Recently, my team was hiring for an accounts payable position, and a candidate with a great resume came in for an interview. Our lead recruiter asked her a basic question: “How do you handle billing disputes?”
Rather than walking us through the steps she takes to understand a dispute, learn whether it’s legitimate, and arrive at a solution, she gave a generic answer: “I try to stay positive and keep everyone happy.” It wasn’t what we wanted to hear from a candidate whose job would be to collect timely, accurate payments and keep the company’s revenue on track.
While this question wasn’t the single deciding factor that made us ultimately pass on this candidate, it did prompt the recruiter to push for more specifics when asking about required skills. Her overall lack of concrete examples to demonstrate her capabilities caused us to go in a different direction.
Your accounting staff is central to your company’s ability to function, and asking the right interview questions will tell you whether they have the skills and personality necessary to succeed. We’ll explain what to look for when interviewing accounting candidates and share 25 questions to help you understand their expertise.
What to Look for When Assessing Accounting Candidates
When hiring accounting professionals, you need to identify a specific blend of hard and soft skills coupled with a personality that’s suited to the detail-oriented work of managing finances. Some of these may be basic for people with strong accounting knowledge, but to be thorough, I’m going to list all aspects that your team should consider.
Knowledge of accounting principles
Accounting principles are the guidelines companies and other organizations must follow when recording and reporting financial information. These guidelines promote complete, high-quality, standardized data that can be useful in a variety of applications.
These guidelines are called GAAP, or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States. GAAP covers things like revenue recognition, consistency, and materiality–all of which a strong candidate will be familiar with and able to explain.
Attention to detail
In accounting roles, attention to detail is paramount. One tiny decimal being out of place could completely upend a company’s balance sheet. So, you’ll want to pay attention to this during the interview. A candidate’s appearance and level of preparation can be good indicators of detail-orientedness.
This is one reason group interviews can be a compelling tool for accounting roles, especially entry-level ones. Once, my team conducted a group interview with three candidates for a staff accountant position. When the interviewees were together in our office, the difference in their appearance was striking. Two were dressed casually in slacks and shirts, but the third wore a suit with newly shined shoes and had what looked like a fresh haircut–very polished. He’d clearly thought carefully about how he would present himself that day, which told us he’d likely give the same level of attention to his job.
Some people might disagree, but it’s my opinion that a candidate’s overall presentation, when matched with satisfactory interview responses, can help assess attention to detail.
Collaborative abilities
Accounting involves teamwork, both with fellow accounting staff and with coworkers in other departments. It also involves interfacing with managers and other company leadership team members.
Thus, a good hire will be comfortable working collaboratively and be able to break down the technical aspects of their work into layman’s terms that their colleagues can understand. Situational and behavioral interview questions are great for understanding a candidate’s teamwork skills.
Related: The Best Behavioral Interview Questions to Ask Candidates
Integrity and character
More so than perhaps any other type of role, accounting positions require a strong moral compass, so you’ll want to be sure that character is built into your assessment matrix. Ask questions to understand candidates’ attitudes around transparency, accountability, confidentiality, and trust.
Covering these topics will help you feel confident you’re hiring a person you can rely on to handle the company’s sensitive and important financial information.
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25 Accounting Interview Questions to Ask Candidates
Questions about background
Tell me about your current position.
This open-ended question can help you learn about a candidate’s current responsibilities and how they perceive their role. It offers details about their expertise, priorities, and areas of focus, which can help you determine whether they’re a strong fit. Look for examples that demonstrate how the candidate makes an impact in their current job, like keeping clean records or translating data into useful business insights.
What work have you done in previous roles that has prepared you for this job?
This question not only allows a candidate to highlight their key skills, but shows you how well they understand the job they’re applying for. I always pay attention to whether a candidate seems to have read the job description carefully and is citing relevant experience or whether they’re just listing skills at random.
Do you have any specialized credentials or certifications?
Certifications like CPA, CMA, and CFA demonstrate an applicant’s commitment to professional growth and expertise in their area of accounting. This question can be useful in differentiating between candidates with similar work experience.
Questions about technical knowledge and skills
Explain the difference between accounts receivable and deferred revenue.
This technical question sheds light on a candidate’s understanding of accounting principles. A qualified applicant for an accounts receivable position should be able to clearly explain the differences in how A/R and deferred revenue are classified and recognized.
What is zero-based budgeting?
Asking this will help you assess how familiar an accounting candidate is with different budgeting methods. It’s just one method of several that a company might use depending on their needs and circumstances, and a strong candidate will have a firm grasp on when this budgeting style makes sense for an organization.
What accounting software have you used?
Asking about software and other app experience will allow you to determine whether a candidate’s technical proficiencies align with your company’s systems. While it might not be a make-or-break factor, hiring someone who already knows the software you use will reduce onboarding and training time and lead to faster productivity.
