Accounting interview tests and how to prepare

The tests you're likely to meet

Which test you get depends mostly on your level, and on whether the job is in public practice or in a business (commercial accounting). The table shows the common patterns. Employers design their own processes, though, so treat it as a guide to what you might meet.

If nobody mentions a test, it's reasonable to ask the recruiter or hiring manager whether there'll be one. Most will tell you the format, the time allowed and whether it's on site or at home, even if they won't share the content.

Online assessments for graduate programs

At the larger firms, the early stages of a graduate application test how you reason and how you tend to work, more than what you know about accounting. KPMG Australia, for example, starts with a timed, game-based test of problem solving, numerical reasoning and verbal knowledge, followed by an untimed assessment of workplace behaviours. Deloitte Australia and EY both begin with an online assessment or job simulation, then invite shortlisted applicants to a day that includes a group case study.

Numerical reasoning questions usually give you a table or chart and ask you to work something out from it, such as a percentage change, a ratio or which region grew fastest. SHL, one of the large test publishers, has free example questions. Practising a few helps less with the maths than with the pace, and with the habit of reading the units and the question carefully before you calculate.

Behavioural and game-based assessments are harder to prepare for, and trying to guess the "right" personality usually makes your answers less consistent. It helps more to do them somewhere quiet, in one sitting, when you aren't rushed. If you have a disability or need the format adjusted, tell the employer when you apply.

The group case study later on is where your accounting and business knowledge starts to show. Assessors are also watching how you work with others: whether you listen, build on other people's points and help the group reach a recommendation in the time.

Excel tests

An Excel test usually gives you a workbook of raw data, such as a general ledger extract, a sales list or a set of budget figures, and asks you to summarise or analyse it within a set time. The person marking it will open your file and click into the cells, so how you built the answer counts as much as the answer itself.

The functions and features that come up most often are:

• SUMIFS and COUNTIFS for totals by account, cost centre, month or customer. SUMIFS puts the range to add first, for example =SUMIFS(D:D, B:B, "Sales", C:C, "June"), while the older SUMIF puts it last. Mixing the two up is a common slip under time pressure.
• Lookups to bring data from one table into another. XLOOKUP is the simplest, but Microsoft notes it isn't available in Excel 2016 or 2019, so it's worth knowing INDEX and MATCH as well in case the test machine runs an older version. If you use VLOOKUP, set the last argument to FALSE: by default it looks for an approximate match, which can return a wrong value without any error.
• Pivot tables for summarising a large data set quickly, including changing the summary from sum to count and grouping dates by month.
• IF, IFERROR and simple logic for flags such as "over budget" or "overdue more than 90 days".
• Formatting and presentation, such as consistent number formats, negatives shown clearly, totals that are easy to find and a layout someone else can follow.

Markers look for formulas that link to the source data, with no typed-in numbers, absolute references (the $ signs) used so formulas copy properly, and totals that agree to the source. A pivot table total that doesn't match the raw data tells the marker you didn't check. In a modelling task, keep inputs such as growth rates or prices in separate, labelled cells, so they can be changed without digging into formulas.

A good way to prepare is to download a public data set, or make your own ledger extract of a few hundred rows, and summarise it by account and month with both SUMIFS and a pivot table. Then check that the two agree. Timing yourself helps the real test feel familiar.

Journal entry questions

Journal entry questions are the most common technical test for early-career roles. You might be given five to ten transactions and asked for the entries, sometimes with the effect on the profit and loss statement and balance sheet. The examples below use a GST-registered business with a 30 June year end that accounts for GST on a non-cash (accruals) basis, since that's the usual assumption in a test. The GST rate is 10%, so the GST in a GST-inclusive price is one-eleventh of it.

A prepayment. On 1 April the business pays $13,200 including GST for a 12-month software subscription from an Australian supplier, and holds a tax invoice. The entry is Dr Prepaid expenses $12,000, Dr GST paid (receivable) $1,200, Cr Bank $13,200.

