Difficult Accountant Interview Preparation Guide

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I got a very bright future in accounts field.

CPA stands for Certified Public Accountant. To become a CPA, one should have to do many other qualifications as well. It is a qualification with 150 hour requirement; it means that one should complete 150 credit hours at any accredited university.

A company's revenues are amounts it has earned as the result of business activities such as selling merchandise or performing services. Under the accrual method of accounting, revenues are reported on the income statement in the period in which they are earned even when a dependable customer is allowed to pay 60 days later. In this example, when the revenues are earned the company will credit a revenues account and will debit the asset account Accounts Receivable.

This fairly standard interview question is a typical warm-up, since it's an opening that breaks the ice and allows the hiring manager to get to know you better. That doesn't mean, however, that it's a throwaway question. You should answer thoughtfully by giving examples of things that happened in your life that led you to the accounting field. Were you the fifth grade class treasurer? Did you save for months to buy your first car? Whatever the scenario, give the interviewer some background about yourself and your studies.

Even if you've never had a job in the field before, you should be prepared to answer this question with some knowledge of international accounting standards (IAS). While there are so many facets of IAS that it would be possible to be up to speed on all of them, prior to an interview you should do some research on the most recent changes to these standards and be prepared to discuss.

An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy, which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and others make decisions about allocating resources.

In many jurisdictions, professional accounting bodies maintain standards of practice and evaluations for professionals. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certified Accountant or Certified Public Accountant. Such professionals are granted certain responsibilities by statute, such as the ability to certify an organization's financial statements, and may be held liable for professional misconduct. Non-qualified accountants may be employed by a qualified accountant, or may work independently without statutory privileges and obligations.

Yes, both are different terms in accounting. Inactive accounts means that accounts have been closed and will not be used in future as well. While, dormant accounts are those that are not functional today but may be used in future.

Yes, as per my knowledge there are total 33 accounting standards published so far by ICAI. The purpose of these standards is to implement same policies and practices in any country.

Two examples include deterioration of working capital (i.e. increasing accounts receivable, lowering accounts payable), and financial shenanigans.

Absolutely. Two examples involve unsustainable improvements in working capital (a company is selling off inventory and delaying payables), and another example involves lack of revenues going forward.in the pipeline.

Working capital is defined as current assets minus current liabilities; it tells the financial statement user how much cash is tied up in the business through items such as receivables and inventories and also how much cash is going to be needed to pay off short term obligations in the next 12 months.

Operating expenses are the costs associated with a company's main operating activities and which are reported on its income statement.
For example, a retailer's main operating activities are the buying and selling of merchandise or goods. Therefore, its operating expenses will include:
☛ Cost of goods sold: These costs are reported as operating expenses on the income statement because of the matching principle. The revenues from the sale of merchandise must be matched with the cost of the merchandise that is sold.
☛ Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A): These costs are reported as operating expenses on the income statement because they pertain to operating the main business during that accounting period. These costs may have expired, may have been used up, or may not have a future value that can be measured.

In accounting, an ordinary annuity refers to a series of identical cash amounts with each amount occurring at the end of equal time intervals.
An example of an ordinary annuity is the series of semiannual interest payments that are part of a bond payable. For instance, a 10-year bond with a maturity amount of $10 million and a stated interest rate of 6% will require interest payments of $300,000 at the end of each of the 20 six-month time intervals.
Another example of an ordinary annuity is a mortgage loan having a fixed interest rate and a series of equal monthly payments that will begin 30 days after the loan is granted. Thus a 15-year mortgage loan will result in an ordinary annuity of 180 equal monthly payments with the first payment due approximately 30 days after the loan is made.
An ordinary annuity is also known as an annuity in arrears.

Reserves are the profits of any company and a part of that profit is placed back to the business to keep it sustainable in tough times of a company.

Provisions are the liabilities or the anticipated items such as depreciation. You can say provisions are expenses.

Public accounting is a type of accounting that is done by one company for another company.

Private accounting is done for your own company.

Debit abbreviation is "dr" and credit abbreviation is "cr".

There are two types of transactions in accounting i.e. revenue and capital.

It is a statement that states all the liabilities and assets of the company at certain point.

TDS abbreviates Tax Deduction at Source.

It is shown on the assets section, right after the head current asset.

It is a kind of hidden tax that is included in the service provided by the service provider and paid by the service receiver.

It is a type of accounting in which separate account is created for departments. It is managed separately as well as shown independently in the balance sheet.