INTERVIEW COMPETENCY BASED QUESTIONS AND CV GO OVER

Question 1

What are 3 examples of common budgeting methods?

Answer 1

1) Zero based budgeting
2) Incremental budgeting
3) Value based budgeting

Question 2

What happens on an income statement when the value of the inventory goes up?

Answer 2

Nothing happens, this will only affect the SOFP.

Question 3

What is working capital?

Answer 3

Its the difference between a companies current assets and current liabilities.

Question 4

How do you calculate ROI?

Answer 4

Current value of investment - cost of investment / cost investment x 100

Question 5

What is a deferred tax asset and liability?

Answer 5

A deferred tax asset is an item on a company’s balance sheet that reduces its taxable income in the future.Therefore, the overpayment becomes an asset to the company. A deferred tax asset is the opposite of a deferred tax liability, which indicates an expected increase in the amount of income tax owed by a company.

Question 6

Under what circumstances will goodwill increase?

Answer 6

When a company buys another business for more than the fair value of its tangible and intangible assets, goodwill is created.

Question 7

If you have seven white socks and nine black socks in a drawer, how many socks do you have to pull out blindly in order to ensure that you have a matching pair?

Answer 7

If the first one is one colour( e.g. white) and the second one is the other colour( black) then the third one no matter what the colour will make a matching pair.

Question 8

What’s the difference between deferred revenue and accounts receivable?

Answer 8

Deferred revenue represents cash received from customers for services or goods not yet provided. Accounts receivable represents cash owing from customers for goods/services already provided.

Question 9

If I had only one statement and wanted to review the overall health of a company, which statement would I use and why?

Answer 9

If I had only one statement and wanted to review the overall health of a company, which statement would I use and why?

Question 10

Describe yourself in one sentence?

Answer 10

“I would describe myself as hard-working, driven, fearless, the type of person who takes ownership of situations, and someone who is not afraid of a difficult challenge.”

Question 11

What is your biggest strength?

Answer 11

I am Resourceful - I am an innovative problem solver and i always look for ways to solve difficult challenges - give the example of my tutoring zoom or library, the student found it hard to study, i was able to ask parents and find hobbies or the student , and found that they are different optimal times they do work, and are visual learner. GCSE kids.

Question 12

Tell me a time you had conflict with a team member, how did you handle it.

Answer 12

1st sentence goes like conflict is a part of human nature, but it is important to dispose this within a group and tackle the issue straight away be because we do not want to affect the standards of a group.
Talk about marketing project LSE and how someone didn’t turn up to a group meeting.
Then say it lead to them collaborating with the group and he in fact was very on top and knowledagble on this sector.

Question 13

What is your ideal working environment?

Answer 13

My ideal work environment is a place where employees at every level have good communication with each other and with their supervisors.

I also hope to work in a place that is centered on development and teambuilding, where the unique talents of each employee can be recognized and given the opportunity to grow.

While doing some research on ICAEW, I took note of the value of integreity you place highly and commitment to developing talents and skills of every employee.

Question 14

how do you define teamwork.

Answer 14

teamwork is when a group comes together to accomplish a task, and their main priority is the quality of the end result. It isn’t about shining as an individual. Instead, it’s about having the best outcome possible through the use of cumulative effort.
Also allows you to understand your strengths and weaknesses,

Question 15

How well do you work in a team? ( internship experience is key here)

Answer 15

If believe teamwork is where i can really influence my intellectual curiosity.
GIVE AN EXAMPLE USE STAR TECHNIQUE.
1) Situation: Use internship experience at Greenside capital partners. I was a research analysts where i was put into the investment distubtion, with a group of high level indidivuals. We focused on green assets, and we as a group needed to understand and have a better understanding of what asset class to potentially work on and then pitch at the end of the week.
2) We delegated roles, where me and another individual who had little experience in Private equity and venture capital did huge sums of research.
3) we were to pitch and investment plan.

Question 16

How do you define arrogance? Are you arrogant ( EXAMPLE HINT DOFE)

Answer 16

Arrogrance is the attitude of being superior beyond reason. I am not an arrogrant person but rather a confident person. I have great belief in myself and i am fearless. Give an example, DOFE, i was confident to lead the group even though i probably wasn’t the best to read a map in my group, because i wanted to feel some sort of responsibility, instead of just listening and following.

Question 17

How have you shown yourself to be a leader.

Answer 17

During DOFE we were allowed to pick groups and a female friend who didn’t get along with a lot of people at DOFE, it felt like i was the only one who spoke to her. She didn’t seem like she enjoyed dofe anymore, and it is quite a hard experience to do without speaking to someone, I offered to my DOFE assessor if i could join that group for a day, that she was in because i wanted to speak to her and get her morale up.

Question 18

25. Tell me a time you disagreed with a decision that was made at work.

Answer 18

Me working as a Road steward at black friars, me and another individual could only let people through the barriers if they had a CAD pass or had their blues and twos on. There was this family in a car that had been driving for a long time and they live across the road, it was safe and there was no reason not to not let them in, there child was very tired and looked dizzy. I radioed through to my supervisor and they said this wasn’t allowed.

Question 19

How would you handle undeserved criticism from a supervisor

Answer 19

Don’t respond emotionally
Rationally access the criticism
Confront professionally if necessary.

Question 20

How have you changed in the last 5 years?

Answer 20

1) Mindset has changed - no more a materialist ( i seek for future gratification rather than immediate gratification)
2) Friendship groups have changed - with more intellectual like minded people
3) Im more aware about the world reading news ( allowing me to extend my vocabulary)

Question 21

How do you ensure all your work gets accomplished in a productive manner?

Answer 21

I have learnt about my body and how i can focus, so in education i know for example i have to do some reading i will start it at 8 then finish at 12, because thats where i focus the most.
Also timetables, sleep as well, ensuring i get 8+ hours of sleep.

