Audit senior interview

kjb83

I'm a newly qualified unemployed chartered accountant, I've been called for an interview for a job in practice as an audit senior next Monday and was wondering what type of questions will I be asked.

I have just finished a 3.5 yr contract with a firm. No other experience. I've never had a formal interview before and very inexperienced in this area. Has anybody any tips?

smcgiff

I imagine it would be good to be able to:-

1. Discuss briefly what's the most important areas of an audit (large client / small client) in your opinion.

2. As a senior you would need to show how you've handled juniors in the past. How have you dealt with new/slacking/incompetent juniors, as well as motivating experienced staff.

3. Have you ever been involved in an audit that took x hours, but you were able to complete it in significantly less hours?

4. How have you handled tricky situations during an audit... discovery of fraud?

Good luck

Liamo08

smcgiff wrote: »

I imagine it would be good to be able to:-

1. Discuss briefly what's the most important areas of an audit (large client / small client) in your opinion.

2. As a senior you would need to show how you've handled juniors in the past. How have you dealt with new/slacking/incompetent juniors, as well as motivating experienced staff.

3. Have you ever been involved in an audit that took x hours, but you were able to complete it in significantly less hours?

4. How have you handled tricky situations during an audit... discovery of fraud?

Good luck

I'd agree with all this, I'd also say don't spend too long preparing for technical accounting/auditing questions. It's very hard to second guess what they're going to ask and in my experience it's usually a relatively small part of the interview.

I can remember doing a similar interview and being asked about one area how I would go about auditing it i.e. "Tell me how you would audit the area of stock in a manufacturing company", as opposed to asking you to recite specific accounting standards or anything. Also if it's a larger firm you're moving to they may have specific sampling techniques that require you to use a particular system/formula to come up with sample sizes, so they may ask you to explain any experience you using similar techniques.

Outside of that I would say they will mainly try and focus on your experience of working in a team, supervising junior staff members, dealing with difficult clients, managing your time effectively etc.

If you'd never had a formal interview before I'd say know everything on your CV very well and be able to speak about it also practice answering some standard interview questions out loud before you go in. I always find it helps not to be saying things for the first time in the middle of an interview.

Jim2007

kjb83 wrote: »

I'm a newly qualified unemployed chartered accountant, I've been called for an interview for a job in practice as an audit senior next Monday and was wondering what type of questions will I be asked.

I have just finished a 3.5 yr contract with a firm. No other experience. I've never had a formal interview before and very inexperienced in this area. Has anybody any tips?

Make sure that you know as much as you can about the firm before the interview - it is hard to convince someone that you are interested in joining them, if you appear to know little about them!

Jim