Finance Officer Interview Questions

"The budgeting process I use changes to suit the company's needs, but I typically prefer to start from scratch when I create a new budget so I can create a clear picture. This allows me to have full control over the company's expenses. Going forward, I build off the previous year's budget and adjust it accordingly. I factor all departments into my budget to ensure it's as comprehensive as possible."

"With over eight years of experience in the finance industry, I have streamlined my processes to ensure I have little to no errors in my work. I do so by ensuring I double-check every report. If I create the report one day, I will check it another day so I am looking at it with a fresh pair of eyes. This ensures that everything I produce is error-free, even if I used software to create it."

"Yes, in my previous role and my personal life, I have used various accounting software. I have experience with FreshBooks, Intuit QuickBooks and Xero. I learn quickly, so if you use different accounting software, I can pick it up easily on my own."

"The first thing I would do is talk to my team to gauge their knowledge and ask about what changes they would make. If they require further training to work efficiently, I will offer it. If they bring up valid issues with operational process, I will resolve them. I would then automate any manual processes the company is using, such as creating an automated accounting system to streamline the process."

"I have five years of experience managing the finance department at my previous company. We had a small team of only ten people, but managing them allowed me to build up my leadership skills and helped me become a strong, empathetic manager."

"When evaluating a potential investment, I always consider the accounting rate of return. I calculate the return of an investment using the yearly income it will bring and divide it by the money we need to put in to invest initially. The higher the rate of return I get from this calculation, the more likely I am to recommend investing."

"As I was at a small company before, they were still using a mix of paper and electronic records. I streamlined the accounting process by switching to only digital records. This made them much easier to access and analyse."

"In my previous role, I worked closely with my team and made an effort to create healthy working relationships. But when we hired a new accountant, they were unwilling to use the software we offered. I offered to show the accountant how to use the software and explained the benefits of it for our company in particular and they were happy to make the switch."

"I have only had one team member that wasn't meeting their monthly goals after their first year with us. As they had consistently been meeting their goals before this, I sat down with the employee to see what was wrong. They explained they had recently lost a family member, but wanted to focus on work. I encouraged the employee to take their bereavement leave, and they came back with a much better mindset."

"There are a variety of ways to assess a company's value, such as analyzing its assets, discount cash flow, historical earnings, or future maintainable earnings. As your business is large and has been around for a long time, I would assess long-term trends by analyzing your historical earnings."

"The three financial statements are a balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. The balance sheet shows a company's liabilities, assets and shareholders' equity. The income statement outlines the company's expenses, net income and revenues. The cash flow statement shows cash inflows and outflows from operating activities, investing activities and financing activities."

"Debt is cheaper than equity because it is paid before equity, and the interest paid on debt is tax-deductible. This doesn't mean debt financing is always the best option, though. Using a mix of debt financing and equity financing is usually the best option as the company will still have access to a portion of their cash flow and their monthly expenses when paying back the debt won't be too high."

"At the beginning of each week, I create a task list according to priority level. Projects with an upcoming due date get put at the top of my list to ensure I get them done on time. Projects with no due date or later due dates get put to the bottom so I can focus on high-priority tasks."

"In my previous role, I worked with a small team of ten people. Having a smaller team allowed us all to work efficiently together as communicating was quick and easy. This has taught me the value of open communication so, even with a bigger team, I could work efficiently with them."

"The most stressful situation I've been in was being in the middle of two employees arguing. I separated the two employees into two different rooms and gave them a few minutes to cool down before approaching each individually. The first employee felt as though the second wasn't pulling their weight and the second employee was defensive. After talking to each employee separately and then bringing them together, we decided the second employee needed a bit more training, and they agreed."