In this article
The job and the basics
What does an accountant do?
An accountant records, checks and explains an organisation's financial position. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) lists examining financial statements for accuracy and legal compliance, computing taxes and preparing returns, organising and maintaining financial records, assessing risks, and suggesting ways to cut costs and raise profit (BLS, August 2026). In the interview, say which of these you did and how the work changed a decision.
Why it is asked: it checks that your picture of the job matches theirs.
Read the wider explanation: accounting and finance-admin interviews.
What is the difference between accounting and bookkeeping?
Bookkeeping is the day-to-day recording of transactions, while accounting adds checking, summarising, reporting and advice on top of those records. A bookkeeper keeps the ledger current; an accountant prepares the statements, applies the rules for timing and tax, and explains what the figures mean. Small firms often combine the two, so describe where your own work stopped and started.
Why it is asked: it tests whether you understand the level of judgement the role carries.
What is double-entry bookkeeping?
Double-entry bookkeeping is a method of recording each transaction twice, as a debit in one account and an equal credit in another, so the books stay in balance. Paying 400 of rent in cash, an illustrative amount, debits the rent expense account by 400 and credits the cash account by 400. If total debits and total credits differ, an entry is wrong or missing.
Why it is asked: it separates people who can post an entry from people who only know the vocabulary.
What is the accounting equation?
The accounting equation is the identity that assets equal liabilities plus shareholders' equity, and it must hold after every entry. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) beginner's guide writes it as assets equals liabilities plus shareholders' equity and describes the balance sheet as showing all three at one point in time (SEC, reviewed 2017). Borrowing money raises an asset and a liability by the same amount.
Why it is asked: it is the check that every other answer rests on.
What are debits and credits, and which increases an expense?
A debit is an entry on the left of an account and a credit an entry on the right; neither means good or bad. Debits increase assets and expenses, and credits increase liabilities, equity and revenue. So an expense is increased by a debit and a revenue account by a credit. A quick way to remember is that each entry must have equal debits and credits, whatever the accounts.
Why it is asked: confusing the sides is the commonest slip in a technical screen.
Financial statements
What are the main financial statements?
The three statements interviewers usually mean are the balance sheet, the income statement and the cash flow statement; the SEC guide counts four, adding the statement of shareholders' equity. It says the balance sheet gives information about a company's assets, liabilities and shareholders' equity, the income statement shows how much revenue was earned over a time period, and the cash flow statement reports inflows and outflows of cash (SEC, reviewed 2017).
Why it is asked: it tests whether you can say what each statement answers before you read one.
How do the three statements link together?
Net profit from the income statement increases equity on the balance sheet, and the cash flow statement explains why cash moved by the amount it did. A sale on credit raises profit and receivables but not cash, so profit and cash differ until the customer pays. Say that link in one sentence, then give an example from a business you know.
Why it is asked: linking the statements shows you understand the system, not three separate reports.
What do the notes to the accounts add?
The notes explain the accounting policies, the detail behind the totals and items that the statements alone do not show. The SEC guide says the footnotes to financial statements are packed with information and names accounting policies, income taxes, pensions and stock options among the topics they cover (SEC, reviewed 2017). A reader who skips them can miss why a figure moved.
Why it is asked: it checks that you read past the headline numbers.
What is a trial balance and what does it prove?
A trial balance is a list of every ledger account with its debit or credit balance at one date, used to check that total debits equal total credits. If they match, the arithmetic of the posting is consistent, but it does not prove the entries were right: an amount posted to the wrong account, or omitted on both sides, still balances.
Why it is asked: it tests whether you know both what a check proves and what it cannot.
Knowing it is half the job. Saying it is the other half.
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Start Free Trial →Timing: accruals and depreciation
What is the difference between cash and accrual accounting?
Under the cash method income is recorded when received and expenses when paid, while under the accrual method income is recorded when earned and expenses when incurred, whatever the payment date. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Publication 538 puts it as reporting income in the year you receive it, against the year you earn it (IRS Publication 538, 2022). Accrual shows performance better; cash shows liquidity.
Why it is asked: timing is the core idea behind most adjusting entries.
Read the wider explanation: accounting and finance-admin interviews.
When is revenue recognised, and what is the all-events test?
