Accounts and Finance Interview Questions with Answers

The short version

Accounts interviews check three things: your basics, your accuracy and your honesty. Prepare simple, clear answers and be ready to show your work in a short practical test.

Basics

• What are the golden rules of accounting? Debit the receiver, credit the giver; debit what comes in, credit what goes out; debit expenses and losses, credit income and gains
• What is the difference between a journal and a ledger? A journal records transactions in order; a ledger groups them by account
• What is a trial balance? A list of ledger balances used to check that debits equal credits
• What are the three financial statements? Profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow
• What is depreciation? Spreading the cost of an asset over its useful life

AP and AR questions

• What is a three-way match?
• How do you handle a duplicate invoice?
• What is an ageing report and how do you use it?
• How do you follow up on overdue payments politely?
• What is a credit note?

Reconciliation and month-end

• How do you reconcile a bank statement?
• What are accruals and prepayments?
• What do you do when you cannot find the reason for a difference?

Tax questions

• What is GST and how does input tax credit work?
• What is TDS and who deducts it?
• What happens if a return is filed late?

Software and Excel

• Which accounting software have you used?
• How do you use VLOOKUP or XLOOKUP?
• How would you find duplicates in a list?

Behavioural questions

• Tell me about a time you found an error
• How do you manage deadlines at month-end?
• How do you keep confidential information safe?

Tips for the practical test

1. Read the instructions fully before you start.
2. Work step by step and check totals.
3. Label your work clearly.
4. If time runs out, show your method.

Next step

Revise a topic each day for a week. Then register on JobKarle and apply.