Financial controller Interview Questions

"Financial controllers are hired for their management skills, attention to detail, and experience in forecasting and budgeting. During an interview, prepare to answer questions that test your financial knowledge, your understanding of your job duties, and how in depth you have looked into the company. In addition, you may have to role-play situations where you have to use your customer service skills to appease an angry customer or fulfill a potential client's wishes. Ultimately, employers are looking for candidates who are solid team players and can juggle many projects at once."

Financial controller Interview Questions

Financial controller Interview Questions

"Financial controllers are hired for their management skills, attention to detail, and experience in forecasting and budgeting. During an interview, prepare to answer questions that test your financial knowledge, your understanding of your job duties, and how in depth you have looked into the company. In addition, you may have to role-play situations where you have to use your customer service skills to appease an angry customer or fulfill a potential client's wishes. Ultimately, employers are looking for candidates who are solid team players and can juggle many projects at once."

23,124 Financial Controller interview questions shared by candidates

Top Interview Questions

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Brown Brothers Harriman
Fund Accountant was asked...November 19, 2012

How far apart is the hour and minute hand a 3:15?

5 Answers

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No matter what time of the day, the minute and hour hand are always touching in the center of the clock face. Less

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7.5 degrees

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360 degrees on the clock. Each number is 360/12 = 30 degrees apart from one another. at 3:15, the minute hand is at 3 while the hour hand is 15/60 = 1/4 away from 3. So (1/4) * 30 = 30/4 = 7 + 2/4 = 7.5 degrees Less

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EY
Tax Accountant was asked...May 19, 2013

Imagine you make a very complicated calculation in excel for a client who is going to make a decision. After you reviewed it a couple of times you notice you are going to save the client $10 million in taxes. You give it to your senior and your partner, who review your work. They agree on your calculation and tell the client about the tax savings and the meeting to finalize the transaction is tomorrow. It's 9 o'clock at night and you are finalizing the paperwork, and you suddenly realize you made a careless mistake on excel and instead of putting a minus, you put a plus, so the client is not going to save $10 million, but is going to owe $10 million. What do you do? How do you handle the situation?

3 Answers

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Firstly, tell your partner and senior about it. After that, finalize the paperwork and bring it to your client's house. Talk to your client and just tell your client that you've made a mistake and tell your client the correct info Less

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Start looking for a new job as soon as possible.

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Answer: Everyone makes mistakes and you have to acknowledge it in a humble way. Tell the senior or the partner of the mistake as soon as possible, so they can help you minimize the damage. Less

Arrow Electronics
Entry Level Staff Accountant was asked...February 12, 2012

What is an accrual?

3 Answers

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Revenues and expenses are recorded when earned; not received or paid.

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Is an accounting method

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An adjustment to either 1) record revenue earned but not yet recorded or 2) record expenses that have been incurred but not yet recorded Less

Clark Schaefer Hackett
Staff Accountant I was asked...October 16, 2013

When you're under a lot of pressure and tight deadlines, how do you manage your stress level?

2 Answers

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I always try to have a positive mindset. Things are only as bad as you build them up to be in your head. I am not the type to get stressed out because I know I'll get through whatever obstacle is thrown my way. Things always seem to fall into place when you stay focused, determined, and positive about the final outcome. Less

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For the past five years I have been living with my very beautiful girlfriend who is twenty-five years younger than I am (I’m 55 yo and she is 30 yo). I let her de stress me the way she knows best :). Less

Cornerstone Healthcare Group
Senior Accountant was asked...July 26, 2014

What's the accounting equation? It wasn't difficult but it was unexpected and resulted in me having to ponder for several seconds to recall the information to mind

2 Answers

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Xx

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assets-liabilities=owner's equity or assets=liabilities + owner's equity The balance sheet should always net to zero Less

Par Electrical Contractors
Executive Assistant to Vice President/Operation and Financial Controller was asked...April 14, 2016

Can I balance a high stressed work environment and role being that I was a single mother.

2 Answers

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That was an illegal question they asked if it is about your parental, marital, or health status. Less

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As long as the company allowed my son to come first in my priorities, I would be able to balance and maintain work and personal life. Less

Henkels & McCoy
Project Controller was asked...July 11, 2013

They asked a question that was somewhat confusing at the time but made a lot of sense later. They asked how I would deal with monitoring the work done by payroll administrators even as I was not their supervisor but was still responsible for the accuracy and quality of their work. Ironically, this question rang in my ears for a long time--it was definitely a dilemma.

2 Answers

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Lacking overall context, this question appears to be taking a long view on the project ... if you're managing budget, tracking tasks and attentive to remaining scope of effort, it would be useful to ensure (minimally) that: - hours worked/paid aligned with estimates - hours worked by groups aligned with delivered work -- is it done, did that element exceed budget - reporting on overall project relative to plan ... in short, does it mirror (quite literally) where you say we should be. In this space, labor is one of the few variable costs ... failing to completely supervise payroll could quickly cause a project to go over budget. Less

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That is true and I was happy to do that. The problem did not lie in tracking and managing budgets. The problem dealt with administrators having trouble receiving constructive criticism or being asked to fix their entry errors by someone that was not their supervisor, especially on a weekly basis since books closed weekly. Nonetheless, that was a big part of the job I was paid to do, the accuracy and integrity of the reports was my responsibility. Less

Williams Overman Pierce
Staff Accountant was asked...September 12, 2011

How did you handle a group member who didnt pull their weight?

2 Answers

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Approach the offending party with specific examples of what they are doing wrong and what they can do specifically to fix the problem. Show them -how- they aren't pulling their weight, rather than just saying it. Ask the group member's input on the matter and help them come up with solutions to correct the problem. Anyone can identify an issue. It's the ones that can fix the issue that truly count. Less

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Approached the person and explained they had to pull their weight or they would not share in the grade. Less

Con Edison
Junior Accountant was asked...August 1, 2016

Describe a time when you were pulled in many directions.

1 Answers

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Always Asking for the priority, if not sure go ask your boss directly, no time to guess, no time to waste Less

Kearney & Company
Staff Accountant II was asked...January 5, 2013

Name the 4 most important financial statements and their uses.

1 Answers

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Balance Sheet-data about available resources as well as the claims to those resources Income Statement-data about the profitability of the company detailing sources of revenue and the expenses which reduce profit Cash Flows- illustrates the inflow and outflow of cash within the business. It shows where the cash comes from into the company, and how it’s used Statement of Retains Earnings-focuses on changes in retained earnings Less

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