Top 10 Accounting Interview Questions (With Answers) - Career Sidekick

Top 10 Accounting Interview Questions (With Answers) - Career Sidekick Top 10 Accounting Interview Questions (With Answers) Interview Questions and Answers / https://www.edenscott.com/blog There are 10 common questions you need to be ready for in an accounting interview.Employers ask many of the same accounting interview questions whether its a Big Four accounting firm or an accountant job interview at a tech company, healthcare company, etc.So here are the top 10 accountant interview questions to be ready for,with tips and examples of how to answer them.10 Must-Know Accountant Interview Questions1. What were you responsible for in your last job?In any accounting job interview, you will face questions about what you did in your previous position. Employers are looking for similarities/overlap between past work and what youd be doing in this job.So make sure you study the job description, know what their job involves, and then prepare to highlight these similarities in your interview answer!Dont just list everything you did in that last job! Pick the tasks that will be relevant/helpful to you in this next job. Show that your past work pre pared you to succeed in their position.Thats what employers are looking for when they ask you this interview question.And its okay if your last accounting job doesnt overlap perfectly with this next role; just do your best to highlight the similarities and demonstrate that youd be successful in their role!When employers ask interview questions like this, theyre trying to figure out if you have the skills and experience necessary to come in and succeed in their job. They dont want to hire someone who will fail. So focus on proving youll do well in their job.You may also hear variations like, Walk me through your recent role. What did you do? So be ready.2. How would you record this transaction? (and similar technical accounting interview questions)A good portion of your accountant job interview will focus on technical and situational questions like the one above.Even in an initial phone interview, youre likely to hear a few basic technical questions to judge your ability as an accoun tant.A company doesnt want to bring you on-site to meet five people in a full day of interviewing if you dont have the basic technical chops they need, so theyre going to ask.)So to prepare for technical accounting interview questions, heres what I recommend:Make sure you review your past work, and also what you learned during your academic career.Sometimes employers can ask very academic questions that can catch you off-guard if youve been working as an accountant for many years already.I see this a lot when helping software developers interview, too. They learn to do things a certain way in their jobs, and forget about the academic side of what they learned in terms of computer science, etc. Then in their next interview, they struggle. So brush up on this type of knowledge!3. Tell me about yourselfEmployers ask, what can you tell me about yourself? in almost every interview, and it usually comes right at the beginning, so you need a great answer.Here are four key steps to answerin g:First, employers want to know about your background as a professional when they ask this, not personal details. So stick to your professional career story.Start with how you got into the field of accounting, and when you began. If you just graduated with your accounting degree, you can start with why you chose this major.Next, take them through a few key accomplishments youve achieved in your career (or academic career). If youve made some career moves and job changes, explain those key moves and why you made them.And then finally, explain your current situation. Why are you job hunting now? What are you looking to do next? (Or if youre a recent graduate, how are you looking to begin your career?)For example, you could end your answer by saying, So now that Ive been a supervisor for two years, Im looking to advance to the manager level and continue leading teams. When a friend forwarded me this job description, it seemed like a great fit, so I knew I should apply.4. Why did you ch oose Accounting as a career?Employers are always going to want to know your reasons for choosing this career in an interview.Why? Well, if you dont seem to enjoy your career or have any reasons why it interests you, then theyre going to worry about your ability to stay motivated, work hard, work through difficult days/weeks, etc.So be ready to explain how/why you chose accounting as a career, and maybe one or two things you enjoy about it (this could be technical challenges, working with numbers, working as part of a team, etc.)5. Why are you applying to this position?After employers ask why you chose this career, theyre going to want to know why you are applying to their specific job.They want to see that youre targeting specific things in your job hunt and not just desperately applying everywhere. Employers ALWAYS want someone whos looking for theright fit, not just any job thatll hire them.If you dont take this approach, it could be a big reason why youre not finding a job.If you seem to just want any job you can get, employers will be worried that youll take their job, but leave as soon as you find something better. They dont want to spend weeks training you just to have you leave in six months, so they arent going to hire you unless you can show youve done your research and know why their job and company interest you.6. What type of work environment do you prefer?Employers ask, what type of work environment do you prefer? to determine if youll enjoy their workplace.They dont want to hire someone who prefers working alone if their office is very collaborative and social.So be ready to explain what type of work environment you like best in any accounting interview. And research their company first so you dont put your foot in your mouth and say something that costs you the job!You can search the company on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and elsewhere online to try to get a sense of their company culture.7. