There are two types of finance interview questions that you may have to face during the interview process, behavioral and technical.
The behavioral questions let the interviewer learn more about your soft skills such as leadership, teamwork, communication, and critical thinking, as well as your personality. Behavioral questions should be answered in the STAR format. You can learn more about the STAR format and preparing for a behavioral interview here.
Technical questions let the interviewer know what knowledge you have in a particular area. For finance interviews, technical questions typically are related to finance and accounting. You want to answer the question to the best of your ability so taking a couple of seconds to plan out your answer is key. If you do not know the answer, do not simply say “I don’t know.” Try to state the things you do know that are related to the question. Although technical interviews can be nerve wracking, there are common financial technical questions that you can prepare in advance. It is always good to stay up to date on financial news as well. The Wall Street Journal has been a recommended resource by financial professionals for years.
Common Finance Technical Questions
- What are the types of financial statements?
- Walk me through the three main types of financial statements.
- How are the three main types of financial statements connected?
- If you could only choose one financial statement to review the overall health of a company, which statement would you use and why?
- How do you calculate Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)?
- What is working capital?
- What is negative working capital?
- What is free cash flow?
- How do you value a company?
- What is cheaper equity or debt?
- What is Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)?
- What is Return on Investment (ROI)?
5 Frequently Asked Financial Analyst Interview Questions
Acing the interview is all about practice. You want to make sure your behavioral question answers are planned out beforehand so that they cover STAR (Situation, Task, Action, and Result) and flow smoothly. You should be able to answer why you are a good fit for the company/position by highlighting your skills and knowledge of the company culture. Although you want to practice, your answers should not sound rehearsed. Practicing also will make you less nervous and more confident. Bauer students can schedule a mock interview with their career counselor on Bauer Career Gateway.
