National Endowment for the Arts logo

Staff Accountant

National Endowment for the Arts

Washington, DCFull-time$71–92K/yrPosted today

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At a glance

Compensation
$71–92K/yr
Location
Washington, DC
Schedule
Full-time
Work Authorization
US work authorization required

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Requirements

Credentials this posting asks for.

CPA Or CIA Certificate

Job overview

The Staff Accountant serves in the National Endowment for the Arts’ finance function, entering transactions in Oracle Federal Financial and organizing financial and operational data with Excel and Word. The role supports budget requests and accounting close activities, reviews procedures for process improvements, and researches transactional data to resolve issues. Applicants must meet federal accounting education or experience requirements and the GS-09 qualification paths.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Oracle Federal FinancialMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft WordFinancial Transaction ProcessingBudget FormulationBudget ExecutionAccounting CloseReporting QueriesData Analysis

Qualifications

Accounting Degree or Related24 Accounting Semester HoursFour Years Accounting Experience or EquivalentCPA or CIA CertificateOne Year Specialized Experience or Graduate Education PathsU.S. CitizenshipBackground InvestigationSelective Service Registration or ExemptionSF-50 and Recent Appraisal52 Weeks Time in Grade

Full job description

Summary

Who May Be Considered: Status Candidates Veterans Land Management Eligibles under the Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act. View common definitions of terms found in this announcement.

Duties

In this position, you will serve as Staff Accountant. Typical work assignments include: Inputting transaction details into the Oracle Federal Financial system to document agency obligations, payments, and standard data adjustments from transaction sources including travel, grants panels, credit cards and vendors. Organizing basic financial and operational data using Microsoft Excel and Word to assist with routine budget formulation and execution requests. Reviewing internal standard operating procedures to help identify opportunities for process improvements and assist in developing standard operating procedures. Support accounting close activities. Perform research by extracting system transactional data using reporting queries to analyze and resolve data issues Maintain and keep updates of communication sent to the Finance group email box. Requirements

You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position. You must successfully pass a background investigation. This may include a credit check, a review of financial issues, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs. Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service (see http://www.sss.gov/). Complete the initial online assessment and USAHire Assessment, if required One-year probationary period may be required. Status Candidates must submit an SF-50 and recent appraisal. Status candidates must meet time-in-grade requirements (52 weeks at the next lower grade level). Time-in-Grade must be met by the closing date of the announcement Only experience obtained by the closing date of this announcement will be considered. If you receive a conditional offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application. All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choosing. Promotion Potential: When promotion potential is shown, the agency is not making a commitment and is not obligated to provide future promotions to you if you are selected. Future promotions will be dependent on your ability to perform the duties at a higher level, the continuing need for an employee assigned to the higher level Qualifications

