Accounting Interview Questions & Answers

First I was sent a numerical and verbal reasoning test to complete. After I passed these I was invited to a first stage interview with one of the Manager's at the firm. I was asked to talk about myself and talk through my CV, which I did in a summary type thing. Then I was asked some competency questions like 'Describe a time when you have worked in a team - what challenges did you face how did you overcome them?
'A time when you organised an event - challenges and how you overcame them'
'A time when you had to make a decision - what things did you have to think about before arriving at your decision'

The next stage was the Partner interview, which required me to read a case study and then answer some questions about it. It's not too difficult, you only get a bulk of the information on the day and the questions are based around the info that's all there along with a bit of common sense.

'Your strengths and weaknesses?' - This one is tricky because as much as we all have weaknesses, the key thing is to turn it around. Also if you're going for a numerical based role and you say 'I'd like to improve my written communication skills but I've started writing a blog/journal to practice and get better' - Doesn't sound too bad so just phrase it in a certain way.

Do your research - with big firms especially there are so many people who have been in the boat before and there is a range of experiences you can draw from to get a feel of what types of questions they will ask you. Also I would come across very confident and relaxed. I find that when I don't put pressure on myself about getting the job or not I do much better. I'm not saying that you should come across as if you don't care but if in your head you are relaxed, they'll see that come through rather than someone who gets nervous or stressed too easily.

I didn't have an assessment centre

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.