Finance Interview Questions & Answers

I was approached on Linkedin by a recruiter from PE Recruit. I sent my CV, and then spoke to the recruiter on the phone, who selected my CV to pass onto the company. I then had a phone interview with the HR department from America. The following week I was invited to attend an interview in the London office, with the last I had spoken to from America, as well as the senior investor, and a graduate. I was asked to return the following day, where I had 4x30minute video calls with the bosses in America, followed by a 90 minute Maths and Excel test.
The phone interview questions were CV based, and about my motivations for the job. Eg. Why did I choose to study my course, what interested me about this job etc.
The face to face interviews were very friendly and chatty, to understand more about me as a person/ what I would be like to work with.
The video calls were slightly more targeted, one VP asked if I inherited a grocery store from a relative, how would I go about valuing it. I was also asked about my future plans, and where I see my career headed.
The maths and excel test were all computer based, consisting of formatting graphs and tables, logical problem solving, and then a finance sheet, where I was asked to fid gross margin etc.

I did not study finance or economics at university, so I found the questions relating to their figure sheet the hardest. There were a few terms I didn't understand.

They were only looking for one person, which made it very competitive. They are a very friendly firm, and seemed really interested in the characteristics of who they were hiring, and whether that would be a good fit for the company. Just be yourself, and be friendly. Unlike other finance companies they aren't intimidating in any way.

No assessment centre, just face to face interviews.

Interview went very well. The questions were very challenging, even for Investment Banking. 1st round was over the phone, about my motivation and interest for the job and experience - took 45 minutes. The second stage was a 4 hours personal interview with 4 different senior members, including the partners. The process was similiar to the 1st round only a bit more personal as it was face to face.

How do you consider the tax benefits of interest payments in the company valution?

In investment banking its about the little details. You need to be overall very confident and know you the position and organisation inside out. You have to be technically very fit and the valuation such as DCF in very detail.

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First meeting with the MD an the office manager involved a brief introduction about myself and from the management of the company and the role. I was asked to go through my CV and pick out highlights from it.
Then a number of competencies were tested such as time management, building relationships and strengths and weaknesses.

What would you say to a client to convince them to choose us?

Prepare and research the company, also understand some basics of the real estate market. Understand that the role requires some time to understand and you will need to learn a lot during the initial time period .

The second interview involved a personality test and a logical reasoning test and a chance to ask questions as well as a short on the spot scenario question.

In the final stage for a Graduate role, I went through two 30 minute one-on-one interviews with senior members of the finance team. The interviews were short and two the point, mainly focussed on past internship experience and what sets me apart from other applicants.

What is your Unique Selling Point? Describe your internship role as if I were a layman with no industry knowledge.

Remain calm and keep talking - selling yourself every step of the way. Focus on Nomura's key competencies.

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My initial telephone interview was with a member of the L&C recruitment team which asked me some basic questions about my CV and I was told what was involved in the role I was applying for. Upon passing that I was told that I would have be required to complete a sales role play over the phone and an online maths test and a time was arranged to complete both of these. The sales role play involved selling a holiday which I was given the details of before the call. The numerical test was a basic online maths/IQ test which had to be completed within a time limit. Upon passing both of these test I then attended a face to face interview. This involved going through my CV and job history in more detail with two of the recruitment advisers and lasted about an hour.

Why I would be suitable for the job. How my past experience is relevant to the job (no previous experience in finance).

Be yourself and answer questions genuinely. The recruitment team are very friendly and happy to help wherever they can.

Face to face conducted with two recruitment managers

When I originally applied for the job, I had to fill out general questions on their site about experiences and so on, then they got in touch with me to complete online tests. These were 2 tests which lasted approximately 20 minutes each. These were numerical and verbal tests, which I found were quite difficult. From this, I was then offered to go to an all day assessment with other candidates. Before the interviewer day, I was asked to send my CV in to them. On the assessment day there was group work, individual presentation, one to one interview and a written exam.

After my presentation I was asked to why I thought the gearing of the company had fell dramatically and in my one to one interview, the most difficult question was "When have I influenced someone and what happened?"

If you get offered the assessment day, make sure you have done plenty of background research into the company to fully understand how the company operates and make sure that the pre-work you are asked to do shows your efforts and your enthusiasm for the job. Throughout the day, make sure you are yourself as if you are pretending to be something else, this will get found out at some point throughout the day.

We were sectioned in to groups of 4 where we had to do a group task where we had to decide and agree on the task which we were given (what to do on a sinking ship). We were then asked to present out individual presentations which we had already prepared (financial performance of the company in the past 3 years). Then we had a one to one interview and a 2 hour written exam.

I applied to Morgan Stanley through SEO London, and was contacted by them for a telephone interview. This lasted 40 minutes, and was with a member of the division to which I was applying. They initially asked me why I wanted to work for Morgan Stanley, and quizzed me on my understanding of the division that I had applied to (Finance). They also asked me to explain a complex subject in simple terms. They asked me of examples when I had worked well in a team, and examples when I had taken on a challenge.

The Most Difficult Question was: Explain a complex subject to me in simple terms. It's useful to use something from your academic course that sounds complicated but is actually very transferable to everyday situations.

