Accountant Interview Questions for freshers experienced :-
1. Tell me about your qualifications. Are you familiar with economic and business principles necessary for effective accounting?
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.
2. What knowledge do you have in relevant government laws and state regulations?
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.
3. Are you qualified (and experienced) in analytical and logical thinking?
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.
4. What experience do you have working in a computerized environment?
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.
5. Are you able to compile and interpret accounting data and reports?
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.
6. Tell me about your people skills: can you maintain a healthy relationship with colleagues and clients alike?
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.
7. How efficiently do you manage stress? Can you maintain attention to detail and efficiency working past normal hours with unusual work loads?
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.
8. Why Do You Want To Be An Accountant?
Just saying that accountancy offers professional qualifications that pave way for a wide variety of opportunities in business is a good answer. You can also say that you hold the capability of bringing about a change as accountancy is a fast changing profession.
9. What Qualities, Do You Think, Make A Good Accountant?
The qualities for a good accountant are largely similar to those of any good employee. While you include determination and self-discipline, you must also focus on you key deliverables. Mention that you are a team player and possess strong analytical skills along with saying that you are keenly interested in auditing/accounting. Also, don’t forget to highlight the various accounting softwares that you are familiar with.
10. Why Have You Applied To Our Firm?
The interviewer expects you to do some research about the company and go for the interview. Facts worth mentioning in an answer to this question would include availability of opportunities, offices in various cities and the general mood of the market towards the firm – an accounting organisation is always referred to as a firm and not a company.
11. Describe A Recent Tough Financial Analysis Problem You Faced On The Job
Explain a recent situation and how you were able to identify key issues and detect problems from relevant information and how exactly did you go about managing the case. Include all the skills that you put to use to get through the situation and also mention the alternatives that you considered – don’t forget to explain as to why did you choose a particular alternative over others. Be specific while answering this question instead of narrating a story.
12. Explain The Relationship Between Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting And Managerial Accounting
Ahh…the magic of basics! You can run, you can hide but you cannot escape this question in an accounting interview – even if you are biggest player in your present firm. This questions checks your familiarity with the basics so, brush up your knowledge – even the high school level – before you go for any interview at all. The best way to answer this question would be to frame the definition of each term and then explain the relationships – this will not only show your subject knowledge but also give a preview of how efficiently can you apply knowledge to practical situations
13. Explain The Accounts Payable Cycle.
Basics again! This question, more than checking your knowledge, checks the validity of your work experience. Be to the point and demonstrate the cycle followed by your current firm along with the other possible variations.
14. What Do You Understand By Bank Reconciliation Statement?
Explain at the beginning, in a layman’s language as here the interviewer is trying to check how much you remember what you had studied in your early days. Start with settling the differences between bank pass-books and bank ledgers and then graduate to more complex details without boring the interviewer with too much information.
15. Give an example of how you took the initiative to create a positive change.
Explain what you did, what changed as a result, and how the change benefited the organization. Refer to skills you used in the change process, such as leadership, problem solving, and communication. Accounting is a dynamic profession; employers hire people who can manage change.
16. What is the mean of public accounting?
Public accounting is a type of accounting that is done by one company for another company.
17. What is the mean of private Accounting?
Private accounting is done for your own company.
18. What is the abbreviation of debit and credit in the accounting terms?
Debit abbreviation is “dr” and credit abbreviation is “cr”.
19. What types of business transactions are in accounting?
There are two types of transactions in accounting i.e. revenue and capital.
20. What is the mean of balance sheet in Accounting?
It is a statement that states all the liabilities and assets of the company at certain point.
21. TDS stands for?
TDS abbreviates Tax Deduction at Source.
22. Where do you show TDS, In balance sheet?
It is shown on the assets section, right after the head current asset.
23. What you know about service tax or excise?
It is a kind of hidden tax that is included in the service provided by the service provider and paid by the service receiver.
24. What is the mean of departmental accounting?
It is a type of accounting in which separate account is created for departments. It is managed separately as well as shown independently in the balance sheet.
25. What is the mean of tally accounting?
It is the software used for accounting in small business and shops for managing routine accounting transactions.
26. What is the mean of fictitious assets?
These are the assets that cannot be shown or touch. Fictitious assets can only be felt such as good will, rights etc.
27. What is the mean of perpetual or periodic inventory system in Accounting?
In the first one i.e. the perpetual inventory system, the accounts are adjusted on continual basis. In the periodic inventory system, the accounts are adjusted periodically.
28. How do you define premises in Accounting?
Premises refer to fixed assets that are shown in the balance sheet.
29. VAT stands for?
VAT means Value Added Tax.
30. What is the mean of ICAI?
It is the abbreviation of Institute of Chartered Accountants in India.
31. What is Public accounting?
Public accounting offers audits and CPA’s to review company financial records to ensure accountability. It is for general public.
