Financial Operations Specialist

Summary
NEH is an independent grant-making agency of the government dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities.
This job is open to

• The public
  U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.

Clarification from the agency
United States Citizens
Duties

• Processes NEH vendor, panelist, grantee, and federal agencies invoices, and other fiscal items for payments on a daily basis. This payment function includes one or more of the following types of payments: domestic and foreign civilian travel vouchers, travel and purchase credit card transactions, single-funded and multi-funded grants, contracts, utilities, Intra-governmental Payment and Collection systems (IPAC), and other miscellaneous payments. Resolves, as necessary, payment bulk file data formatting issues resulting from missing or erroneous information contained in the agency's financial system. Ensures that expenditures are within amounts authorized and obligated.
• Performs grant close-out functions including reconciliations, and financial status reports, and coordinates any deobligations. Prepares accounts receivable transactions for grantees that received amounts paid in excess of allowed amounts.
• Reconciles and interprets complex data and data elements from Oracle system screens, printouts, or manual reports to source records (electronic and/or paper copy) and makes complex adjustments to accounts payable accounting transactions as determined necessary.
• Contacts vendors, and grantees, and in some cases, coordinates with division offices to obtain accounting information necessary to process payments.
• Serves as liaison to other offices and service contractors, officials in other government agencies, organizations, and institutions regarding financial and budget management to ensure payments are processed in a timely manner.
• Analyzes payment records in order to address manager and staff questions regarding a variety of program, contract, and grant financial transactions.
• Assists other senior accounting staff in identifying and resolving accounting transaction issues.
• Provides technical guidance on travel regulations and regulatory reporting requirements to ensure compliance.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements
Conditions of Employment

• U.S. Citizen
• Relevant experience and/or education
• Favorable background investigation
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered with the Selective Service

Qualifications
To qualify for this position, your resume must state sufficient experience and/or education, to perform the duties of the specific position for which you are applying.
At the GS-09 level Qualified candidates must possess:
1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS- 07 level or equivalent experience.
Specialized experience is experience which is directly related to the line of work of the position to be filled and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position, for example: relevant experience in working with the Federal Travel Regulations, federal travel management and card management systems, federal travel and card management programs. Additional experience in card management stakeholder management such as GSA SmartPay, US. Bank and/or Citibank, experience preparing reports, analysis and clear/concise oral and written communications to include but not limited to, official correspondence, emails to various audience levels/types, policies and procedures for both internal/external stakeholders.
At the GS-11 level Qualified candidates must possess:
1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS- 09 level or equivalent experience.
Specialized experience is experience which is directly related to the line of work of the position to be filled and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position, for example: reviewing grantee submitted documents, to include grant payment requests and financial reports or other vendor invoices and documents and providing guidance to grantees or payees on proper preparation of required forms; performing grant or purchase order closeout functions to include reconciling and reviewing financial status reports, and coordinating final transactions DE obligations; processing vendor invoices; employee reimbursements; panelist and grant payments; reviewing approved payments to verify arithmetic and compliance with travel regulations and agency specific policies; reconciling credit card statements; reviewing and reconciling various transactions involving multiple accounting lines; using federal reporting systems (e.g. IPAC, OTCnet) and Oracle financial system software applications; and identifying, analyzing, and resolving Treasury payment file errors.
As part of the online application process you will need to respond to a series of questions designed to assess your possession of the following knowledge, skills, abilities, and/or competencies:

• Accounting
• Budget Administration
• Financial Management
• Oral Communication
• Problem Solving
• Writing

