Effective management of finances is essential for business growth and sustainability. The accounting function plays an important role in a business by managing cash flow and tracking financial transactions. Qualified and skilled accounting managers are a must to manage the accounting function efficiently. By skill we don’t mean only accounting skills, accounting managers need to have the soft skills to perform the role effectively. Accounting interview questions or accounting skills assessment tests must include questions that evaluate the behavioral tendencies, personality attributes, and aptitudes of prospective candidates.
Evaluation methodologies need to keep up with the dynamic nature of the market. Finance and accounting interview questions need to be reviewed and updated from time to time to keep up with the latest market trends. We have listed out the top 25 Accounting Manager Interview Questions & Answers for 2022. The account manager interview questions have been divided into 3 categories: General accounting questions, interpersonal skills questions, and advanced accounting interview questions specific to managers.
General Account Manager Interview Questions
Q: How would your previous employer describe you?
A: This is a subjective question where the potential candidate may quote positive feedback from his previous employer.
Q: Why did you choose a career in accounting?
A: This too is a subjective question that may be answered by listing reasons why the candidate took accounting as his/her career.
Q: What has been the most meaningful accounting experience so far?
A: The candidate may answer this question by quoting a good learning experience from his previous employment.
Q: Can you describe the skills and experience that make you suitable for this job?
A: The skills and work experience listed in the resume must be explained in detail here.
Q: Describe the biggest work challenge and how you handled it?
A: The candidate must describe in detail the most challenging situation at work how it was handled/solved, and the lessons learned from it.
Q: Can you describe an ideal work environment and how you would create it?
A: This is an important question for a manager since it throws light on their people and managerial skills.
Q: What are your career goals and how do you plan to achieve them?
A: Well-planned career goals and clear plans to achieve them impress the employer.
Q: What are your current compensation and expectations from our organization?
A: The potential hire must state the current compensation and clearly state the expected compensation from the prospective employer.
Q: Why are you looking for a new accounting manager position?
A: The reasons for a change in job position must be clearly explained here.
Q: Why should we hire you?
A: The candidate must highlight his key skills and capabilities that are convincing to the prospective employer.
Interpersonal Skills Questions
Q – How would you explain complex accounting terms to a layman?
A – The subject knowledge of the candidate and communication skills are tested here.
Q- Describe a difficult situation you have faced with a colleague and how you handled it?
A – The people skills of managers come to the fore while handling difficult colleagues.
Q – How would you promote teamwork among the team members?
A – The prospect must list out different ways in which coordination among his team members can be brought about.
Q – What methods would you use to resolve conflicts among colleagues?
A – Specific methods to resolve different types of conflicts among team members or colleagues must be listed out here.
Q – What are the different types of team-building exercises would you employ?
A – Innovative and creative ways of improving teamwork and coordination must be described here.
Q – Do you have experience in handling clients directly?
A – Specific instances in previous employment where the prospect has handled customers directly must be described here.
Q – How would you handle irate customers?
A – Managers handling customers directly need to exhibit the strong interpersonal skills required to handle irate, frustrated, or dissatisfied customers.
Q – List the top 5 leadership qualities of a manager
A – The prospect needs to list the top skills of a manager and prove with examples that he/she possesses them.
Q – What are the common communication barriers that you have faced and how have you overcome them?
A – The prospect must clearly explain communication challenges from previous work experience and explain ways in which they were handled.
Q – How would you handle nepotism or favoritism in the workplace?
A – The prospect must quote lucid examples where they have handled nepotism or favoritism in the past.
Technical Account Manager Interview Questions or Advanced Accounting Questions
The technical accounting skills test includes questions about advanced accounting concepts.
Q – What are the methods used to calculate bad debt?
A- Bad debts are financial losses that occur due to delayed payments. The direct write-off method and allowance method are the 2 popular ways of calculating bad debt.
Q- Do you have experience with enterprise resource planning systems?
A- The candidate must explain how well-versed he/she is with ERP systems.
Q- Have you worked on accounting software? If yes, then elaborate on the systems you have worked on.
A- Complete information on various accounting software that the candidate has worked on in previous employment must be provided.
Q- What are the methods you use to detect, identify, and track fraudulent entries?
A – Details on financial monitoring software and its usage to detect fraud must be explained here.
Q – Can you describe an accounting mistake you committed and how you handled and rectified it?
A – The prospect can share a genuine mistake committed in the past and methods adopted to rectify and handle the damage caused to the business.
Conclusion
The top accounting interview questions listed above provide the hiring team with a clear route to evaluating candidate profiles for the role of an accounting manager. Including an online accounts and finance skills assessment test in the hiring process helps screen only the best fit for subsequent hiring steps. SkillRobo is a pre-employment assessment software that provides a wide array of role-based skill assessments. The accounts and finance skills assessment test provided by SkillRobo ensures a comprehensive evaluation of various accounting roles. Use the pre-employment accounting test for quick and effective hiring.
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