Accounting Interview Questions & Answers

I had two interviews for Deloitte, the first was with a previous graduate and the second was with one of the partners.
The first interview was mainly competency based and lasted around an hour, with roughly 5 questions being asked. The questions centered around commercial awareness, leadership skills, teamwork skills, problem solving skills and achievements. Each question was followed by a few smaller questions relating to my previous answer and were quite probing.
I passed the first interview and then attended the partner interview which was much more intense. This involved a presentation revolving around the changes being made in the accounting industry which I found very challenging! I could tell my interviewer had strong opinions on the topic and so I thought it was quite difficult to please him. I also had a few more competency based questions, as well as questions regarding my motivation for the job and hopes for my career.

The presentation was the most difficult part as I found it difficult to find information beforehand that I could talk about confidently.

Make sure presentation is well prepared and that you have some fairly recent examples for your competency based questions- a few of mine were examples from high school and this was part of my feedback. Commercial awareness is also a big factor!

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For this job role there were two sets of interviews. The first was a telephone interview which was the most difficult stage of the process for me as you had 35 minutes to answer 9 questions. During the interview the interviewer kept cutting me out to ask follow up questions and then rushing me for answers due to time constraints. Luckily I got through that and went on to a one-to-one interview with a director. This interview was far more relaxed and was just a general conversation. The director just wanted to know more about me as an individual. The purpose of that was to see if I would fit in with the team and weather he'd want to work with me.

I feel the most difficult question of the interview was 'why do you want to work for us?' The reason I say this is because you need to plan your answer carefully for this question. You need to carry out research before the interview but can not sound robotic during the interview so have to make it sound natural.

My advice for the interview (as well as the rest of the application process) is to just be yourself. Do not try to be someone else as this will show during the process. Make sure you carry out extensive research before the interview, relax and be yourself. There's no trick questions and they just want to get to know you as an individual. They know you possess the skills required for the job (shown through the other stages in the process) so take the interview as your chance to show yourself as an individual.

During the Assessment Centre, I had to complete three tasks. The first task was a numerical and verbal reasoning test. This was fairly similar to the online tests done previously but was done in person and on paper. The second task within the assessment centre was a written case study. Within the study I received a booklet of information. Using the information I had to write a one page (both sides) proposal outlining which schemes I would chose from the booklet and why. The key to this task is structure. Make sure you have a set structure whilst writing. The final task of the assessment centre was the group exercise. Here with 4 other people we had to discuss a range of ideas (given to us individually before the task) and come up with the best ideas.

Tasks: An initial verbal reasoning test to assess there was no wrongdoing during the online test. This was then followed with the unique KPMG immersive assessment centre (based on an imaginary company), where tasks followed what would be a typical day for a new graduate. This included a Virtual Office exercise, writing a report with recommendations based on the company, and then two role-playing exercises with a potential client and your manager. The format was designed as a natural progression as you learned more about the company, for example you could use all the information you gathered from the in-tray exercise to use in the client meeting.

Due to the nature of the immersive AC there were not any personal questions asked. I would say some of the questions from the potential client were difficult, where the exercise is designed for the client to have aggrievances and you need to overcome them and build a relationship. So for example one question the client had was "in the past we have had a difficult working relationship, how do you plan to overcome this in future?". This required innovative and immediate quick-thinking answers to address client concerns.

Carefully choose which information to read, if you analyse everything given to you, you will easily run out of time on all of the tasks.
Relax as much as possible during the role-playing exercises, although make sure you time keep during your client meeting.

We all did a verbal reasoning test consisting of 30 questions in 17 minutes. After this the immersive assessment centre begun, prior to starting the tasks everyone was given 15 minutes to take in all the background information we had been given. In the morning everyone did an in-tray exercise lasting an hour, and then the virtual office exercise lasting an hour as well. In the afternoon, the groups were split up with some doing their role-playing exercises, whilst the rest of the group had lunch. After every single task there was also a 10 minute self-review exercise where we commented on what went well, what did not go so well, and how we might change our approach if we faced with a similar scenario in future.

The first stage of the application was the personal information and then there was a situational, numerical and verbal reasoning test.
After this was a phone interview which lasted about 45 minutes. The interviewer introduced them self and told me about their background. Then it was straight into the interview questions. It was a competency based interview focusing on KPMG's competencies of career motivation, delivering quality, collaboration, continuous improvement, professional judgment, seizing business opportunities, innovation and resilience.
They also asked a fair amount of questions about commercial awareness. This was my first interview and wasn't as prepared as I should have been so some of the questions caught me off guard and I didn't really provide good answers to the questions. The interviewer was friendly enough but if you haven't done your research, the interview will be tricky. The interviewer would ask a lot of follow up questions to your answers such as "Why do you think that?"