32. Can you explain the basic accounting equation?
We know that accounting is all about assets, liabilities and capital. Therefore, the accounting equation is:
Assets = Liabilities + Owners Equity.
33. What is the mean of executive accounting?
It is a type of accounting that is specifically designed for the business that offers services to users.
34. What is the mean of bank reconciliation statement?
A reconciliation statement is prepared when the passbook balance differs from the cashbook balance.
35. Can you please explain the difference between public and private accounting?
Public accounting is a type of accounting that is done by one company for another company. Private accounting is done for your own company.
36. List project implementation steps?
Project implementation involves six steps in total such as:
- Identify Need
- Generate and Screen Ideas
- Conduct Feasible Study
- Develop the Project
- Implement the Project
- Control the Project
37. Is accounting standards are mandatory if yes, then why?
Yes, I do believe that accounting standards play a very important role to prepare good quality and accurate financial reports. It ensures reliability and relevance in financial reports.
38. What are the main branches of accounting?
There are three branches of accounting named as:
- Financial Accounting
- Management Accounting
- Cost Accounting
39. Can you please explain the difference between Accounting and Auditing?
Accounting is all about recording daily business activities while auditing is the checking that whether all these events have been noted down correctly or not.
40. What is dual aspect term in accounting?
As the name implies, the dual aspect concept states that every transaction has two sides. For example, when you buy something, you give the cash and get the thing. Similarly, when you sale something, you lose the thing and gets the money. So this getting and losing is basically two aspects of every transaction.
41. What is the mean of purchase return in accounting?
It is the term introduced in the records for every defective or unsatisfactory good returned back to its supplier.
42. What is the term material facts in accounting?
Material facts are the bills or any document that becomes the base of every account book. It means that all those documents, on which account book is prepared, are called material facts.
43. Tell me have you ever prepared MIS reports and what are these?
Yes, I have prepared few MIS reports during my previous jobs. MIS reports are created to identify the efficiency of any department of a company.
44. What is company’s payable cycle?
It is the time required by the company to pay all its account payables.
45. What is retail banking in Accounting?
It is a type of banking that involves a retail client. These clients are the normal people and not any organizational customers.
46. Tell me how much mathematics knowledge is necessary or required in accounting?
Not much knowledge but basic mathematical background is required in accounting for operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
47. What is bills receivable in Accounting?
All types of exchange bills, bonds and other securities owned by a merchant that is payable to him are said as bills receivable.
48. What is depreciation and its types?
By depreciation we mean that a value of an asset is decreasing as it is in use. It has two types such as “Straight Line Method” and “Written Down Value Method”.
49. Can you please explain the difference between consignor and consignee?
Consignor is the owner of the goods or you can say he is the person who delivers the goods to the consignee. The consignee is the person who receives the goods.
50. What is the mean of balancing in accounting?
Balancing means to equate both sides of the T-account i.e. the debit and credit sides of a T-account must be equal/balanced.
51. Do you know how much statistics knowledge is necessary or required in accounting?
You must be very good at statistics if you want to do well in accounting. Otherwise, with minimum knowledge you cannot manage your day to day transactions effectively in accounting.
52. What is marginal cost in Accounting?
Suppose you have to produce an additional unit of output. The estimated cost of additional inputs to produce that output is actually the marginal cost.
53. What is Scrap value in accounting?
It is the residual value of an asset. The residual value is the value that any asset holds after its estimated life time.
54. What is the mean of partitioning in accounting?
It is a kind of groups made on the basis of same responses by a system.
55. Can you please explain the difference between provision and reserve?
Provisions are the liabilities or the anticipated items such as depreciation. You can say provisions are expenses. Reserves are the profits of any company and a part of that profit is placed back to the business to keep it sustainable in tough times of a company.
56. What is offset accounting?
Offset accounting is one that decreases the net amount of another account to create a net balance.
57. What is overhead in terms of accounting?
It is the indirect expenditure of a company such as salaries, rent dues etc.
58. What is trade bills?
We know that all types of transactions need to be documented. The trade bills are the documents, generated against each transaction.
59. Explain fair value accounting?
As per fair value accounting, a company has to show the value of all of its assets in terms of price on balance sheet on which that asset can be sold.
60. Why and which accounting application you prefer most?
I think all are good though but Microsoft Accounting Professional is best because it offers reliable and fast processing of accounting transactions that saves time and increases proficiency.
61. Tell me name of any other accounting application?
Yes, I am familiar with CGram Software, Financial Force, Microsoft Accounting Professional, Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft Small Business Financials.
62. Did you ever used accounting applications at your previous companies or prefer working manually?
Yes, I have used Advanced Business Solutions and AME Accounting Software in my previous jobs.
63. Tell me if you have any professional experience of this field?
Yes, I have worked as an accountant at two different places.
64. Why did you select accounting as profession?
Well, I was quite good in accounting throughout but in my masters, when I got distinction I decided to adopt this field as a profession.