The interview questions related to accounting can be different from one employer to another. They can also vary from post that is being offered, the job description and requirements and the career level along with experience of the candidate.
A candidate for an accounting job can face a blend of job interview questions including questions related to technical and current accounting issues, accountancy prowess and experience and behavioral interview questions that are designed to gauge an individual’s accounting job capabilities.
You can use this guideline to create your own responses to the commonly asked accounting interview questions.
Some of the common accounting interview questions that are meant to adjudge the general technical expertise and knowledge include:
Can you please tell the accounting applications that you are proficient in?
You can entail that applications that you are acquainted with. You can elaborate on the approach that you employed to implement a certain application, the stages involved during the conversion and integration of the accounting system and the capacity building of the staff to use the application.
You can also dwell on your knowledge of the application by sharing the specific purpose of the application.
Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of disparate accounting packages that you have used.
Elaborate the packages supported and simplified processes relevant to the company and the strategy that you employed to achieve the requisite business objectives. Share your knowledge of the differences among packages in terms of price, ease of use and their functions.
Share the examples of accounting reports that you have prepared.
Discuss your experience in adhering to accounting principles, practices and processes to ensure precise and timely financial statements and reporting.
You should be able to demonstrate your ability to meet stringent deadlines and carry out multiple tasks simultaneously. You should be able to convince the interviewers that you are familiar with the generally accepted procedures and norms of accountancy.
Discuss any accounting process that has been formulated or revised by you.
You should be able to underscore the way you have inspected and assessed work processes to formulate efficient processes and employment of resources while ensuring that the outputs are accurate.
General list of common accounting interview questions
- Describe the biggest of bottlenecks hampering the accounting profession in the modern era.
- Discuss any of the cost cutting measures that you have successfully undertaken in your previous jobs.
- Were you able to save any money for the company and how you were able to do so?
- Did you participate in any hands-on accounting practices?
- Share any examples of internal control processes that you created and maintained.
- Have you had any interaction with the budgeting process?
- Do you have any expertise in the financial assessment of a company or ad hoc projects?
- Are you familiar with financial predictions?
- Did you undertake audit of any project?
- Discuss the different measures you took to assess financial risk.
- Discuss any management reports that you formulated.
- Do you have any experience in tax planning and formulation?
- What, in your view, are the key skills for this post?
- What measures do you undertake to keep your knowledge updated regarding the modern accounting approaches?
- Discuss your key areas of competence with regard to accounting.
Here is a list of key competencies to answer the last question. Finance interview questions are designed to gauge the capacity of a candidate with regard to finance jobs. You should be able to ask your interviewers smart questions about the company and the post such as:
- Describe the structure of your finance department.
- Discuss any current financial and accounting projects.