Applicants must demonstrate that they meet the Basic Requirements AND Minimum Qualification requirements as noted below. In order to qualify for this position, your resume must provide sufficient experience and/or education, knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of the specific position for which you are being considered. Basic Requirement: You must meet one of the following: 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 hours may include up to 6 hours of credit in business law. OR B. 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 oneof the following: Twenty-four semester hours in accounting or auditing courses of appropriate type and quality. This can include up to 6 hours of business law; A certificate as Certified Public Accountant or a Certified Internal Auditor, obtained through written examination; or 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 (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 nonconformance to the requirement of 24 semester hours in accounting, the applicant's education, training, and experience fully meet the specified requirements. AND Minimum Qualifications: GS09: Applicant must demonstrate one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-07 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors) performing the following duties Processing administrative transactions/ staff reimbursements under established guidelines. Verifying the accuracy of invoice data prior to entering into organizational systems; and Tracking payment statuses within a financial system. OR You have 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree NOTE: A copy of your transcripts must be included with your application to support this response. OR You have a combination of specialized experience (less than one year) and graduate education (beyond 1 year of graduate education), that when combined equals 100% of the qualification requirement. Note: Only graduate education in excess of one year may be used in this calculation. You must submit a copy of your college transcripts (official or unofficial), and your resume must explicitly indicate how you meet the experience to support your claim. NOTE: Your resume must explicitly indicate how you meet this requirement, otherwise you will be found ineligible. Limit your resume to two pages. Only resumes 2 pages in length will be accepted to determine eligibility and qualifications.? You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer and part time experience. You must clearly identify the duties and responsibilities in each position held and the dates worked and total number of hours per week. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (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. Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS resume template. However, if you do not use the template you must ensure that your resume contains ALL required information which includes hours worked, starting & ending month and year, and if Federal employment (series, pay plan, and grade). Current or Former Political Appointees: 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.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Education must be from an accredited institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For additional information, refer to the U.S. Department of Education web site at http://www.ed.gov. Submit a copy of your college transcript (unofficial is acceptable) or you may submit a list with all of your courses, grades, semester, year, and credit for the courses. Foreign Education: Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet Federal qualification requirements if you can show that your foreign education is comparable to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States. For example, specific courses accepted for college-level credit by an accredited U.S. college or university, or foreign education evaluated by an organization recognized for accreditation by the Department of Education as education equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. college or university. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence with your application. See Recognition of Foreign Qualifications for more information. All materials must be submitted by the closing date of the announcement. How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. Names of all candidates in the best qualified category will be sent to the hiring official for employment consideration You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics): The USA Hire Assessments includes a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment. 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. Candidates who apply under Competitive Merit Promotion procedures will undergo a quality review to determine if they are best qualified based on the content of their resume and their responses to the questionnaire. Best qualified candidates will be referred if all required supporting documentation has been provided. Candidates who apply under Noncompetitive and Special Hiring Authorities procedures will undergo a quality review to determine if they are minimally qualified based on the content of their resume, supporting documentation submitted and their responses to the assessment questionnaire. Career Transition Assistance Program: This program applies to Federal service employees whose positions have been deemed surplus or no longer needed, or employees who have been involuntarily separated from a Federal service position within the competitive service. To receive selection priority for this position, you must: 1) meet eligibility criteria for CTAP or ICTAP; 2) be rated well-qualified for the position; and 3) submit the appropriate documentation to support your CTAP or ICTAP eligibility. Well-Qualified includes those applicants whose knowledge, skills, and abilities clearly exceed the minimum qualification requirements for the position. For information on eligibility criteria and required documentation, go to: http://www.opm.gov/rif/employee_guides/career_transition.asp Other Information

Additional selections may be made from this vacancy. Identification of promotion potential in this announcement does not constitute a commitment or an obligation of management to promote the employee selected at some future date. If you are claiming CTAP eligibility, you must submit proof by 11/04/2026 that you meet the requirements of 5 CFR 330.605(a) for CTAP or you will not receive priority consideration. The proof includes a copy of the agency notice, your most recent Performance Rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty station. To be considered well-qualified and exercise selection priority of this vacancy, you must earn a minimum score of 85 (prior to the assignment of veteran's preference) on the rating criteria for this position. Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply online if at all possible. Applying online, through your USAJOBS account, will expedite the application process and allow you to check your application status as well as verify the documentation submitted with your application.All documents must be received by 11/04/2026.If you are unable to apply online please contact [email protected]. If you are selected for this Federal position, you will be required to complete a "Declaration of Federal Employment", (OF-306), prior to being appointed to determine your suitability for Federal employment and to authorize a background investigation. Failure to answer all questions truthfully and completely or providing false statements on the application may be grounds for not hiring you or dismissing you after you begin work, and may be punishable by fine or imprisonment (U.S. Code, Title 18, Section 1001). 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 a 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.opm.gov/hc/en-us/sections/45063131363475-Reasonable-Accommodation-Information)

How this job compares

Set against the 4,732 open Accounting jobs on Olive Jobs, counted October 27, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$71–92K/yr
  • Washington, D.C. median$104–149K/yr38 salary ranges
  • US median$95–139K/yr2,281 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $81K, is 38% below the Washington, D.C. median midpoint ($131K) — in the lowest quarter of Accounting salary ranges in Washington, D.C..

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 54 open Accounting jobs in Washington, D.C. and 4,732 across the US. 4% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in Washington, D.C.
Experience
This posting asks for at least 1 year of experience — less than three in four Accounting postings that state a minimum ask for (median 5 years, across 3,467 postings).
Education
2,449 of the 4,732 open Accounting jobs (52%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on October 27, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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