Senior Accountant interview questions and answers
This Senior Accountant interview profile brings together a snapshot of what to look for in candidates with a balanced sample of suitable interview questions. Feel free to modify these questions for the accounting needs and requirements of your particular role.
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Senior Accountant Interview Questions
Your Senior Accountant and accounting manager candidates must possess high-level accounting experience with tasks such as budget preparation and financial forecasting. They must also have experience and comfort with explaining financial data to non-financial staff, especially senior executives.
They should possess thorough and current knowledge of accounting and auditing standards. Finally, they should be strategic and analytical leaders, as they will advise senior executives on major financial decisions and play an active role in setting goals for the entire department.
The Senior Accountant you hire may also be called upon to manage a team. In this case, the accounting interview questions you ask should determine whether or not they have experience with hiring, training, monitoring, and delegating staff. This person must be able to coordinate their department’s efforts towards complex projects involving data collection, data analysis, quality control and planning future work. Consider these accounting interview questions and answers as a first step in determining whether your candidate has the confidence, experience and personality to move forward with the position.
Operational and Situational questions
- What steps do you take in preparing a budget?
- Describe your experience with financial forecasting and projections.
- How do you stay current on accounting and auditing standards?
- How do you keep track of what you’ve delegated to your team?
- How do you monitor your team’s performance?
- How do you go about directing internal and external audits?
- What is your experience presenting financial data to non-financial staff?
- Describe a time you persuaded leadership to make a decision based on financial data.
- How do you explain complicated processes to staff members?
- Describe a time you were dissatisfied with an accounting process. What wasn’t working? What did you do to improve it?
- Describe your experience with executing a complicated financial project on a tight deadline. How did you coordinate your team in collecting and analyzing data? How did you ensure accuracy?