Accounting Job Interview Guide

Enrolled agents (EA) are tax professionals in the US who passed the IRS test, called Special Enrollment Examination, dealing with all aspects of taxation. These professionals should also pass an IRS background check. The test is a two-day, 8-hour examination covering federal tax law, topics ranging from taxation of individuals to regulations governing IRS collections and audit procedures. The main difference between CPAs or tax attorneys and EAs is that Enrolled Agents undergo tests directly from the IRS, and their EA designation may be revoked by the IRS for malpractice.

If you are a qualified EA, aside from the skills, experience and credentials, your interviewer will be most interested in your trustworthiness and capability to keep records confidential.

(source)

Tax attorneys handles technical and legal tax issues and provide services to individuals and companies for the following activities:
- filing estate tax returns
- tax treatments for businesses, especially if one will be engaging in an international business
- filing a suit against the IRS
- independent review of a case before the US Tax Court
- represent a client under criminal investigation by the IRS
- represent a client that has committed tax fraud

A tax attorney that is also a CPA has an advantage in handling a case with accounting matters. If you are a tax attorney, participate in or be a part of the American Bar Association ht, the Association of Attorney/CPAs, or the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic List .

(source)

An average worker who earns an income has to be aware of his debt-to-income (DTI ratio so he knows when to avail of new loans and how to monitor his debt servicing. You know you don’t want to get debt-ridden just because you don’t know how to look at your finances.

DTI ratio is the percentage of income that pays the debt. It is different from credit utilization which deals with credit limits. Mortgage and auto lenders are usually the ones who are adept of their their DTI since it helps them know how much a loan they can handle. Learning to figure out your DTI is easy as it can be done in just minutes.

Here’s a step-by-step guide from About.com on how to calculate your debt-to-income ratio.

The job description for bookkeepers, accounting and auditing clerks are to “compute, classify and record numerical data to ensure financial records are complete; perform any combination of routine calculating, posting and verifying duties to obtain primary financial data for use in maintaining accounting records; and may also check the accuracy of figures, calculations and postings to business transactions recorded by other workers”. (source)

With this job description, you should be willing to do repetitive work, be well-organized especially in creating, accessing, and keeping files. Computer literacy is a must, and an experience in the use of computational worksheets and software is an advantage. Aside from the repetitive work, one must also be analytical, especially in checking the accuracy of numbers, and whether there may be errors or inconsistencies in the entries. Since the work may entail encoding numbers in a computer, a watchful eye will save you a lot of time.

Knowing these qualifications will help you assess yourself, and prepare answers to common interview questions. Although attitude and the way you carry yourself during the interview are major factors, the point is – do you have the skills needed for the job?