Are you experienced using automation to assist with your work?
This is a particularly relevant question in the current market where AI is transforming the way traditional tasks are completed, and accounting is no exception. A candidate’s answer will reveal their comfort level with new technology and ability to adapt to modern tools that enhance efficiency and accuracy.
What are some methods of detecting fraud?
It’s not a mystery that accounting professionals are the first line of defense in protecting a company’s financial integrity. This question highlights an applicant’s knowledge of fraud detection measures and experience with safeguarding monetary assets.
What financial metrics do you consider most important for a business?
Financial staff must understand how accounting impacts other business goals. A candidate’s answer can reveal their analytical skills and ability to prioritize key performance indicators.
How do you stay up to date with industry news and changing regulations?
Accounting rules and regulations change regularly, and the field requires ongoing learning. This question will reveal an interviewee’s commitment to staying informed and complying with best practices.
Questions about soft skills
How do you explain complex accounting topics to your non-specialized colleagues?
As we covered earlier, clear communication in accounting is something that shouldn’t be overlooked. This question evaluates the candidate’s ability to translate specialized information into plain language to facilitate cross-departmental collaboration.
How do you prioritize your work?
A candidate’s answer to this question will detail their time management and organizational skills. Please pay particular attention to their approach to handling competing deadlines and urgent tasks.
What strategies do you use to ensure your work is accurate?
Accuracy is non-negotiable in accounting positions. Look for an answer that outlines the steps a candidate takes to minimize errors, like fact-checking their work and not waiting until the last minute to complete reports.
What experience do you have leading a team?
If you’re interviewing for a managerial position, you’ll want to hear examples of how an applicant successfully led a team to achieve goals in the past. Even for non-managerial positions, leadership skills are helpful for identifying confident, self-sufficient workers.
Situational questions
What would you do if you discovered a discrepancy in one of the company’s reports that was prepared by someone higher up?
Finding and correcting errors is part of an accountant’s job, and you need someone who can do it with precision and tact. This situational question explores the candidate’s ethical principles as well as their approach to problem-solving, especially when involving potentially sensitive information.
What would you do if you realized you made an accounting mistake?
Even the most seasoned professionals make mistakes. The key is identifying team members who will take the appropriate steps when they realize they’ve made an error by flagging the issue, taking accountability, and promptly correcting their mistake.
If our company suddenly received a $50 million investment, how would you help us decide what to do with it?
Companies rely on their accountants’ financial expertise when making big decisions. This question tests a candidate’s strategic thinking while giving you information about their knowledge of the industry and the company. It’s a particularly good question for senior roles.
What would you do if you were at risk of missing an important filing deadline?
Time-sensitive tasks are par for the accounting course. This question assesses a candidate’s ability to make sound decisions under pressure, which may be a routine requirement in certain roles.
Questions about culture fit
What about our company resonates with you?
It’s always a good idea to learn why a candidate applied. This question will tell you about an applicant’s motivations and help you understand if their values are aligned with yours. Look for insights beyond just collecting a paycheck. If a candidate has trouble answering, it might be a sign they’ve mass applied and don’t have any particular interest in your organization.
What do you consider an ideal workplace?
In order to retain new hires long-term, their expectations must align with the realities of your workplace. Broaching the subject during the interview will tell you early on if there’s a mismatch.
One example that comes to mind is a candidate who said she preferred a very quiet work environment–total silence, if possible. Ringing phones and chatty coworkers were the norm in our client’s office, so we knew it would probably be hard for her to do her best work there.
How do you handle change?
Evolving regulations and new technology are standard in the accounting field. A strong candidate will feel comfortable adapting their workflows to meet changing needs.
What role do you typically take when working as part of a team?
This question sheds light on a candidate’s interpersonal skills and preferred work style, which can tell you how well they’ll fit in with your team dynamic.
Questions about personality
Why did you pursue a career in accounting?
Hearing a candidate describe their reasons for choosing their career path in their own words can be illuminating. My favorite responses to this question are those where the candidate gets excited and says things like “keeping an accurate and orderly ledger is soothing to me,” (yes, this was an actual response!).
While not every applicant is going to light up talking about balance sheets, learning about their motivations can help you understand their drive and ambition, which are clues to how engaged they’ll be with the job.
What are your career goals?
Similar to the previous question, this one can help you learn about the interviewee’s vision for their future so you can determine if it aligns with the opportunities your company can offer them.
What are your biggest strengths/weaknesses?
This classic question is as much about actual strengths and weaknesses as it is about self-awareness–which is something you want for someone who will play an important role in your company’s finances.
It takes a mix of technical, personal, and situational interview questions to assess a candidate for an accounting role fully. By asking the right questions, you’ll be able to get to the bottom of their knowledge and experience and decide whether a candidate possesses the necessary skills and is the right cultural fit to join your team.
