Accountant Aide Trainee 1

*Salary
$40,720
$39,737 (Thruway)
$47,446 (Teachers' Retirement)

Due to current testing space limitations, candidates may need to travel to a test site to take this examination. Candidates will be notified of their test site location on their admission notice.

This TRANSITION EXAMINATION is one of several concepts included in a Memorandum of Intent agreed to by New York State and CSEA and is designed to provide opportunities for employees within state service.

Interdepartmental Transition examination open to all qualified employees of New York State.

For advancement in State Departments, Facilities, and Agencies

1. Within Promotion Units 2. Within Entire Departments 3. To Other Departments

Back To Top

Minimum Qualifications

On or before May 9, 2026, you must be a qualified employee of New York State and have had three months of permanent competitive, non-competitive, labor class, non-competitive NY HELPS**, or 55-b/55-c service in a position allocated to a Grade 5 or higher AND you must have six semester credit hours in accounting, auditing, or taxation courses***. If you have received a permanent appointment to a qualifying title listed and served provisionally**** in that title immediately preceding your permanent appointment, such provisional service may be counted towards meeting the time in title required for this examination.

Note that courses such as business law, economics, statistics, and most finance courses, although taken as part of an accounting curriculum, cannot be counted toward the six semester credit hours.

To view a list of qualifying titles visit: https://www.cs.ny.gov/examannouncements/announcements/00033020qualifying.cfm.

If you were permanently appointed to a qualifying title on or before February 9, 2026, and have served continuously in this title since that date, you are eligible to file for this examination.

**If you were permanently appointed via the New York Hiring for Emergency Limited Placement Statewide (NY HELPS) program to a qualifying title in the non-competitive class on or before February 9, 2026, and have served continuously in this title since that date, you may apply for this examination.

***You must submit a list of qualifying coursework with your application which includes: the name of the accounting, auditing, or taxation courses completed or pending completion, the number of semester credit hours received, and the name of the college/university. Failure to do so will result in the disapproval of your application.

****If you were permanently appointed to a qualifying title and had provisional service in the same title immediately preceding the permanent appointment, such provisional service may be counted towards meeting the time in title required to apply for this examination. Your provisional appointment must have been on or before February 9, 2026, to qualify for this examination.

• If you expect to meet the educational requirements by September 30, 2026, you can take the test. You MUST submit proof of successful completion of the educational requirements to the hiring agency at the time of the employment interview or you will not be considered for appointment. Failure to meet the educational requirements by September 30, 2026, may result in your removal from the eligible list.

• Your required educational credentials must have been awarded by an educational institution accredited by a regional, national, or specialized agency recognized as an accrediting agency by the United States (U.S.) Department of Education/Secretary of Education. If awarded by an institution outside of the U.S. and its territories, you must provide independent verification of equivalency. A list of companies that provide these services (fees must be paid to the company you choose) can be found at: http://www.cs.ny.gov/jobseeker/degrees.cfm. You will be required to provide this information to the hiring agency at the time of interview.

Qualifying Experience For Appointment From The Eligible List: After one year of service described in the Minimum Qualifications, successful candidates will be qualified for appointment from the eligible list.

Employees appointed via the NY HELPS program to a qualifying title in the non-competitive class will have their names restricted from appointment from the eligible list until their position is covered-in to the competitive class by action of the New State Civil Service Commission or otherwise obtain permanent competitive status in the position.

If you have received a permanent appointment to a qualifying title listed and served provisionally in that title immediately preceding your permanent appointment, such provisional service may be counted towards meeting the one year time in title required for appointment from the eligible list.

Traineeships: The eligible list resulting from this transition examination will be used to fill two-year traineeships leading to Accountant Aide G-13.

An appointee’s performance in the trainee position and in prescribed training and development programs will be observed and evaluated. The prescribed training and development program will include extensive on-the-job training and carefully designed and monitored work experience. In addition to the six credit hours required to be admitted to this examination, you MUST have an additional six credit hours in accounting, auditing, or taxation (for a total of 12 credit hours) in order to complete this traineeship. An appointee not meeting required standards can be terminated at any time after the initial eight weeks and before completion of the traineeship. An appointee will be placed on leave from their permanent title and will revert to that title if they do not successfully complete the traineeship.

