Accounting Job Interview Guide

There are numerous accounting jobs throughout the world for professionals or for those who just have to start their careers.

Accounting jobs are related with the financial operations of a company. Those who completed their college studies must look for starting-level jobs like pay clerk or account clerk in school, colleges or in a company. After gaining experience from these levels, they will be able to get good supervisory level jobs. But those with higher qualifications like Master’s degree in Accountancy can directly enter the supervisory rank and manages accounting functions, prepares reports of financial transaction of the company. Focusing on accounting functions, will enhance the employee’s experience. After gaining more experience, the job applicant can find more interesting and better paid jobs.

The success or failure of a company depends upon accounting. The accounts manager should have full knowledge so that he/she must keep pace with the changing accounting practices that the government or the governing bodies announce from time to time. The job applicants having a masters’ degree in accountancy will get managerial level positions directly. An accounts job consists mainly with the posting, processing and verification of all receipts, credit claims, refunds, interest charges and others. It is very necessary to maintain accounts in a regular manner and the accounting manager also manages the preparation of filings and submits them in time to the regulatory authorities. Such work brings employee satisfaction and increase employee morale. And the company will in turn reward such people with better pay and perks from time to time.

Accounting jobs can be rewarding, both financially and in terms of job satisfaction. To attain a higher position in the field, the applicant will need to have a Masters Degree or on-the-job training. Accounting Managers must work closely with all financial departments in the company, and make sure to follow legal guidelines. This is an important job, which improves the functioning of the company and working conditions for its employees.

There are various jobs in accounting field like accountant, accounts-manager, financial advisor, account assistant, credit controller, chartered accountant, sales accountant, audit supervisor etc. The interested candidates with master degrees in accountancy or with other account courses can also apply online for their jobs. After fulfilling the conditions means submitting resumes then candidate will get interview call from different companies. After passing tests or interviews, he/she will get good job in this field.

Among the best graduate jobs in the UK are graduate Finance jobs and graduate jobs in Accounting. Commerce degree holders have a large pool of employment opportunities waiting for them. There are plenty of these graduate jobs that they can go out and hunt for. Whether they have taken up Mathematics, Economics, Accounting or Statistics in their universities or colleges, they have already revved up their chances of landing a job that will secure them a more or less stable financial status and a promising career.

Despite having a large option for employment, however, job seekers should acknowledge that the hunt for the best professional or graduate job in the UK is getting tougher and tougher. The number of qualified candidates is soaring, which makes the competition even fiercer. The key is for you to look for the right job for yourself where you can use your qualifications on the job and then later on advance to the kind of career you have always dreamed of.

The UK has the best graduate finance job opportunities. Those jobs are even found in some of the largest and most established financial companies all over the world – Bank of America, Capital One, Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, Fidelity International and Edward Jones Limited, to name some.

The job openings from these companies vary. Below are some of the best graduate jobs in Banking and Finance in the UK, and their primary responsibilities:

1- Financial Managers – provide financial advise to clients;
2- Stockbrokers and Traders – on behalf of the clients, stockbrokers and traders invest on various financial products;
3- Corporate Treasurers – they are in charge or improving and maintaining the finances of the respective companies that they are working for;
4- Investment Bankers – they are financiers for different companies, institutions and even government agencies;
5- Commodity Brokers – they buy and sell physical commodities;
6- Investment Analysts – they do the research and they gather information on investment opportunities for the Fund Managers;
7- Investment Fund Managers – getting the information they need from the Investment Analysts, they then assist their clients and give them advise on where to invest their money.

Before applying for a graduate job in the UK, you must first spend a lot of time on research, gathering as much information as you can to find out which of these career options is the best for you. Take the time to review each job’s description and responsibilities in order to make you decide whether or not you are capable and willing to take the job. Chances are, there might be one or more of the job opportunities mentioned above that attracts you. If you are still undecided, you must try to asses yourself and your qualifications, and find out which one would be the best for you. If the excitement of buying and selling physical commodities attracts you, for example, then you might be picturing yourself as a Commodity Broker. Or, if you wish to help people invest their money, an Investment Fund Manager position is probably the best for you. There are more graduate banking and finance jobs in the UK that you can apply for. All you have to do is look.

A large number of graduates of Accountancy and Actuarial find themselves taking jobs in public accounting firms. These jobs are paid internships that give the employees a great chance of gaining good experiences by working with different local agencies and companies. After gaining as much experience as they can in the field, helping out clients prepare their taxes and file their tax refunds, most of these employees make their way to advance into higher or principal positions. In order to do that, however, they must acquire a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license. However, the best accounting graduate job is still to become your own boss. A lot of Accounting graduates and CPA’s all over the world put up their own accounting firms after years of public service.