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?This isnt a trick question like so many people think, but there are a couple of things to make sure you include in your answer.First, you want to sound like youve thought about this question. Saying, I really dont know is a horrible response. You need to give them an answer that shows youve thought about this question, because that will make you seem more career-oriented and motivated.Next, you want to sound slightly ambitious, but not too ambitious. For example, dont say that youd be happy staying in the same job for the next five years (even if its true).But at the same time, if youre interviewing for a Staff Accountant position, dont say that you really want to lead people and that you want to move out of hands-on accounting work as quickly as possible.If you say this, theyll have concerns about whether you really want to do this job youve applied for (and you wont get hired).So when you explain where you see yourself in five years, show that you have ambitions and goals, but also demonstrate tha t youre interested in the specific job youve applied for, too.8. Whats your greatest professional achievement so far?If the interviewer asks, whats your greatest achievement? dont be timid. Its okay to brag and talk about something youre really proud of. Show some excitement/emotion.Pick something from your professional career. Or if youre looking for your first job with no experience, then pick something from your academic career (like a presentation you gave, an accounting project you completed, an internship you worked in, etc.)Explain what you accomplished and why youre proud of this. Bonus points if you can pick an accomplishment thats related to the work youll be doing for them in this job! (For example, if youre going to be managing accounting projects for clients in this job, sharing something related to client work in the past will go over well as an answer to this question).9. Tell me about a time when you failedEmployers may also ask you to talk about past failures/mistak es in an accounting job interview.If they ask for a time when you failed, walk them through a scenario where you didnt achieve the outcome you wanted, and most importantly the lesson you learned from it and how youve improved since then!Dont ever badmouth or blame others. When the interviewer asks about past failures, they really want to hear you taking responsibility and learning from a situation.To organize your answer, I recommend the STAR method: Situation. Task. Action. Result. (This is a good way to break down your answer for any behavioral questions youre asked).So describe the general situation. Then describe the task at hand, or the goal you needed to accomplish. Then the action you took.And finally, the outcome. Why did this fail? And what did you learn from it?If you want to put your interview answer over the top, finish up by describing a more recent situation where you used the lessons learned to get a different outcome!For example, after describing the past failure, y ou could say, I was in the same situation very recently, and I used the lesson learned to take a better approach. I did a better job delegating tasks and we finished two days ahead of schedule. The project was a success and the client was thrilled.10. What do you need to improve as an accountant?When employers ask, what areas need improvement? theyre looking for an honest, thoughtful answer. But dont say something vital to the job! Thats true when answering, whats your greatest weakness? too.Pick a real area youre working on improving, but make sure its not essential for the job youve applied for.As an example, if youre a Staff Accountant, you could say, I havent held a formal leadership position yet, but Im working on improving my leadership skills. I want to become better at communicating, leading projects and meetings, and delegating tasks.Then, end your answer by showing youre taking initiative to improve this weakness. How do you plan on improving in this area? What are you alr eady doing to accomplish this? Show initiative.Practice These 10 Questions Before Your InterviewIf you get confident answering the 10 interview questions for accountants above, youll get more job offers and make a better impression in your interviews.Make sure you practice your answers to each question before the interview, though. Nothing comes out perfect the first time so reading through this once and then moving on wont get you hired.Practicing will help you sound more confident and help you identify the areas you struggle to talk about BEFORE the interview, so you can fix them. This is how to ensure your interviews go well identify weaknesses and practice them before the big moment.How to practice your interview answers:To practice, I recommend bookmarking/saving this list of questions and recording a few test answers with your smartphone voice recorder app. Every phone should have one.Then play it back to see how you sound, and keep practicing each accounting interview questi on until youre happy with your answers.You dont need to memorize your answers word-for-word, though. In fact, I recommend you dont. Youll just sound like a robot if you memorize everything, and employers hate that.Instead, practice hitting the key points you want to talk about with each question. Think of the 3-4 key points that youd like to talk about for a topic, and then make sure you can navigate your answer from start to finish while hitting those key points (and being concise/brief).Heres a recent LinkedIn post I shared with exactly how I recommend practicing any interview questions:Once you can do that for each accounting interview question above, youre ready for the interview!