Upon successful completion of the 12-month training as an Accountant Aide Trainee 1, you will automatically advance to Accountant Aide Trainee 2 at a salary of $45,494 ($43,555 Thruway and $53,125 Teachers’ Retirement). Upon satisfactory completion of the 12-month training as an Accountant Aide Trainee 2, you will be advanced to the full title of Accountant Aide, without further examination, at a salary of $50,844 ($47,762 Thruway and $59,609 Teachers’ Retirement).

The Positions: These positions exist in various New York State agencies and are located predominantly in the Capital Region.

Back To Top

Duties

As an Accountant Aide Trainee 1, under the direct supervision of a professional accountant, auditor, senior budgeting analyst, or other appropriate staff, you would draft segments of audit reports and/or correspondence, assist in analyzing and evaluating financial reports and documents, verify accounting records, compile data, and review and evaluate accounting procedures.

Notes:

1. Your college credit must have been awarded by a college or university accredited by a regional, national, or specialized agency recognized as an accrediting agency by the U.S. Department of Education/U.S. Secretary of Education. If your college credit was awarded by an educational institution outside the United States and its territories, you must provide independent verification of equivalency. You can write to the Examination Information Desk of the NYS Department of Civil Service for a list of acceptable companies who provide this service. This information can also be found on the Internet at http://www.cs.ny.gov/jobseeker/degrees.cfm. You must pay the required evaluation fee. If you are applying on the Internet, you must mail the independent verification of equivalency to the New York State Department of Civil Service, Albany, New York 12239. Attention: S3/SER.
2. This examination has special minimum qualifications in addition to the usual "time in service requirement." If you are filing on the Internet, please list all pertinent information online. If you are applying on NYS-APP application form, you must list all pertinent information on the application. Attach additional sheets if needed.
3. You must provide documentation of your college credit at the time of interview.

Back To Top

Subject of Examination

To be considered for appointment to this title, you must pass the multiple-choice test. The multiple-choice test evaluates your knowledge, skills, and/or abilities in the following areas:

1. Fundamentals of account keeping and bookkeeping - These questions test for a knowledge of basic principles and practices of account keeping and bookkeeping. The questions test for recognizing account keeping and bookkeeping terms, concepts and relationships; recording financial transactions; and solving elementary problems in account keeping and bookkeeping.
2. Arithmetic reasoning - These questions test your ability to solve an arithmetic problem presented in sentence or short paragraphs form. You must read the problem, understand the situation presented, decide what must be done to solve it, and apply the appropriate arithmetic operation(s) in the appropriate order, in order to determine the correct answer. Knowledge of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division will be necessary. Questions may also involve the use of percents, decimals, and fractions. You should bring with you a hand held battery- or solar powered calculator for use on this test. You will not be permitted to use the calculator function of your cell phone.
3. Preparing written material - These questions test for the ability to present information clearly and accurately, and to organize paragraphs logically and comprehensibly. For some questions, you will be given information in two or three sentences followed by four restatements of the information. You must then choose the best version. For other questions, you will be given paragraphs with their sentences out of order. You must then choose, from four suggestions, the best order for the sentences.
4. Understanding and interpreting tabular material - These questions test your ability to understand, analyze, and use the internal logic of data presented in tabular form. You may be asked to perform tasks such as completing tables, drawing conclusions from them, analyzing data trends or interrelationships, and revising or combining data sets. The concepts of rate, ratio, and proportion are tested. Mathematical operations are simple, and computational speed is not a major factor in the test. You should bring with you a hand-held battery- or solar-powered calculator for use on this test. You will not be permitted to use the calculator function of your cell phone.
5. Understanding and interpreting written material - These questions test for the ability to understand and interpret written material. You will be presented with brief reading passages and will be asked questions about the passages. You should base your answers to the questions only on what is presented in the passages and not on what you may happen to know about the topic.

Test Guide: A General Guide to Multiple-Choice Tests is available at http://www.cs.ny.gov/testing/testguides.cfm.