At 30 June, three months have been used, so $3,000 moves to the expense (Dr Software subscription expense $3,000, Cr Prepaid expenses $3,000) and $9,000 stays as a prepayment. The GST credit isn't spread over the 12 months. Under the ATO's rules, a business on the non-cash basis claims the full credit in the first period in which the invoice is issued or a payment is made, provided it holds a tax invoice (needed for purchases over $82.50).

An accrued expense. June electricity of about $1,650 including GST has been used but won't be billed until July. The entry is Dr Electricity expense $1,500, Cr Accrued expenses $1,500.

The accrual is GST-exclusive. No GST credit is recorded yet because there's no tax invoice, and a credit can't be claimed until the business holds one. Booking GST on an accrual is a common mistake in these tests.

Depreciation. Equipment is bought on 1 January for $33,000 including GST, to be depreciated straight line over five years with no residual value.

The cost for accounting purposes is $30,000, because the $3,000 GST is claimed back as a credit (assuming the equipment is used wholly in the business). Half a year's depreciation to 30 June is $30,000 ÷ 5 × 6/12 = $3,000: Dr Depreciation expense $3,000, Cr Accumulated depreciation $3,000. Depreciating the GST-inclusive amount, or charging a full year, are the two usual errors. If the question also asks about tax, say that tax depreciation follows separate rules and that the difference can give rise to deferred tax, even if you aren't asked to calculate it.

A bad debt. A customer owes $2,200 including GST on an invoice issued 14 months ago, and the business writes it off. The entry is Dr Bad debts expense $2,000, Dr GST collected (payable) $200, Cr Accounts receivable $2,200.

Because the business already paid GST on the sale, it can make a decreasing adjustment when it writes the debt off or once the debt has been overdue for 12 months or more. The ATO's adjustment rules apply this to non-cash basis businesses, and for a fully taxable sale the adjustment is one-eleventh of the amount written off. A cash basis business wouldn't make this adjustment, because it never paid GST on a sale it wasn't paid for. If the debt was already provided for in an allowance for doubtful debts, the debit goes to the allowance in place of bad debts expense.

A payroll accrual. Staff have earned $6,000 of ordinary-hours wages for the last days of June, to be paid in July.

Accrue the wages (Dr Wages expense $6,000, Cr Accrued wages $6,000) and the super guarantee on them. The super guarantee rate is 12%, so that's Dr Superannuation expense $720, Cr Superannuation payable $720. Wages carry no GST. A test may also add payroll tax, which is set by each state and territory, so use the rate given in the question.

It's also worth knowing when super is due, because that changed recently. Under Payday Super, which started on 1 July 2026, employers must get super guarantee contributions to the fund within seven business days after each payday, where previously they were due quarterly. Some tests and practice materials were written before the change, so if a question asks when super is due, it's worth giving the current rule and noting the older one.

When you're answering, write a short narration line under each entry ("to recognise three months of the subscription used") and state any assumption you've made, such as the GST basis. Markers can give credit for a reasonable assumption, but not for a guess they can't follow.

Reconciliation tasks

A reconciliation task gives you two records that should agree, such as the bank statement and the cash account in the ledger, or a supplier statement and the accounts payable balance, and asks you to explain the difference. The assessor is checking whether you know which side each item belongs on, and whether you finish with a reconciled figure and a list of entries still to post.

Here is a small bank reconciliation at 30 June. The ledger shows $18,450 in the bank account and the bank statement shows $21,330. Looking through both, you find:

• a $4,200 payment to a supplier, recorded in the ledger on 30 June, that doesn't clear the bank until 1 July
• $1,800 of customer receipts, recorded and banked on 30 June, that appear on the bank statement on 1 July
• $35 of bank fees on the statement that haven't been entered in the ledger
• a $515 direct deposit from a customer on the statement that hasn't been entered in the ledger

The fees and the direct deposit need entries in the ledger. The two timing items don't, because the ledger is already right and the bank will catch up in July. Mixing up those two groups is the most common error. In a longer task there's often an item you can't explain, and it's better to show it as an unreconciled difference with a note on what you'd check next than to force the reconciliation to balance.