Pick a company that has had some troubles over the past couple of years and give four ways to help this company.
What has been going on in the business world that affects the company.
A more junior staff member undermines you in a presentation to a client stating that what you are proposing could be done more efficiently. How do you respond to the staff member? How do you respond to the client?

Make sure to do your research on the company and the role and what you will be doing in your first year. Work on commercial awareness and read websites such as Accountancy Age. Don't go in underprepared as you cannot provide adequate answers to some of the questions without preparation.

Did not attend assessment centre

My telephone interview lasted about 50 minutes with a member of the graduate recruitment team. The interview starts with the recruiter giving you some information on what they will ask you in the interview e.g start with a few questions about yourself and then move on to commercial awareness questions.The competency based questions are quite standard e.g. tell me about a time were you had to lead a group? the commercial awareness questions are not to specific to accounting but more about how this would impact pwc or how could pwc help in this situation.

Describe a situation where you had to deal with a difficult person

Research the core values of the pwc and relate these to your answers and try to choose a current news story that is relevant to the position you applied to.

At the assessment center you are split into two groups the first group does a paper version of the online numerical and diagrammatically tests done online. Then you move onto a group task were you have to read information on a company wanting to invest in a project and each person in the group is given a project to read. Then the group must decide which project is best for the company to do. Then you have a another test where you are given information on a topic and have to write a report to management on what course of action you would take given the information.

I applied to the fast track option for Deloitte which was an intensive 3 step process taking place over 1 week.

The interview contained questions testing competencies in areas such as teamwork, leadership and knowledge of the market (I would point out that the presentation on the previous day actually gave advice on what they were looking for). In essence, the interview consisted of questions like 'tell me about a time when you had to make a difficult decision?'

Finally on passing this stage, I made the 5 minute presentation, which was then scrutinized by senior management. For example, I was questioned on why I had suggested a certain tax law change to see if I could stand against criticism.

'Tell me about a time when you had to make a difficult decision' (Gauging the level of difficulty is key)
'Tell me about a time you had to multitask, and how did it work out?'(Finding a example which sounds difficult enough, opposed to 'I was doing 3 coursework assignments at once!')

On a more general basis, each interview question required 2-3 examples for each competencies. For example, I would have to describe 3 times when I had to work as part of a team. This can get tedious considering the interview is up to an hour long and I needed 2-3 examples for each question.

Be prepared: research the company and think about how YOU as a person would fit in there (e.g. do you car about corporate sustainability? are you outgoing?). You need to walk into an interview know what you are going to say about yourself, even if you do not know the questions.

Most companies do provide you with what they are looking for beforehand, so you can get an idea of what they are looking for.

Have more than one example for each competency, and make sure they are varied! I have failed in the past because most of my examples have been from my previous employer and I appeared one sided. Think of extra-curricular examples such as uni societies.

Lastly - when answering questions, be clear and to the point. The reason I did not get the offer is that my interviewer had to dig for more information by asking extra questions, as my answers were vague at times.

The assessment centre involved going to the company offices where we had a 20 minute presentation with a Partner on the story of Deloitte, followed by a 30 minute Q&A session with first and second year Trainees.

Once this was completed, we took part in 2 individual 'email exercise', the first of which where we had to respond to emails using multi-choice answers. The situation was that I was a manager in an office and was provided a large variety of documents which contained information such as work schedules for my team and their skill sets, costs of potential ventures, etc. This section tested both my attention to detail as well as consistency. The second part was composing an email to give an opinion on which venture a client should invest in, using the information provided. Each of these sections was 30 minutes long.

If we passed, we were invited back the following day and asked to prepare for a one-on-one interview and 5 minute presentation for senior management on changes to tax law.

The interview was the initial part of the recruitment, it was split into 3 parts:
Testing - a set of 2 tests were used (numerical and verbal reasoning) - 20 mins, this was round a boardroom style desk in front of management and with the other candidates
Group session - 35 mins this was a set group work which was monitored by senior management of the division.
Presentation - 20 mins the company carried out a presentation and then actively seeked for the candidates to get involved and ask questions relating to the presentation in order to find out more about the company.

1 on 1 interview:
competency questions 30 mins
questions regarding cv spec - 30 mins
questions about the company - 30 mins

How to respond in real life working situations.

Use a logical approach when answering questions and relate your answers to previous examples of similar work.
The role required a large amount of data analysis and experience from this, so by proving past examples and using organised answers and solutions to problems would help.