Do not allow yourself to get disheartened or confused when job hunting. Get your spirits up and take the whole race as a great learning experience. The options are endless for you and your fellow Commerce degree holders. The key to having the very best graduate job in the UK is looking for something that you imagine yourself doing. Ultimately, the decision is yours.

7) Why are you interested in this position?

When you are an accountant and you are applying at an accounting firm, it is pretty obvious why you are interested; you are interested in using your acquired education, skills, and knowledge in your career field.

However, maybe the position is a cashier for a store and you just want a job; you do not have a brilliant answer to offer. Not to worry. Do not discount very basic answers such as “I need to earn money to support myself and/or my family,” or “I want more out of life, and I need to work if I am going to have a better lifestyle for my family.” Employers like employees who need to work; such employees are more apt to be dependable, responsible and productive.

Why do you want to work for us?

Here you should be specific in your answer. There may be thousands of accounting firms with positions to offer, but it is now a question of “why us”?

Research the firm as best you can. Phone book ads often contain great information, such as how long a firm has been in business, what it specializes in, who are the key members of the firm, and whom they hope to serve.

Depending upon what you learn at the library, and from other local sources, possible answers might be:

“You have an expanding firm, and I believe there will be opportunities for me to prove myself and grow with you,” or

“Your firm is one of the oldest and most respected in our community, and I want to learn from, and be associated with one of the best,” or

“I believe you will reward people according to their value to the firm, and I am willing to prove my value to you,” or finally

“Your specialty happens to be my area of career interest.”

9) Why should we hire you?

Here you must be straightforward and confident about your ability and what you have to offer. Say, “I believe I am qualified and can do the job.”

Amplify this answer by stressing your strong points, such as your appropriate education, specialized training, proven experience, skills and abilities.

Do not say you can do any job. You do not know that for a fact, and, more important, the person interviewing you-no matter how good you look on paper or act in person-does not really know if you can do it either until you start having to perform on the job.

This is why you should qualify your answers with “I believe . . . ,” or “Based on my performance in similar positions in the past, I have no reason to think I will not be able to do the job for you.”

10) What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Good strengths include some very basic character traits, such as determination, honesty, responsibility, dependability, inquisitiveness, willingness to learn, openness to new ideas, stability, and humor. Pick traits that you are confident and comfortable with.

In approaching the question of your weaknesses, rule one is to have some. The worst answer you could give is “I do not have any weaknesses.” We all have weaknesses, and if we are unwilling to talk about them, it is a big red flag that there are some definite personality problems.

Never let your lack of confidence, or overdeveloped ego, prevent you from showing your weaknesses. Handle the challenge by taking your weaknesses (whatever they may be) and turning them into strengths. If you are a workaholic, say “Sometimes I do not know when to stop working on a project. I can get so involved I may work 16 hours straight. This may upset other employees who quit at the normal time.”

11) What are your career goals?

Your objectives or goals are very important. You do not want to be a wandering generality; you want to be a meaningful specific.

People want to know if you have thought about your future, and have a plan to get where you want to go. You should have both short and long range goals. A good short range goal might be to secure a position in your career field, develop more experience in an area of interest, or position yourself with a firm or organization that is growing.

Long range goals require you to picture yourself, and where you would like to be, 10 or 20 years from now.

12) Why did you leave your last position?

This question can be asked because they are testing your reaction, or if your resume gives the impression you have been “job-hopping”.

If there was a problem with leaving your last position (you were fired, encountered a personality conflict, or got mad and quit), be careful not to speak ill of the position you held, the organization you held it with, or members of the organization. Put downs score no points and reflect poorly on you, regardless of the challenges you may have had.

Good reasons to leave jobs are: 1) an opportunity for advancement, 2) an opportunity to make more money, 3) an opportunity to secure more or better benefits, 4) to gain more job satisfaction, 5) a better career opportunity, 6) a more challenging position, or 7) an opportunity to work with better people.

While all of these are legitimate reasons, none of them is the best answer to the question. It is best to simply say, “I am looking for a better opportunity.” The better opportunity could be any of the above seven answers without actually saying so.

Copyright 2006 Ed Bagley

If you’re thinking about a career as an accountant, you could have a very lucrative and steady job for many years to come. With the right degrees and experience, accounting professionals can have rewarding careers in CPA jobs who submit documents to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with a state-issued license. But you may be wondering, what exactly does a certified personal accountant do?

The federal government mandates that any certified personal accountant who submits documents to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must have a state-issued license. There are many CPA jobs. These jobs require compiling financial reports for prominent individuals, companies, nonprofit organizations and small businesses. The financial reports may include profit-and-loss statements and expense reports. This type of career may also involve advising clients on how to decrease the amount of income taxes they owe and preparing tax statements for the client.