For the financial statements, revenue is recognised when control of the promised goods or services passes to the customer, under the five-step model of Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 606 from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) (FASB, May 2014). The all-events test is the tax counterpart: income is included once all events fix the right to it and the amount can be determined with reasonable accuracy, and a deductible expense also needs economic performance (IRS Publication 538, 2022).
Why it is asked: it tests whether you know which rule governs the books and which governs the tax return.
What is an accrual, and what is a prepayment?
An accrual is an expense or income recorded before the cash moves, such as wages earned but not yet paid. A prepayment is cash paid before the expense is used, such as a year of insurance paid in advance, held as an asset and released to expense over the months it covers. Illustratively, 1,200 paid for twelve months becomes 100 of expense each month.
Why it is asked: month-end adjustments are most of the work in a close.
What is depreciation and how do you calculate it?
Depreciation is the spreading of the cost of a long-lived asset over the years it is used. IRS Publication 946 describes tax depreciation as an annual deduction that lets you recover the cost or other basis of certain property (IRS Publication 946, 2025). Straight-line takes cost less expected scrap value divided by years: an illustrative 12,000 asset with no scrap value over five years is 2,400 a year.
Why it is asked: it checks that you can separate the book method from the tax rules.
Controls and the close
How do you do a bank reconciliation?
A bank reconciliation is the comparison of the cash balance in the books with the bank statement, explaining every difference. List deposits not yet credited and cheques not yet cleared, add bank charges or interest the books lack, and check that the adjusted figures agree. Investigate anything that remains, and record what you found and who reviewed it.
Why it is asked: it shows whether you finish the job to zero unexplained differences.
What is GAAP, and how does it differ from IFRS?
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) are the accounting rules used for U.S. financial statements, set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are the standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board and used in many other countries. Both cover recognition and disclosure, so name the one the employer reports under.
Why it is asked: it shows you know that the rulebook depends on the country and the company.
What is the difference between accounts payable and accounts receivable?
Accounts payable is money the business owes to suppliers for goods or services already received, shown as a liability. Accounts receivable is money customers owe the business for sales already made, shown as an asset. A purchase on credit raises payable; a sale on credit raises receivable, and cash moves only when each is settled.
Why it is asked: it checks that you can place everyday transactions on the right side of the balance sheet.
Which accounting software and Excel functions have you used?
Name the ledger package you have posted in, the reports you pulled from it and one task you sped up, such as matching two lists with a lookup formula or summarising with a pivot table. Give a real example with the time it saved or the error it caught. If you have not used their package, say which you know and how fast you learned it.
Why it is asked: the tools are the daily work, and a specific answer is hard to bluff.
What happens in a month-end close?
The close is the set of steps that turns a month of transactions into reliable statements. Typical steps are posting remaining entries, recording accruals and prepayments, booking depreciation, reconciling bank and control accounts, reviewing a trial balance and preparing reports. The BLS notes that hours run longer in peak periods (BLS, August 2026), so say how you plan the days.
Why it is asked: it tests process discipline under a deadline.
How would you run and review a month-end close?
Set a calendar of tasks with owners and deadlines, then review in order: bank and sub-ledger reconciliations, accruals and prepayments, depreciation, then variances against budget and last month. Review other people's journals for support and approval, and chase any unexplained difference before sign-off. Report the result with the two or three movements leadership will ask about.
Why it is asked: it separates doing the close from owning it, which is what manager roles add.
The trial balance does not balance. What do you do?
Work from the size of the difference. Check for a transposed number: a difference divisible by nine is a typical sign. A difference equal to one entry suggests it was posted once, and a difference that is double an amount suggests a debit posted as a credit. Then review the day's postings and the last reconciliation, fixing errors with a correcting entry, not by deleting.
Why it is asked: it reveals how you debug, and whether you hide errors.
What is segregation of duties?
Segregation of duties is the control rule that no one person should start, approve, record and pay the same transaction. The person who raises a supplier invoice should not also approve payment or reconcile the bank, so that an error or fraud needs two people. In a small team where it is impossible, say you would add independent review.
Why it is asked: it tests whether you think about control, not only about the numbers.
Read the wider explanation: billing specialist interview questions.
Tax, qualifications and ethics
How do you make sure taxes are calculated and paid on time?
Keep a calendar of filing and payment dates, reconcile the tax accounts to the ledger each month, and check the inputs before preparing a return. The BLS lists computing taxes owed, preparing returns and ensuring that taxes are paid properly and on time among accountants' duties (BLS, August 2026). Add who reviewed the return before filing.