Question 22

Do you work better on a team, with one partner or alone?

Answer 22

It depends on the task. When it comes to brainstorming, teams produce great ideas with multiple input, and teams can highlight people’s strengths. But I certainly enjoy working on my tasks as an individual as well, since in many ways it takes the ability to work alone for the team to fully succeed.”

Question 23

Do you work better on a team, with one partner or alone?

Answer 23

It depends on the task. When it comes to brainstorming, teams produce great ideas with multiple input, and teams can highlight people’s strengths. But I certainly enjoy working on my tasks as an individual as well, since in many ways it takes the ability to work alone for the team to fully succeed.”

Question 24

What is your greatest achievement.( HINT INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE)

Answer 24

My greatest achievement, talk about internship, talk about how you wasn’t fond upon the idea of asset management, because although work is felt not to be boring i didn’t feel the buzz. We had to learn a lot of Asset management Jargon in a 2 days and completely research a field, where E.S.G was very prevalent. As an individual i was able to do that, create a presentation as a group and i was commended by a panel of senior members. I was given the opportunity to extend this to the summer of 2022 but it wasn’t something i enjoyed.

Question 25

How well do you perform under pressure?

Answer 25

I’ve found that a healthy amount of Pressure motivates me to stay on track and work as efficiently and effectively as possible. Talk about deadline for marketing project, I was able to place this in a fresh diary, which could prevent from any distractions. I also when i do feel pressure, have a change of scenery so i will go to the gym, then continue. This way i will optain maximum concentration levels.

Question 26

How do you define success?( HINT USE FLAWLESS FITS)

Answer 26

I consider reaching both small and large milestones towards a goal as a success. I view success as a process where challenges encourage me to look at things from different perspectives and to find creative solutions to problems.
EXAMPLE, CREATING TRAINER/SHOE BUSINESS, FLAWLESS FITS, I HAD TO ENSURE I HAD GOOD RELATIONSHIPS, WITH COLLABATORS. WHICH CONTRIBUTES TO MY SUCESS, OF PUTTING SMILIES ON THE FACES OF MY Clients.

Question 27

What are your lifelong dreams?

Answer 27

I want to be a chartered accountant working at a football club, which is well known such as Chelsea, looking at their accountants, and giving them advice and quanitiative facts about their company. Build an excellent relationship with the club whilst maintaing standards and objectivity.
Also i want to be an influence on young people who are just like me and go on about this.

Question 28

Tell me a time you failed?

Answer 28

Actually, when i started out my internship at Greenside capital partners, i was keen to make a positive impression on my work colleagues and supervisor/ manager. I was assigned a task to research a specific field and what specific asset classes, i think would be very successful, given the risk appepitate of a potential client My eagerness to do a good job, i failed to listen to the brief ( i wasn’t aware of the risk appetite of the client) , i only focused on the end goal on what he wanted me to achieve. That meant when i finished the project and presented it to him, i made a fatal error, as i missed out an important part of the project. I was disappointed in my self, i apologised, to correct this i went home and corrected my mistake and presented my findings in the morning.

Question 29

22. What have you done to reduce costs, increase revenue or save time?

Answer 29

I was able to get a lot of word of mouth sales from getting contacts with huge followings to promote my page. etc

Question 30

Why are you interested in the role of accounting and finance?

Answer 30

Having completed in Greenside capital partners who focused almost exclusively in the areas of clean energy infrastructure, renewable energy, and green assets in private markets, we worked on raising capital for these private equity markets for an outcome in the future. Although really and truly the outcome is so far away, that i felt detached from the day to day work i was doing. I never felt i was contributing to society right now. There is nothing wrong with this, but i knew this career prospect wasn’t the best for me to get fufilmemeant. Thus, being an accountant allows you to get this, being accountant allows you to talk to many divisions in a company, and determine costs and present key quanitiative figures towards each key segment of a business allowing for key decision making. Knowing that the responsibility is on my shoulders, allows me to give a great level of service based on their financial needs.

Question 31

What experience do you have that will make you the best for this accounting role?

Answer 31

I have experience working under pressure to tight deadlines whilst managing clients that, corresponding to my trainer business.
I have experience working with a variety of different types of clients, aiming to give different styles of solutions, allowing me to adapt to certain needs.

Question 32

What do you expect to be doing on a day to day basis as an accountant? ( 4 things)

Answer 32

1) Preparing financial statemenets and analysing them
2) Tax planning
3) conducting internal audits on accounts ( or interacting with auditing team
4) forecasting and budgeting.

Question 33

Questions to ask after the interview?

Answer 33

What advice what you give to someone like me who wants perform well in this role?
If i am successful, what would you need me to concentrate on in the first few weeks of starting this internship.
What are some essential qualtiies of your interns.
Do you expect the responsibilities for this role to change in the near future?

Question 34

Why ICAEW? ( HINT Carbon neutral and Charter for Black talent

Answer 34

Its drive to and path in becoming carbon neutral. Carbon emissions are disclosed annually and we see that ICAEW are driven not only by incentives profit and reputation but drive to have an affect on the environment. In quarter three of 2020, ICAEW became the first professional body to achieve carbon neutral status. This is something i take great interest in especially with COP26 and the idea of this being implemented within the workplace and Exams feels my excitement working here.
: ICAEW has become the first professional body to sign up to a new City Charter which calls for more representation of Black professionals at senior levels.( Charter for Black Talent in Finance and the Professions), this incentivises me as number 1, that the message is real, i feel a connection already with ICAEW.

Question 35

What does Sustainability mean to me?

Question 36

Talk about yourself

Answer 36

Talk about education 
Second year 
I did tutoring from here
Internship 
One point of interest football