Stay calm in the interview process and be prepared with different examples that display the competencies that they are looking for. Read up the company website to look at the graduate profiles, and believe in your ability to do well. All it takes is practice and self-belief.

In the AC we had a group exercise where we were given 30 minutes to discuss a variety of different implementations that could be carried out under a budget. These included CSR initiatives, web-site upgrading, and a rise in pay. As a group, we also had to develop a presentation of our chosen options in this time. We then presented for 5 minutes to 5 people from the Finance division, and we each took turns in answering. For this I learnt that its best to be prepared mentally: keep calm and stay open to other people's views. Always make your contribution stand out and draw in real life examples of what you are saying.

We then had two competency interviews with two members of the Finance department. The first one was technical, and they asked us about the difference between various financial statements. The second one was more competency based and one question that was asked was: tell me a time when you dealt with a unexpected situation.

My experience was that this company was very accommodating and took a personal and friendly approach. The interviews were almost conversational.

The first interview will last approximately 45 minutes and will be by a manager from your line of service (or occasionally someone from HR). It is a competency-based interview. You will be asked a number of questions, which will profile your experience against the key competencies described above. Ideally, you should also aim to display the following attributes:
1. Commitment to teamwork.
2. Ability and desire to lead and inspire.
3. Respectability and responsibility - are you how the company would like to be perceived by clients.
4. Ethical and truthful - are you trustworthy and can you demonstrate your integrity.

You will participate in 4 or 5 activities during your Assessment Centre: a client meeting, a manager meeting, a Virtual Office Exercise, an Analysis Exercise, and in some cases, a final interview.

Remember, the other candidates present at your Assessment Centre may not necessarily be applying for the same service lines as you, so there is no need to be overly aggressive or competitive. It will probably be frowned upon by the KMPG team. Following your Assessment Centre, you will be given an opportunity to assess your own performance on the exercises. Use this opportunity to explain your actions and recommendations.

My final interview was a relaxed interview with a partner which took an hour. We covered some basic competency questions, two situational judgements, and then an informal chat about how auditing is evolving.

In the mock meeting with client. 'How will you improve the service provided by your company?'

In the mock meeting with manager. 'What will you do to take more responsibility?'

Top Tips
Phone interview
-make sure you know alot about the proffesional service industry
-make sure you know alot about kpmg
-make sure you know alot about their competitors, and kpmg' competitive advanatage
- make sure you know alot about the service line that you are applying to
-make sure you read the 9 company competencies listed on their website. This is what you will be assessed against.
-make sure you have a range of examples where you have shown the transferable skills that would be useful for the job.

Assessment Center
-make sure you work quickly and do not waste time reading every ounce of detail
-make sure you spelling and grammar is correct. They are looking for a professional graduate.
-look smart, this will make a good impression in the mock meetings.
-be confident
-talk to the other graduates at the lunch break

Partner Interview
-be yourself
-they are trying to see what you are really like/ are you a good fit
-enjoy it, it's very relaxed and they are pitching kpmg to you, just as much as they are assessing you.

During the AC, you will complete an analysis exercise, which takes an hour, digesting about 10 pages of information and then writing a report on the findings. Then you'll will take an e-tray exercise, also an hour long. This requires answering e-mails, voice-mails, video calls all within the allotted time. Finally you will have two mock meetings, one with a potential client, building a relationship, and one with your manager, assessing your individual performance.

The initial part was a one to one conversation with one of the recruitment team which tested my knowledge on PPI. Then I was invited in to complete an assessment based on the suitability and elgibility of the claim. This process required letter writing, calculating PPI and the overall format was fully explained. Then I was taken in for another one to one with the recruitment consultant who went through my CV in detail and the interview consisted of some competency questions and why I had applied for the role.

The overall questions asked were not hard however I was asked about my knowledge on PPI. After clarifying everything I knew, the recruitment consultant went on to explain PPI in more detail to me herself.

The main advice I would give is make sure you fully read the case studies which you are provided with and go in fully prepared. During the assessment time flies quick and a lot of the candidates I went with lost out writing time as they were still reading the case study.

We were a small group of 6 people and each given a laptop and notepad. We were given clear instructions which were also presented on a whiteboard as to what the assesment will consist of. We then had to use all the facts presented to us and investigate whether the claimaint in the case study was eligible for PPI refund and then calculate how much they would receive and finally write out a decision letter.

The interview was by telephone with one of their recruitment team and lasted about 30 minutes. We talked initially about why I had applied for the role, what I knew about the company and why I was particularly interested in finance at the Co-operative Bank.
The rest of the interview was to test for competencies in the following areas: leading and supervising, relating and networking, coping with pressures and setbacks, and overall ability to communicate. In each of the areas, I had to give specific examples from my work, university or extra-curricular activities that showed my ability in that area.

What was it, in particular, that I did to prove that my boss should give me extra responsibility at work.

Make sure you are well prepared for your competency questions and be able to get across your passion for finance and have a clear rationale for why you are applying.
Do your research on the company - it's always good to be able to tie one of their company beliefs with something you are also interested in.

Can't help with this one - I don't know whether I've reached the assessment centre or not yet.