Have questions and concerns swirling around in your head? We’ll try to answer them (and more) by going over 18 common accounting questions and answers. As part of the skills assessment, remember to include an Accounting test to assess your applicants’ specific accounting skills.
- Now that you have a comprehensive list of financial accounting interview questions, here are five tips for using them during your hiring process.
- The statement of stockholder’s equity summarizies changes in equity during a period.The balance sheet uses the expanded accounting equation to list assets, liabilities, and equity in a report format.
- This is a good method to help you review all responses at the end, but make sure you tell your applicants that note-taking will be a part of the interview process.
- A If a computer does not have a unit acquisition cost of $5,000 or more, it is not considered equipment, and is not subject to depreciation.
- Q 5.2 The space survey is intended to capture data for an entire fiscal year’s use.
The income statement summarizes revenues and expenses for a period. The balance sheet uses the expanded accounting equation to list assets, liabilities, and equity in a report format. The balance sheet shows a company’s assets, liabilities, and shareholders’ equity.
financial accounting interview questions
A The function of an expense should dictate where the cost is recorded. For example, if a travel expense is made for the purpose of reporting the results of a sponsored project, it gets charged to the sponsored project index. If the travel expense is made for the purpose of learning new ways for administering sponsored projects, it gets charged to a departmental administration index. If the travel expense is made for the purpose of learning new ways to teach physics, it gets charged to an instruction index.
You can also use a Financial Accounting (IFRS) test to complete the first one, along with other skills tests, based on your requirements for the role. Screening out unqualified applicants is much easier with a pre-employment skills assessment, as it takes much less time and effort on your side, compared to interviews. You can then select the best candidates based on their test results and invite them to an interview. Ask your candidates some of the 15 interview questions below to determine whether they have the specific knowledge of critical financial processes that matches your expectations. An accounting assessment test gauges an individual’s knowledge of basic accounting information, often used to screen potential candidates for bookkeeping and lower-level accounting jobs. Take this short quiz to assess your knowledge of basic accounting.
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Some essential soft skills for financial accounting professionals include excellent time-management and organizational skills. Applicants may also mention that top communication skills are vital for all accounting roles. Contra asset accounts have a credit balance such as accumulated depreciation. The general ledger is a list of accounts for business transactions– not an account format. A T-account is a way to format accounting transactions that displays debits on the left and credits on the right.
Think of debits and credits as two sides of a scale that must balance equally—if a debit increases an account, a credit must decrease the opposite account. Hiring an accountant is the most expensive but least time-consuming method. When you hire an accountant, you don’t need to manage your books. You may hire an in-house accountant or outsource to an accounting firm.
Financial Accounting Questions and Answers
A business should know if they qualify for the small business category. Examples of common budgeting methods include zero-based budgeting, incremental budgeting, and value-based budgeting. Learn more about the various types in CFI’s budgeting and forecasting course. If the purchase will be used in the business for more than one year, it is capitalized and depreciated. You can shop around for different vendors to find better deals on supplies, inventory, and equipment. Or, you could look for expenses that you can reduce or cut out altogether.
OSU was one of the first universities to submit a DS-2 and receive approval. The DS-2 describes how OSU generally operates, how it treats certain costs and functions, and how it meets the four cost accounting standards outlined in OMB Circular A-21. Q 5.1 How does the annual space survey fit into the F&A rate proposal process? A Information from the space survey is used for many purposes–classroom planning and scheduling, master planning for OSU, State and City of Corvallis, and the F&A rate proposal process.
List of commonly asked accounting interview questions:
Our funding from various sources depends on accurate reporting of this information. Q 5.3 My research project doesn’t allow F&A costs–do I still categorize my use of space for that project as organized research? Q 5.2 The space survey is intended to capture data for an entire fiscal year’s use. What if my project only uses a lab for 6 months of the year?
For example, during any purchase, the organization trades cash for the item they require and then receives it, which underpins the dual aspect principle in financial accounting. Use the sample answers in this section as a guide when assessing your candidates’ responses to this selection of five of the interview questions from the above list. Candidates may mention many financial accounting skills when answering this question. They may explain that they have strong math skills or that their exceptional analytical skills are their best asset. Look for responses that reflect your open role’s requirements.
Q 8.1 Does volunteer time–used as cost sharing or matching–get counted in the F&A rate calculation? Only those costs that are recorded in BANNER are included in the calculation. The F&A rate calculation is based upon the audited financial statement of expenditures during OSU’s base year. If an OSU expense is incurred during the base year, it gets counted in the calculation in some manner. Q 7.1 What is a Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Disclosure Statement? This disclosure statement (called a DS- 2) is submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
