diff --git a/src/bindings/python/fluxacct/accounting/job_archive_interface.py b/src/bindings/python/fluxacct/accounting/job_archive_interface.py
index bd38882b..ca1f34f2 100755
--- a/src/bindings/python/fluxacct/accounting/job_archive_interface.py
+++ b/src/bindings/python/fluxacct/accounting/job_archive_interface.py
@@ -123,7 +123,13 @@ def add_job_records(rows):
     job_records = []
 
     for row in rows:
-        rset = ResourceSet(row[6])  # fetch R
+        try:
+            # attempt to create a ResourceSet from R
+            rset = ResourceSet(row[6])
+            nnodes = rset.nnodes
+        except (ValueError, TypeError):
+            # can't convert R to a ResourceSet object; skip it
+            continue
 
         job_record = JobRecord(
             row[0],  # userid
@@ -132,7 +138,7 @@ def add_job_records(rows):
             row[2],  # t_submit
             row[3],  # t_run
             row[4],  # t_inactive
-            rset.nnodes,  # nnodes
+            nnodes,  # nnodes
             row[6],  # resources
         )
         job_records.append(job_record)
@@ -150,99 +156,70 @@ def check_jobspec(jobspec, bank):
     )
 
 
-# we are looking for jobs that were submitted under a secondary bank, so we'll
-# only add jobs that have the same bank name attribute in the jobspec
-def sec_bank_jobs(job_records, bank):
+# Filter job records based on the specified bank. For a default bank,
+# it includes jobs that either specify the default bank or do not
+# specify any bank at all.
+def filter_jobs_by_bank(job_records, bank, is_default_bank=False):
     jobs = []
     for job in job_records:
         jobspec = json.loads(job[7])
 
         if check_jobspec(jobspec, bank):
             jobs.append(job)
-
-    return jobs
-
-
-# we are looking for jobs that were submitted under a default bank, which has
-# two cases: 1) the user submitted a job while specifying their default bank,
-# or 2) the user submitted a job without specifying any bank at all
-def def_bank_jobs(job_records, default_bank):
-    jobs = []
-    for job in job_records:
-        jobspec = json.loads(job[7])
-
-        if check_jobspec(jobspec, default_bank):
-            jobs.append(job)
-        elif "bank" not in jobspec["attributes"]["system"]:
+        elif is_default_bank and "bank" not in jobspec["attributes"]["system"]:
             jobs.append(job)
 
     return jobs
 
 
 def get_job_records(conn, bank, default_bank, **kwargs):
-    job_records = []
-
     # find out which args were passed and place them in a dict
-    valid_params = ("user", "after_start_time", "before_end_time", "jobid")
-    params = {}
-    params_list = []
-
+    valid_params = {"user", "after_start_time", "before_end_time", "jobid"}
     params = {
         key: val
-        for (key, val) in kwargs.items()
+        for key, val in kwargs.items()
         if val is not None and key in valid_params
     }
 
-    select_stmt = (
-        "SELECT userid,id,t_submit,t_run,t_inactive,ranks,R,jobspec FROM jobs "
-    )
-    where_stmt = ""
-
-    def append_to_where(where_stmt, conditional):
-        if where_stmt != "":
-            return "{} AND {} ".format(where_stmt, conditional)
-
-        return "WHERE {}".format(conditional)
+    select_stmt = "SELECT userid,id,t_submit,t_run,t_inactive,ranks,R,jobspec FROM jobs"
+    where_clauses = []
+    params_list = []
 
-    # generate the SELECT statement based on the parameters passed in
     if "user" in params:
         params["user"] = get_uid(params["user"])
+        where_clauses.append("userid = ?")
         params_list.append(params["user"])
-        where_stmt = append_to_where(where_stmt, "userid=? ")
     if "after_start_time" in params:
+        where_clauses.append("t_run > ?")
         params_list.append(params["after_start_time"])
-        where_stmt = append_to_where(where_stmt, "t_run > ? ")
     if "before_end_time" in params:
+        where_clauses.append("t_inactive < ?")
         params_list.append(params["before_end_time"])
-        where_stmt = append_to_where(where_stmt, "t_inactive < ? ")
     if "jobid" in params:
+        where_clauses.append("id = ?")
         params_list.append(params["jobid"])
-        where_stmt = append_to_where(where_stmt, "id=? ")
 
-    select_stmt += where_stmt
+    if where_clauses:
+        select_stmt += " WHERE " + " AND ".join(where_clauses)
 
     cur = conn.cursor()
-    cur.execute(select_stmt, (*tuple(params_list),))
+    cur.execute(select_stmt, tuple(params_list))
     result = cur.fetchall()
-    # if the length of dataframe is 0, that means no job records were found
-    # in the jobs table, so just return an empty list
-    if len(result) == 0:
-        return job_records
+
+    if not result:
+        return []
 
     if bank is None and default_bank is None:
         # special case for unit tests in test_job_archive_interface.py
-        job_records = add_job_records(result)
-
-        return job_records
+        return add_job_records(result)
 
-    if bank != default_bank:
-        jobs = sec_bank_jobs(result, bank)
-    else:
-        jobs = def_bank_jobs(result, default_bank)
+    # find out if we are fetching jobs from a user's default bank or under
+    # one of their secondary banks; this will determine how we filter the
+    # job records we've found
+    is_default_bank = bank == default_bank
+    jobs = filter_jobs_by_bank(result, bank, is_default_bank)
 
-    job_records = add_job_records(jobs)
-
-    return job_records
+    return add_job_records(jobs)
 
 
 def output_job_records(conn, output_file, **kwargs):