Balance sheet reconciliations work the same way at a larger scale: you support each balance, such as prepayments, accruals or GST, with a schedule, and explain anything that doesn't agree to the ledger.

Month-end and variance exercises

Commercial roles, particularly financial and management accountant jobs, often include a task that looks like part of a real month-end. You might be given a trial balance and a list of adjustments to post, or a budget-to-actual report and asked to explain the variances in a short commentary.

The calculation is usually the easy part. Markers want to see that you label variances as favourable or unfavourable correctly, focus on the lines that moved most and explain why a number moved, beyond restating it. "Revenue was $32,000 below budget" repeats the report, while breaking the difference into its drivers explains it.

For example, the budget assumed 10,000 units sold at $50, or $500,000. The business actually sold 9,000 units at $52, or $468,000, which is $32,000 unfavourable. Selling 1,000 fewer units at the budgeted price cost $50,000 (unfavourable volume variance), and the extra $2 on each of the 9,000 units sold brought in $18,000 (favourable price variance). The commentary can then say that higher prices partly offset lower volumes, and suggest what to ask the sales team, such as whether the price rise caused some of the drop in volume.

If you're asked in the interview how you'd run a month-end, the accountant interview questions page covers that question. In a written exercise, a short ordered checklist, with reconciliations, then accruals and prepayments, then review, then reporting, shows you know the sequence without needing a long explanation.

Written tasks and case studies

Written tasks come up at most levels and in both practice and commercial roles. Common versions include:

• An email to a client or manager explaining a result, such as why a tax bill is higher than expected or why a figure in the accounts changed. Assessors check whether a non-accountant could understand it, whether it's accurate and whether it says what happens next.
• A set of accounts to review with errors planted in it. Useful checks are whether the balance sheet balances, whether any asset or liability has the wrong sign, whether debtors or creditors have unusual credit or debit balances, whether the GST accounts look reasonable against sales and purchases, whether accumulated depreciation exceeds cost and whether retained earnings roll forward from last year. List what you find in order of size or risk.
• A tax scenario, more common in public practice, where you work through a client's situation and identify the issues. You aren't usually expected to know every rule from memory. It's better to identify the issues, say what information you'd need from the client and note where you'd confirm the position against ATO guidance.

The same approach works for all three: read the whole brief before starting, state your assumptions, and put the answer first with the working after it. If you run short of time, a clear summary of what you'd do next usually earns more credit than a half-finished calculation. For a sense of what practice work involves at its busiest, see tax time in accounting practice.

How the tests change with level and employer

Graduates are usually tested on reasoning, behaviours and how they work in a group, plus sometimes a basic technical test, because firms expect to teach the job. Preparation there is mostly practice aptitude questions and a refresh of first-year double entry. Your answers to behavioural interview questions carry a lot of weight at the interview stage.

Experienced hires are more likely to get a technical test set by the team they'd join, and the difficulty tracks the role. A senior or management accountant role might ask for a short model or a board-style commentary, where an accounts role might test reconciliations and journals. Someone moving from a large firm into industry may meet a timed Excel test for the first time, which is worth practising in advance, and leaving the Big 4 covers more of that move.

Practice firms tend to test tax and compliance knowledge, workpaper accuracy and client communication. Commercial employers tend to test Excel, month-end, reporting and explaining numbers to non-finance managers.

Before and during the test

A few questions to the recruiter or hiring manager beforehand can make the day much easier:

• How long is the test, and is it on site, online or a take-home task?
• Which version of Excel will I use, and can I use a calculator or look things up?
• Is it marked on the answer alone, or will someone go through it with me afterwards?

For a take-home task, it's reasonable to ask how long they expect it to take, and to stay close to that. When you finish any test, spend the last few minutes checking totals, labels and that your file opens where the marker expects it to. If you're asked to talk through your work afterwards, explain what you did and what you'd check with more time. The questions to ask in an interview guide can help with the conversation after that, and how to prepare for an interview covers the rest of the day.