Education
This job does not have an education qualification requirement.
Additional information
**Multiple selections can be made from this announcement.**
1. If you are an eligible Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) applicant you may apply for special selection over other candidates for this position. To be well-qualified and exercise selection priority for this vacancy, displaced Federal employees must be rated at 85 or above on the rating criteria for this position. ICTAP eligibles must submit one of the following as proof of eligibility for the special selection priority: a separation notice; a "Notice of Personnel Action" (SF-50) documenting separation; an agency certification that you cannot be placed after injury compensation has been terminated; an OPM notification that your disability annuity has been terminated; OR a Military Department or National Guard Bureau notification that you are retired under 5 U.S.C. 8337(h) or 8456.
2. If you are a veteran with preference eligibility and you are claiming 5-point veterans' preference, you must attach a copy of your DD-214 or other proof of eligibility. If you are claiming 10-point veterans' preference, you must attach an SF-15, "Application for 10-Point Veterans' Preference" plus the proof required by that form.
3. You can apply for a non-competitive appointment if you meet the basic eligibility requirements and you are eligible for special appointment such as those authorized for the severely disabled; certain Vietnam era and disabled veterans; returned volunteers from the Peace Corps or Vista, etc. Please indicate the type of special appointment you are seeking, if any, on your application and follow all other instructions for applying shown in this announcement.
4. All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions. It is available for your review in our office, in other Federal agency personnel offices, and on OPM's web site at http://www.opm.gov/qualifications.

• 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.

How You Will Be Evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Your application will be evaluated and rated under the Category Rating and Selection Procedures. We will review your resume and supporting documentation and compare this information to your responses on the occupational questionnaire to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications for this position. You will be further evaluated against job-related criteria and placed in one of three pre-defined categories:

• Best Category - Meets the basic qualification requirements for the vacancy announcement and has successful experience in the same or similar job that has demonstrated outstanding proficiency in applying knowledge, skill, and ability in the critical competencies for this position.
• Better Category - Meets the basic qualification requirements for the vacancy announcement and demonstrates proficiency in the critical competencies for this position.
• Qualified Category - Meets the specialized experience outlined in the minimum qualifications requirements section of the vacancy announcement.

Application of Veterans' Preference
* The Category Rating process does not add veterans' preference points or apply the "rule of three" but protects the rights of veterans by placing them ahead of non-preference eligibles within each category.
* Preference eligibles who meet MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS and the SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent must be listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-9 grade level or higher.
Any exaggeration of an applicant's experience, false statements, or attempts to conceal information may be grounds for rating an applicant ineligible, not hiring the applicant, or for termination after he/she begins work. If a determination is made that in responding to the competency-based question an applicant has rated themselves higher than is evident in their resume, experience, and/or education, the applicant's score may be manually adjusted by a Human Resource Specialist.
INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS will receive a rating of IFM (ineligible due to missing forms). Requests for reconsideration will not be considered for applicants who fail to submit a complete application package. We cannot be held responsible for incompatible software, fax transmissions, etc.
Only send documentation as requested/required by this announcement and that directly supports your qualifications for this position.

• 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.
• Required Documents
  As a new or existing federal employee, you and your family may have access to a range of benefits. Your benefits depend on the type of position you have - whether you're a permanent, part-time, temporary or an intermittent employee. You may be eligible for the following benefits, however, check with your agency to make sure you're eligible under their policies.
  All applicants are required to submit the following supporting document type(s):
  • Resume
  
  Your resume must thoroughly describe how your skills and experiences align to the criteria defined in the "Qualifications" section of this announcement and it must support your responses to the assessment questionnaire. We cannot assume you have performed the necessary experience required for this position regardless of your employment history or academic career.
  To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder . If you choose to use your own resume, you must ensure it contains all of the required information and you organize it so we can associate the following information for each experience/position:
  
  1. Job title
  2. Name of employer
  3. Start and end dates (including the month and year)
  4. Hours worked per week. We will assume full-time unless otherwise stated. We will prorate part-time employment in crediting experience.
  5. The level and amount of experience-for instance, whether you served as a project manager or a team member helps to illustrate your level of experience.
  6. Examples of relevant experiences and accomplishments that prove you can perform the tasks at the level required for the job as stated in the job announcement. Your experience needs to address every required qualification.
  7. Series and grade or equivalent (if a federal position)
  
  If the position has an education requirement you must include relevant transcripts. If you are qualifying on the basis of education, you must list your education history including the type of degree and your major of study. If the position requires a certain number of credit hours, you are strongly encouraged to list the relevant courses in your resume. Detailed information regarding resume formats can be found at USAJobs HelpCenter.
  If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
  Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
  Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
• How to Apply
  To apply for this position, you must complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below.
  The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 0...