Accounting Job Interview Guide

Vying for a managerial position? Here are some of the job descriptions and qualifications – use this in assessing your skills and experience. Knowing that you are qualified will boost your confidence in facing that tough interviewer.

Generally, accounting managers head the finance department of a company, and supervises all accounts payables and receivables, staff accountants, clerks and the payroll. A certified public accountant is preferred, knowledge in general and cost accounting is a must, and one should have computer skills. Since this is a managerial position, effective written and oral communication skills and ability to interact with all types of people and relevant experience of at least 4 years are important requirements.

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An auditor verifies a company’s financial records and finds out whether a company’s financial situation matches its records. They inspect the bookkeeping and accounting methods used, compare the company’s records with the records of banks and other agencies it deals with. The audit report helps the management identify areas where they can cut costs, or allocate more resources to improve their operations and increase profits.

With these responsibilities, employers look for qualified accountants that are willing to travel often and adopt easily to different office environments, since auditors usually work in the client’s office. They deal with different kinds of people, and usually have an eight-hour, five day shift, but should be willing to work overtime without additional pay.

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Companies hire a separate insurance auditor to prepare monthly journal entries and quarterly financial statements, prepare supporting schedules for annual filing of form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan and Site Audit Reports mailings, assist in the preparation of the company’s insurance budget, and provide support for internal and external audits.

Employers prefer qualified auditors that are proficient in general ledger systems and excel, are detail oriented, organized, have good time management skills and can work with minimal supervision. Good oral and written communication skills is a must, and experience with insurance industry accounting or a CPA qualification is a plus.

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Every business needs accountants who will evaluate, monitor and combine financial resource data and productivity. Accountancy is basically gathering and measuring data so as to be able to allocate resources properly. It often involves the financial matters of a certain business. Part of accounting is auditing. It is a related field and often works in conjunction to the other. Auditing is the process of reviewing all the available records with regards to all financial reports and financial documents in a business to be able to reach a conclusion. In this way, the accountant can assess what actions to take to further improve and maintain its efficiency thus keeping the company’s principles and standards. A good example is employees’ payroll and company expenses.

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Prepare for your accounting job interview fully by conducting a mock interview. Get a friend or job interview partner to ask you the questions you have developed, and practice turning questions into answers complete with personal anecdotes. If possible, videotape these answers and review them for how complete, convincing and natural they sound. If you feel that they are not completely persuasive, you might need to do some more research or practice. On the day of the interview, make sure that you get there on time, wear a business professional interview outfit and allow the interviewer to take control of the interview initially. After the interview, be sure to write a thank you for the interview note. If you haven’t heard back by the time that you have been told you would, feel free to respectfully and politely follow up with whoever arranged your interview and discover the status of your candidacy.

Did you know that there are four kinds of accountants? They are the following:

Internal auditors: check records of the company to make sure that there’s no stealing or wasting of money

Government accountants: make sure that everything’s fine with the records and finances of the government and people who do business with the government

Public accountants: you could find them in public accounting companies but some have businesses of their own. Along with accounting, they do tax, auditing and consultation.

Management accountants: track the money made and spent by their companies

These accountants work in offices and tax accountants usually work overtime during January to April which is tax season. Generally, they usually work for 40 hours per week.

What do accountants do with their calculators and their spreadsheets? They keep track of a company’s money. They make reports on how the money is handled and they give these to the managers or people who are concerned about the company’s finances. Managers look at these reports to check the progress of their companies, governments check these to tell how much tax the company should pay. Other people read these to decide to do business or lend money to the company. A lot is placed on the accountant’s responsibility; within their calculators and their spreadsheets lies the future of the company.

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.

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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 .

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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?