If you pass, your seniority credit(s), if any, will be included in the computation of your final score. Your final score on the eligible list will be determined after adding any Veterans' credits.

Credit For Seniority: Seniority is credited at the rate of one credit for each five-year period (or fraction thereof), excluding the first year of service.

Admission To The Test: If approved for a multiple-choice test, you will receive an admission notice which will indicate your assigned test date and the way your test will be administered. Your test may be administered with paper and pencil or online at a state test site. You cannot request to change your scheduled day or request a specific type of test administration.

Applicants are required to have a Personal NY.gov account and keep their email address up to date. The Department of Civil Service and other state agencies will communicate with you through email correspondence. This may include notification of your application status, your test arrangements, examination results, and canvassing you for interest in appointment. It will be important for you to keep your email address, phone number, and mailing address current by logging into https://www.cs.ny.gov/home/myaccount.

Back To Top

How To Apply

Additional Information

New York State is an Equal Opportunity Employer

It is the policy of the State of New York to provide for and promote equal opportunity employment, compensation, and other terms and conditions of employment without unlawful discrimination on the basis of age, race, color, religion, disability, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, veteran or military service member status, marital status, domestic violence victim status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, arrest and/or criminal conviction record, or any other category protected by law, unless based upon a bona fide occupational qualification or other exception.

Religious Accommodation

Most multiple-choice tests are held on Saturdays. If you cannot take the test on the announced test date, due to a conflict with a religious observance or practice, check the box under “Religious Accommodation.” We will make arrangements for you to take the test on a different date (usually the following day).

Reasonable Accommodations in Testing

It is the policy of the Department of Civil Service, in accordance with the New York State Human Rights Law and the Americans with Disabilities Act, to provide qualified persons with disabilities equal employment opportunity and equal opportunity to participate in and receive the benefits, services, programs, and activities of the Department. It is the policy of the Department to provide such persons reasonable accommodations and reasonable modifications as are necessary to provide equal opportunity. Persons with disabilities who require an accommodation to participate in an examination must note this on their application. Further information is available from the Test Accommodation Unit of the Department of Civil Service at Testaccommodation@cs.ny.gov.

Admission to Examination

Notice to appear for the test may be conditional as review of applications may not be made until after the test. If you have not received your notice to appear for the multiple-choice test three days before the date of the test, email us at AdmissionNotices@cs.ny.gov. Please provide your first and last name, address, and the last four digits of your social security number, and we will provide you with the information you need to attend your multiple-choice test. If you have an issue other than not receiving your admission notice, please contact our office at (518) 474-6470 in the Albany area or toll free at 1-877-697-5627. Please leave a clear concise message and provide your first and last name, last four digits of your social security number and a daytime phone number.

Taking State and Local Examinations Scheduled for the Same Day

If you have applied to take a multiple-choice test announced by either one or several local jurisdictions (county, town, city) scheduled to be held on the same test date as this multiple-choice test, you must notify each of the local jurisdictions no later than two weeks before the test date to make arrangements for taking all tests at one test site. All tests will be held at the state examination center. For your convenience, contact information for all local civil service agencies is available on our website at: https://www.cs.ny.gov/jobseeker/local.cfm.

Eligibility for Examination

To be considered a qualified employee eligible to compete in this examination, you must be employed in, or on leave from, the specified department or agency on a permanent or contingent permanent basis in the competitive class, or in the non-competitive class or labor class if specifically noted on this announcement (or be on an appropriate preferred list), and have the specified time in the specified title or salary grade. You may not compete in a test for a title if you are permanently employed in that title (unless you are still on probation) or in a higher direct line of promotion.

Cell Phones or Electronic/Communication Devices at the Test Site

The use of cell phones, beepers, headphones, or any electronic or other communication devices at your personal testing site or in the test room, hallways, restrooms, building, grounds, or other areas, except as expressly authorized by the Department of Civil Service, could result in your disqualification.

S3/TB2 SER-gcm
Issued: 2/20/26

This announcement is subject to amendment or cancellation without notice. Do not copy it, or post it to any other site, but link to it instead.

Back To Top