3 most frequently asked accounting interview questions

On the Negative Working Capital thing. Most companies draw cash and invest in marketing and in expansion. This is what leads working capital to go negative, but not necessarily a bad sign.

Long time follower, first time with a question - we have a debate in our office. When creating a budget variance report, is actually minus budget or budget minus actuals? Please help settle this debate. Thank you!

I enjoyed with the 3rd question

Actually I got the last two questions in my last interview which was just ten days ago

This was so scary to watch

L

I'm confused. Negative WC is not good. If you say the company is collecting its ARs faster than paying APs, THAT COLLECTED AR should be in Cash Account already and should not affect the WC Ratio.

Ex.

1M Cash + .5M AR is 1.5M LESS APs .8M. WC is .7M

Provided they collected .3M from AR, Cash will be 1.3M PLUS AR .2M LESS .8M APs, WC is still .7M.

If based on the sample above, the WC becomes lower that .7M, it means the company spends more on either OPEX or CAPEX.

Mate cut the music... It's distracting

really productive video

what do you mean by PLN statement?????

I could n't understand 3rd question

Thanks sir ❤

What does it mean when it’s your 2nd week at work and you’ve been kind of nervous because you’re new to the job but you ask one of your trainers and she says your doing great and she asks “how long have you been here, since last week?” “I reply “yes since last week” and she says “yeah you’re doing really good”. But she has given more work to the one that has been there for 7 months and the guy who’s been there for 1 month, and not me…. Does that mean she doesn’t think I’m ready for that amount of work? I work for the city as an accounting clerk. ….. am I just overthinking it? I was working really fast and balancing with my money while the others were kind of messing up with their counting and then all of a sudden yesterday and today they started working faster than usual…… any thoughts? Like I’m not sure if I’m being useful or resourceful

Thankyou for your help, I landed my dream job. You are doing great work.

Why all the accounting software (excluding Odoo) do not have 6 basic columns in trial Balance ???? (Debit & Credit for starting / initial Balance, Debit & Credit during particular period of time, Debit & Credit for Ending Balance). Why nobody even understand it in USA. Many European software are designed this way. Even first greeting page starts from it. You see all the accounts with powerful information on one screen and navigate from there, Just click on any account and you are in. Why Americans have its own Miles, LB, Fahrenheit, GAAP and so silly accounting software ?

Why all the accounting software (excluding Odoo) do not have 6 basic columns in trial Balance ???? (Debit & Credit for starting / initial Balance, Debit & Credit during particular period of time, Debit & Credit for Ending Balance). Why nobody even understand it in USA. Many European software are designed this way. Even first greeting page starts from it. You see all the accounts with powerful information on one screen and navigate from there, Just click on any account and you are in. Why Americans have its own Miles, LB, Fahrenheit, GAAP and so silly accounting software ?

Why all the accounting software (excluding Odoo) do not have 6 basic columns in trial Balance ???? (Debit & Credit for starting / initial Balance, Debit & Credit during particular period of time, Debit & Credit for Ending Balance). Why nobody even understand it in USA. Many European software are designed this way. Even first greeting page starts from it. You see all the accounts with powerful information on one screen and navigate from there, Just click on any account and you are in. Why Americans have its own Miles, LB, Fahrenheit, GAAP and so silly accounting software ?

Ty

WC answer doesn't make sense from all perspectives. This would be a very bad answer for a corporate banking interview - delaying liabilities is not a good sign in terms of credit evaluation. Careful with the absoluteness of these answers...

what is ar and ap ?

Why the most important financial statement is not balance sheet?

Working capital?

Need accounting job if anyone can help

Why does collecting ar decrease current assets, isn’t it the same value just now in the cash account

I think your 3rd answer is not correct beacuse if we purchased an inventory the inventory should increase so it will effect COGS will be decresed and profit will be increased.Hope it is correct

give me a sec. if our A/r gone low it mean our cash or Bank is gone high. dont you think it a contra impact ?

