Accountant Interview Questions and Answers

This article provides questions with suggested answers and tips for an accountant’s interview.

Some related professional and accounting positions for this job are staff accountant, cost accountant, tax accountant, senior/junior accountant, project management accountant, chartered accountant, and fund or financial accountant.

Background: 
Accountants work for organizations. They prepare financial reports and records of assets and of any financial operations. Accountants do internal and external auditing and budget development, revenue and expense assessment, and solve emerging financial problems, often by developing new financial strategies.

Job interview Questions and Answers
for Accountants

Here are a few selected questions, although there may be more during the actual interview:

► Question: Tell me about your qualifications. Are you familiar with economic and business principles necessary for effective accounting?
Answer: You can tell about your experience in analyzing current and future business operations, costs, trends, and revenues. You may speak about giving advice in these and other areas, such as budget forecasts, and developing solutions to financial problems in general.

► Question: What knowledge do you have in relevant government laws and state regulations?
Answer: You can mention experience with taxes (taxes owed and tax return) and relevant government regulations, your work with the tax authorities and Internal Revenue Service, and any experience with government record keeping.

► Question: Are you qualified (and experienced) in analytical and logical thinking?
Answer: This is best answered with examples of specific relevant responsibilities: analysis of business operations, financial advice based on projections of current and future revenues and expenses, specific problems solved, analysis and development of budgets, etc.

► Question: What experience do you have working in a computerized environment?
Answer: Describe tasks done with applications like Microsoft Office, as well as services like client support and representation through the internet, online research and communication with colleagues, development and documentation of accounting and record-keeping systems, etc.

► Question: Are you able to compile and interpret accounting data and reports?
Answer: Talk about any reports and data analyses that you have done, including financial analyses and reports, evaluation, inventorying, reports on equipment and real estate, documentation of accounting systems, management of account tables and entries, etc.

► Question: Tell me about your people skills: can you maintain a healthy relationship with colleagues and clients alike?
Answer: You can describe anything that has to do with client service or cooperation at work: team projects, team problem solving, client representation and support, auditing services, etc.

► Question: How efficiently do you manage stress? Can you maintain attention to detail and efficiency working past normal hours with unusual work loads?
Answer: Be specific here. Mention projects which were difficult or had to be completed in little time, or urgent problems you solved effectively. If you don’t have an example from your professional life, you can mention situations from your personal or public life which demonstrate efficiency under pressure.