on technical matters. Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or an interview. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job-related information, which may include, but is not limited to responses to the knowledge, skills, and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment. Notice to Applicants: It is the policy of the Government not to deny employment simply because an individual has been unemployed or has had financial difficulties that have arisen through no fault of the individual. Information about an individual's employment experience will be used only to determine the person's qualifications and to assess his or her relative level of knowledge, skills, and abilities. Although an individual's personal conduct may be relevant in any employment decision, including conduct during periods of unemployment or evidence of dishonesty in handling financial matters, financial difficulty that has arisen through no fault of the individual will generally not itself be the basis of an unfavorable suitability or fitness determination. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

HowToApply

To apply for this position, you must complete the https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12939635 and submit the documentation specified in the job announcement. Documents will not be accepted after the closing date of the announcement. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit. https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan/resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 04/26/2026 to receive consideration. 1. To begin, click apply online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. 2. Click submit my answers to submit your application package. 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, 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. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process. To return to an incomplete application, log into your USAJOBS account and click update application in the vacancy announcement. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.

WhatToExpectNext

Once your online application is submitted you will receive a confirmation notification by email. After we receive application packages (including all required documents) and the vacancy announcement closes, we will review applications to ensure qualification and eligibility requirements are met. After the review is complete, a referral certificate(s) is issued and applicants will be notified of their status by email. Referred applicants will be notified as such and may be contacted directly by the hiring office for an interview. All referred applicants receive a final notification once a selection decision has been made. You may check the status of your application at any time by logging into your USA Jobs account and clicking on Applications. Information regarding your application status can be found in the USAJobs Help Center.

RequiredDocuments

The following documents are required for all applicants: Resume SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action Transcript To apply for this position, you must provide a complete application package to include the documents detailed below. Your resume and supporting documentation will be verified; errors, omissions, or failure to submit the documents as specified will affect your rating or result in loss of consideration for employment. Resume (limited to 2 pages): Applicants must provide a resume detailing their specialized experience and competencies relevant to the position. Your resume may be submitted in any format, however we strongly recommend using USA Jobs resume builder as it contains all of the information required on federal resumes. For qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week, the dates of employment (month/year), and the level of your experience. If the position was Federal, you must also indicate the grade level. If your resume does not contain this information you will not receive consideration for this position. If you submit more than one copy of your resume, only the most recent version will be reviewed. The latest timestamp will be used to determine which version of your resume is "most recent." It is your responsibility to check the status and timestamp of all documents you submit as part of your application. If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations and you may not be considered for this vacancy. Current Federal Employees: If you are applying using your status as a current federal employee you must submit your most recent appointment SF-50. This SF50 should identify your appointing legal authority, position title, series, grade, step, salary, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). To verify you meet Time-in-Grade requirements, also submit a SF-50 reflecting when you entered your highest grade held (e.g. Within Grade Increase, Promotion, Appointment, etc.). Some applicants may have to submit more than one SF-50 in order to demonstrate their eligibility. If you previously held a higher grade, you must also submit an SF-50 showing that grade. Transcripts A transcript must be included as part of your application package. Unofficial transcript(s) may be submitted, however it must contain the course names, levels, credits earned, and grades received. Your transcript must contain the degree conferred date if you are substituting a degree for experience. An official transcript may be required at a later date if you are selected for the position. Applicants claiming CTAP eligibility must also submit: Certification of expected separation, reduction-in-force separation notice, or notice of proposed removal; and your most recent performance evaluation; and an SF-50 demonstrating your separation or the position you will be separated from. Failure to submit any of the above required documents applicable to your submission may result in loss of consideration and a rating of ineligible due to an incomplete application package. It is the applicant's responsibility to verify that their application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) is complete, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. We will not contact applicants for additional documentation, nor will we accept late or missing documents after the close of the announcement. In addition to the information listed above, please use this checklist to ensure you have included other documents required for your application.

Benefits

BenefitsUrl

http://www.vacareers.va.gov/why-choose-va/benefits/index.asp.

OtherInformation

Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday Title/PD#: Supervisory Accountant GS-14; PD 421290 Flexible: Available (6:00am - 6:00pm) Telework: Ad-hoc telework may be authorized as determined by the agency policy. Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary. Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking; standing; bending; carrying of light items such as papers, books, small parts; driving an automobile, etc. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. 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 (TJO). Please visit the Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP), va.gov/EMPLOYEE/docs/The-Fair-Chance-to-Compete-Act.pdf for more information. VA supports the use of ad-hoc telework. This position may be authorized for ad-hoc telework. Eligibility may be discussed during the interview process. The 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 (have a final rating of 85 or more) for this vacancy. 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/. Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. 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 an 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. https://appsupport.usastaffing.gov/hc/en-us/sections/28980686389652-Reasonable-Accommodation-Information)

KeyRequirements

WithinArea

False

CommuteDistance

ServiceType

AnnouncementClosingType

AgencyContactEmail

janelle.phillips@va.gov

AgencyContactPhone

(313) 471-3888

SecurityClearance

Other