Why it is asked: late or wrong filings carry penalties, so the interviewer wants a routine.
Do you need a CPA, and what does it take?
A certified public accountant (CPA) licence is not needed for every accounting job, but it opens more roles. The BLS says licensure requires a national exam and 150 semester hours of coursework, and that any accountant who files reports with the SEC must be a CPA (BLS, August 2026). A model law that the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) approved in May 2025 adds a bachelor's degree plus two years of experience in states that adopt it (NASBA, May 2025).
Why it is asked: it shows how far you have progressed and how you plan your career.
You find an error in figures you already reported. What do you do?
Tell your manager promptly, work out the size and cause, and correct it with a visible adjusting entry and a note of what changed. Check whether other periods or reports used the same figure. Then change the step that let it through. Hiding or quietly fixing an error is the worst answer, because the role depends on trust.
Why it is asked: it tests integrity and your habit of fixing causes.
Fit and the conversation
Why do you want to work in accounting?
Give one specific reason from your own experience, then connect it to the work the BLS describes: analysing financial records, spotting risks and explaining findings to people who are not accountants. Avoid "I like numbers" alone. A short example, such as finding a pattern in a reconciliation that saved a team an hour a week, makes it believable.
Why it is asked: it checks motivation and whether you know what the day involves.
How do you handle busy periods such as year end?
Plan backwards from the deadline, list what must be finished first, and agree priorities with your manager early. The BLS says most accountants work full time with longer hours during peak periods such as quarterly audits and tax season (BLS, August 2026). Give a real instance of how you kept accuracy while hours rose.
Why it is asked: the work is seasonal and accuracy cannot slip.
Tell me about yourself for an accounting role.
Use a present, past, future shape: your current role and one result, the experience that built your skills in records, controls or tax, and why this role is the next step. Keep it near a minute. The tell me about yourself guide shows the structure and common mistakes.
Why it is asked: it sets the order of the rest of the conversation.
What questions should you ask the interviewer?
Ask about the close calendar, the systems in use, how errors are reviewed, how the team handles peak weeks and what a good first six months looks like. These show you care about the process. The questions to ask the interviewer page lists more, and salary negotiation covers what happens after an offer.
Why it is asked: it reveals how seriously you take the job.
Text description of the diagram
- Double-entry bookkeeping records each transaction as equal debits and credits.
- A trial balance checks that total debits equal total credits.
- A bank reconciliation compares the books with the bank statement.
How these interviews are run
Accounting interviews usually mix technical questions, process questions and behavioural questions in one conversation. Expect a short technical screen on debits, credits and statements, then scenarios such as a reconciliation that will not agree, then stories about deadlines and mistakes. The interview loops guide shows how rounds fit together, the behavioral interviews hub covers the story questions, and the accounting and finance-admin hub links the sister lists for billing and purchasing roles.
Follow-up questions
How do you answer accounting interview questions?
State the rule in one sentence, then prove it with a small worked example, such as a rent payment posted as a debit to expense and a credit to cash. For process and behavioural questions, give one real instance and the check you ran.
What technical questions come up in an accounting interview?
Expect debits and credits, the accounting equation, how the statements link, accruals and prepayments, depreciation and a bank reconciliation. Each is answered above in under ninety words.
What do accounting manager interviews add?
They add questions on running the close, reviewing other people's entries, designing controls and explaining results to leadership. Prepare one story for each, with the error you caught or the step you changed.
- Every entry has equal debits and credits, and assets equal liabilities plus equity.
- Cash and accrual differ in timing, not in total.
- A check proves less than it seems: name what it cannot catch.
- Correct errors with a visible entry and fix the cause.
- Bring examples, not only definitions.
Sources
- Accountants and Auditors: Occupational Outlook Handbook — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 27 Aug 2026
- Publication 538: Accounting Periods and Methods — Internal Revenue Service, 1 Jan 2022
- Publication 946: How To Depreciate Property (2025) — Internal Revenue Service, 30 Apr 2026
- Beginners' Guide to Financial Statements — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 6 Feb 2017
- ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606) — Financial Accounting Standards Board, 28 May 2014
- AICPA and NASBA Approve Model Legislation for New CPA Licensure Path — National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, 13 May 2025
