V. Division Employment Opportunities for Accountants
For more information about any of the positions or programs described below, contact Carol Stacey, Associate Chief Accountant, at (202) 942-2960, or fax your resume to (202) 942-9582. You can also visit our website at http://www.sec.gov/jobs.shtml#acctfor current information about employment opportunities in the Division.
A. Staff Accountant
The Division provides a fast-paced, challenging work environment for accounting professionals. Our staff reviews the accounting and disclosure for hot IPOs, novel transactions and securities, and complex mergers and acquisitions. We analyze current and emerging accounting issues, interact with the top professionals in the securities industry, and influence accounting standards and practices around the world. A Staff Accountant's responsibilities include examining financial statements in public filings and finding solutions to the most difficult and controversial accounting issues.
A minimum of 3 years' experience in a public accounting firm or public company dealing with SEC reporting is required. The staff accounting position offers a unique learning experience and the opportunity to explore the full depth and breadth of accounting theory, principles, and practices. Salary to low $90k, based on experience and current salary.
B. Professional Accounting Fellowships
The Division also has openings for up to ten positions for Professional Accounting Fellows for a nonrenewable term of two years. This program provides Accounting Fellows with in-depth exposure to the Commission's full disclosure system administered by the Division. Accounting Fellows, working in a team with other staff accountants and lawyers, review filings by public companies to identify material accounting, auditing or financial reporting deficiencies resulting from deviations from GAAP, GAAS, and SEC rules and regulations.
To be eligible for participation in the program, a successful candidate must have three to nine years of auditing experience in a public accounting firm, must be familiar with SEC reporting requirements, and must be a Certified Public Accountant. Candidates will be evaluated on the basis of their qualifications. Salary to low $90k, based on experience and current salary.
C. Professional Academic Fellowships
The Division established its academic fellowship program in 1998. Under this program, an accounting professor can use a sabbatical year or leave of absence to become involved directly in top-level, contemporary accounting and auditing issues as they arise in the Division's oversight of filings by public companies. The fellowship involves reviewing filings by public companies to identify significant accounting and disclosure problems, researching financial reporting issues in connection with Division policy or program initiatives, and developing and presenting training on emerging or controversial accounting issues for accountants and attorneys in the Division. Requirements include a Master's or PhD, and extensive teaching experience in upper-level/advanced financial accounting courses.
For faculty members at U.S. universities, the academic fellow position is available under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA), and generally involves a 12-month (August to August) contract among the SEC, the professor, and the professor's university. Under the contract, the professor continues to be an employee of the university, while the SEC reimburses the university for 12/9's of the professor's academic year salary, up to approximately $117,000 (equivalent to the pay grade GS 15/10). The employing university may elect to pay the professor more than the reimbursement cap. According to industry sources, an SEC fellowship is viewed very favorably at institutions where sabbaticals are awarded competitively.