If you are looking for career information for the accounting field, you will first need to look into receiving a degree. Degrees in accounting typically require a college education consisting of four to five years of schooling. This means you must obtain your bachelor’s degree in accounting or graduate from a master’s degree accounting program. All states also require certified accountants to take the Uniform CPA Examination after getting their education. The Uniform CPA exam, which was developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, is an electronic test given in four parts. An accountant will need to pass all four parts of the exam within 18 months of passing the first part.

There is a lot of skill and clearly a lot of education required to become an accountant, but the career can be very rewarding. CPA jobs can offer an average CPA salary of around $80,000. Aside from the excellent pay, this is also a great career option because it will be in demand in many states throughout the country for many years to come. Plus, there are jobs available in big businesses as well as for small firms or individuals. With so many career options and a great job outlook, becoming an accountant is a good choice indeed.

Where is the best place to find an accounting job? Every time I have ever had to look for a job it has been difficult. It isn’t so much that there aren’t jobs out there, but it is a matter of finding the ones that are. To find an accounting job, you will want to use three main resources: the internet, the local paper, and an employment service or headhunter. Here are some tips that may help you in your search for that accounting job you want.

The first thing to do in getting your accounting job is to look online. There are a number of job sites on the internet that can help you. Most of them will allow you to sort job openings by location. Then, you can search by keyword so you could type accounting in to find accounting jobs in your area. There are also job sites that specialize in accounting jobs, which may be of great help in your specific situation. So check out the internet for your accounting job as a first step and you just might find yourself without a need to try any other steps.

The next thing you can try in your effort to land an accounting job is to check out your local paper. Many companies that have openings will advertise in the town newspaper and not online. That means you can find open accounting jobs in the paper that may not show up online. Check the classifieds and you should find under jobs that there is a section just for accounting jobs that can be a big help to you. The other advantage to a job you find in the newspaper is that you are going to be more easily able to tell where exactly the job is. Often, jobs online are not specific with contact information, plus there is always the chance that the jobs you are looking at on a website are being put there by an employment agency and not the primary company offering the accounting job.

Third, you can check with an employment agency or headhunter in your area. To find your accounting job, if you use a good company they should not charge you anything. The clients who seek to fill a position, but who do not want to have to deal with the interviewing process pay the companies. You should be able to find a good accounting job if you have the right qualifications and find the right headhunter or agency.

Finding an accounting job doesn’t have to be difficult. Like with any job search, it is just about knowing where to go to find the openings in your area. Check online job websites, your local newspaper, and finally local employment agencies and headhunters to locate the accounting job that makes the most sense for you.

An accountant’s job entails working to ensure that business firms and individuals are keeping good records and paying taxes properly and on time. Though the accountant job description for some accounting positions may be simple, other accountant job descriptions are not quite as clear because of the number of duties that are required.

In general, an accountant performs vital functions to businesses, as well as individuals, of all types by offering a very wide array of business and accounting services, including public, management and government accounting, as well as internal auditing. These four major fields of accounting, and in addition to having a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, each has a separate accountant job description.

1. Public Accountant

A public accountant job description can be summed up in what most people envision as “typical” accountant’s work. It involves performing a broad range of accounting, auditing, tax, and consulting activities for their clients, which may be corporations, governments, nonprofit organizations, and individuals. Specialties in public accounting are often chosen. For example, a public accountant may choose to concentrate on tax matters, such as advising companies about the tax advantages and disadvantages of certain business decisions and preparing individual income tax returns. Other public accountants may choose areas such as compensation or employee health care benefits, or may design accounting and data processing systems. Still other public accountants may choose to specialize in auditing financial statements and inform investors and authorities that statements have been correctly prepared and reported. Public accounts are usually Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), and generally own their own businesses or work for public accounting firms.

2. Management Accountant

Another accountant job description is that of a management accountant. Also called a cost, managerial, industrial, corporate, or private account, management accountants record and analyze the financial information of the companies for which they work. The management accountant job description includes a detailed listing of responsibilities, such as budgeting, performance evaluation, cost management, and asset management. Management accountants are often a part of executive teams involved in strategic planning or the development of new products, where they analyze and interpret financial information that corporate executives need in order to make sound business decisions. They also prepare financial reports for other groups, including stock holders, creditors, regulatory agencies, and tax authorities. Management accountants are usually a part of an accounting department, employed a large company, and may work in many areas that may include financial analysis, planning, budgeting, and cost accounting.

3. Government Accountant

A government accountant works in the public sector, maintaining and examining the records of government agencies and auditing private businesses and individuals whose activities are subject to government regulation and/or taxation. This accountant job description, while detailed, is much more specialized. Government accountants are employed by Federal, State, or local governments, and work to guarantee that revenues are received and expenditures are made in accordance with laws and regulations. Those employed by the Federal government may work as Internal Revenue Services agents or in financial management, financial institution examination, or budget analysis and administration.