Group work

4 people given 35 minutes to complete a communication task. We were given a task that helpes the group to communicate, all participants were required to communicate without showing their given cards, all data had to be communicated verbally and then an answer can be derived after working through all the parts of the end question. required a very methodical approach between the group.

The phone interview was super relaxed, it was the best one I've had - it felt like I was having a chat with a friend I haven't spoken to in ages and needed to catch up with.

Assessment day - There were 3 parts to this, a group case study, a partner interview about the case study and an one-to-one interview with all the competency questions.

I found the partner one the most difficult because they give you more information on the case study and I got asked about things in more detail, so, for example, I was asked to suggest some things the Partner may need to ask the CEO of this fictional company, I suggested knowledge of the 5 year plan, to which I was asked how you go about doing a 5yp.

I had absolutely no clue about the detail on how to do this, but they were fine with me saying I wasn't sure - you're not expected to know everything

Grant Thornton are all about the personality, just keep calm and be yourself - the reason I got the offer was because I was quite confident and relaxed. They also don't expect you to know everything so it's fine to admit gaps in your knowledge once or twice as long as you show a willingness to learn

We got about 20 mins to read the case study silently, then 30mins to discuss it as a group, with 5 to present.

We then got another 20ish mins to read the additional information before our partner interviews

The application process began with an application form asking for personal details as well as standard competency based questions such as giving an example of working as a team etc. The second stage were online verbal and numerical reasoning tests which were timed, you had about 90 seconds to read the initial information and 30-60 seconds to answer each question. The third stage was an online personality test based on a ranking system where you would say which of the sentences matched you the most. Then came the assessment day which included an interview with 2 people lasting approximately 40-50 minutes. I was asked mostly competency based questions.

What do you think the grestest challenges of the role will be?

I would suggest practicing competency based questions before hand, don't worry too much about specifics for that job they were quite general questions.

The assessment day was a one day event which was split into 4 sections:
1. The interview - I was interviewed by 2 people for about 40 minutes and asked fairly general questions, nothing too specific such as give an example of overcoming a setback as well as talking about why I wanted the role and why I had chosen this one specifically.
2. The Presentation - I was given a scenario where I had to look at 3 options, weigh the pros and cons then give feedback to 2 people and give my recommendation, 40 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to present followed by a short Q&A session.
3. The Group Exercise - We were given 10 minutes to individually choose and rank a set of options, while remaining within budget and then given 40 minutes to discuss and come to a conclusion about which options would be best and the order of them.
4. The Written Exercise - I was given 90 minutes to read a scenario and complete exercises based on this scenario using only the information given and having to work out the finances included.

Firstly there is an online application form to pass.

Then there are two stages to the Public Sector Internal Audit (PSIA) recruitment process which is different to the other schemes the recruit for.

The first stage interview was with a senior manager. Firstly I received a test booklet which I had 45 minutes to complete. it contained a mix of numeracy questions and verbal reasoning questions. The numeracy isn't difficult (just brush up on your mental maths as its without a calculator). The verbal reasoning was things like word association- however these can be practised for free online.

After this there was a comprehension exercise. I was given a sheet of A4 with a case study on. (wont go into details as I believe each is different). I had 10 minutes to read and make notes. Then I was asked things like "What is the issue here? Who are the key stakeholders? What potential solutions can you think of and are there any issues you may encounter with these."
This was something you can't really prepare for, just make sure you think of the stakeholders carefully and make sure you see the bigger picture.
From there the rest of the interview was a standard competency based interview with questions like; " Why Mazars? Why PSIA ( the scheme you've picked? Tell me about a time you've lead a team? What makes a good role model in your opinion, and when have you acted as one?"
Just prepare answers to a broad range of competencies and you should be fine. Also be sure to know Mazars key values.

I was informed I was successful in a few days. The second interview was with a company partner (director). I had to prepare a 5 minute presentation on internal audit, to give at the start of the interview, you will be told this in advance.
After the presentation the interview is a standard competency based interview. Questions like "when have you been creative? When have you adapted your style to suit a team?"
The interview was more relaxed. There were also questions about my work history and university degree, this seemed to be done to get a feel of me as a person.
My only advice for this interview would be prepare standard competency question answers using th STAR technique, and once you're there smile, and let your personality come across- they want to see you, not a robot.

Tell me about a time you have let a team.

When have you had to work flexibly and how did you demonstrate this?

When have you encountered issues in your work of personal life, and how have you looked to over come them?

What motivates you and how do you keep self motivation?

Prepare thoroughly.
Use well thought out examples for competency questions.

Most importantly try not to be nervous and remember to smile. Mazars want to see you personality and how you would fit into the team , as much as anything else.

No assessment centre. There are two rounds of 1:1 interviews.