I was asked what statement is the best to look at , i said cash flow and got refused. And. Im not kidding at all 😂

Useful information and you can post more videos on accounting interview questions. And it can help many graduates & students for grabbing their first job... Thanks in advance.

I wanted to let you know that I used your tips in the past few interviews I had. I watched a lot of your videos and took detailed notes on it. I think as a senior in college with an accounting concentration I had a feeling of imposter syndrome. I was not sure if I would match up to someone that majored in accounting. Your videos really helped me organize my thoughts and apply what I have learned.

How it went:
I had an interview with the corporate director of accounting for an entry level staff accountant position last Monday. After asking regular, behavioral and experience-based interview questions, he handed out a test packet with a lot of questions regarding what you covered. After thirty minutes, we went back over it and discussed my answers. This allowed me to demonstrate my understanding because some questions could be interpreted differently.

What it covered:
1. Bank account reconcilation. Scenario-based with recorded transactions and the bank statement. *I made sure I showed my work in case I was wrong.
2. Journal entries for several different transactions. *I gave multiple possible entries when applicable due to vagueness.
3. Basic accounting equations. Profit/Loss, COGS, Assets=Liabilities+Owner's Equity, and basic ratios such as the current ratio.
4. Identifying the normal debit credit balance of assets, equity, liabilities, revenues, and expenses, etc.
5. Identifying items or transactions as liabilities, assets, or equity.
7. General accounting questions that I had to hand write answers to such as top three desired accountant qualities, how to perform self-review, and how to handle potentially unethical behavior.

I was good on all questions except for when I confused the dividends for dividends payable.

Result: I got a job offer the following Friday and it was in the upper range that I gave for a starting salary. After negotiating other benefits, I accepted the offer and I start work in two weeks!

Thank you for all that you do!

I hope this may help other accountants with their interviews where applicable. My advice is to stay simple and provide sound reasoning behind your answers. Demonstrate that you can explain it clearly by showing your work. Do not overthink poorly worded questions, just ask for clarification and/or provide two possible answers and what factors they left out that would change your solution to it. This shows that you have a thorough understanding of accounting concepts and that you can communicate well. Take any corrections with humility and show that you are teachable.

I cant understand here if there is negativity i mean c.liabilities>c.assets then why we came to result as you re collecting a.r(cash) faster?this point is place i totally missed.Thank you

I am also accountant in India.. You gave me another angle of accounting to think deeply.. Thanks a lot Sir.

Lol I’ve never been asked these questions before. Is this for a specific field in accounting ?

But in india they ask especailyy in big 4 interviews what is tds ?🤣😅

Accounting interview are hard if the employer is picky. You have to take an exam again even if you are CPA. 🤣 you need to answer those srupid questions.

you are the best

Thanks alot sir

Do you have any software to study…?

Thank you 🙏

Great explaination! Thanks!

This was phenomenal

Really great content.. Only today I came across your video.. Thank you for such knowledge sharing..

AP VS AR is one indicator, which shows efficiency in collection.. Also firm should have liquidity to meet its CL. By definition CL mean to settle in near future.. Can I say, WC showing negative also means there is risk involved, should be analyzed further, whether liquid CA meets its near CL

Related to the last question... if inventory goes up by $10 then doesn't it have an impact on gross profit? As we are purchasing inventory for reselling purpose thus increased stock price will have an impact on Cost of goods sold, Which will further have an impact on Gross profit and net profit.
Gross profit = Revenue - Cost of goods sold

I’m convinced my interviewer viewed this video before my interview for a student role haha they asked what’re the three financial statements and the second question was the exact same as the third one you mentioned

I just recently found your info. It is very helpful and I would like to give this to students to use, just minus the swearing videos and it will be great for students if you can please.

Cash is non-operational why are you including it in working capital?

Thank you for your valuable information, it's a great video

Thank you for your valuable information, it's a great video