4. Internal Auditor Accountant

The accountant job description of an internal auditor can basically be summarized by the job title. Internal auditors verify the accuracy of their organization’s internal records, and check for mismanagement, waste, or fraud. It is an increasingly important area of accounting, because internal auditors examine and evaluate their firms’ financial and information systems, management procedures, and internal controls to ensure that records are accurate and controls are adequate to protect against fraud and waste. They also review company operations, evaluating their efficiency, effectiveness, and compliance with corporate policies and procedures, laws, and government regulations. The accountant job description of an internal auditor can vary with different companies, and may include job duties such as electronic data processing, environmental auditing, engineering, legal auditing, insurance reviews, banking, and health care auditing.

Accountants in all four areas can work for a company, or can be employed by an accounting firm, which would in turn be hired by a company for consulting. An accountant can also be self-employed, and provide accounting services to individuals, businesses, or both.

Most accounting jobs include an accountant job description that requires a bachelor’s degree, at minimum, in accounting or a related field, and some accountant job descriptions might include the requirement of a master’s degree or Certified Public Account (CPA) certification, obtained through a four-part, Uniform CPA Explanation prepared by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). While the two-day CPA examination is rigorous, and only about 25 percent of those taking the exam pass every part they attempt, CPA certification can greatly assist in the rate of pay received, and in most states, the examination can be taken in two parts, which may assist in preparing for and passing the exam.

According to the United States Department of Labor, employment of accountants and auditors is expected to grow at a faster than average rate, for all accounting occupations from all accountant job descriptions mentioned, through the year 2014. This is due to an increase in the number of businesses nationwide, changing financial laws and regulations, and increased scrutiny of company finances. In addition to these reasons for new accounting jobs opening up, there will also be a need to replace accountants and auditors who will retire or transfer to other occupations.

The field is also becoming more specialized due to technology and new, accurate accounting and auditing software experience becoming a crucial addition to an accountant job description. An accountant job description may include, in addition to educational and technological requirements, strong interpersonal and communication skills, simply due to the fact that most accountants work on teams with others from different backgrounds, and will need the ability to communicate accounting and financial information clearly and concisely.

Regardless of one’s qualifications, competition in the accounting field will remain strong for the most prestigious jobs, as well as for obtaining clients for those accountants that are self-employed.

Most resources give you sample interview questions, tips on preparations for the big day – from dressing up to memorizing your closing lines. Do not overlook the fact that the interviewer is a person, and not just a questionnaire. Ask yourself this – “if I were the interviewer, what will I look for in a candidate?”

The following are some of the important factors that employers look for:

A positive attitude. Walking in with a frown or starting of with a complaint about how bad the traffic is, won’t help. A sincere smile helps lighten up the mood.

A smart but modest look. Avoid over dressing, flashy colors and revealing clothes.

Intelligent but sincere answers. Do not over sell yourself.

The purpose of this article is to cover the most frequent mistakes made by applicants. Although most of these points appear to be common sense, human resource professional often witness these pitfalls. For more information visit our resume and job interview training and services on one of the largest job sites in Canada, US and UK.

1. First, turn off your cell phone during an interview. A ringing cell phone won’t impress an interviewer. With today’s reliance on cell phones, in our experience about 1 in every 5 applicants forget to turn off their cell phones during an interview.

2. Reciting your resume and cover letter is also something that’s common, but should be avoided. The interview is your chance to expand on these documents and discuss your qualifications.

3. Mumbling is another common mistake that can often be corrected with ease. Some applicants mumble, are soft-spoken, or perhaps have a slight accent. Remember to speak up and speak clearly when you are in a job interview.

A useful exercise to refine interview skills is the use of role-play. Find someone who is willing to role-play some interview questions with you and ask them to provide feedback. For your convenience, we have a Mock Interview Exercise that simulates a real interview and contains grading tools to show ways to improve and reveal answering patterns. You can also enhance this exercise with the use of an audio/video recording tool.

4. Over answering is one of the most common and easily correctable mistakes. Over answering is also one of the biggest pet peeves among interviewer circles. Know when to stop. The interviewer’s body language can signal to the applicant when it is appropriate to stop answering. These signals include briefly looking away, leaning away from the applicant, and shifting their positions frequently during your answer. If you see one of these signs in your next interview, ask yourself: “have I answered the question?” and act accordingly. Try timing your answer to see the length of your response. On average most people take between 5 to 7 mins to answer which exceeds the attention span of most interviewers.

5. Avoid being negative. While your previous employer may have been a tyrant and difficult to work for, it is not to your advantage to speak negatively about past work experiences.