Management Accountant

Ready to hire your next gold-star Management Accountant? These interview questions will help you find the best candidate for your team.

Management Accountant qualifications to look for

Management accountants prepare financial data for critical decision making within the firm.

Your top candidates will hold a bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance, although other backgrounds may work too. Professional credentials are a plus and a good way to narrow down your top players.

The best management accountants will have deep accounting knowledge, and industry-specific knowledge may come into play when vetting your new hire.

Keep an eye out for candidates who are:

• Big-picture thinkers
• Team players
• Critical thinkers
• Strong presenters
• Excellent leaders

Top tip: Hire candidates willing to grow by making sure their personal career goals align with your company’s mission.

Problem-solving interview questions

• How would you assess if an investment is a good idea, and then present your findings to management?
• You need to reduce a specific cost. Where would you start and how would you make a decision?
• Explain the parts of an accounting equation.
• Explain discounted cash flow (DCF) and how it’s used?
• What information do you need for different types of forecasting models?
• You need to present a report to a non-financial audience. How do you prepare?

Role-specific interview questions

• What’s your experience with cost-accounting?
• What budgeting projects have you worked on?
• Do you have a specialty area that is beneficial to our company?
• How do you maintain attention to detail when on a tight deadline?
• What is your continued education standard?
• How proficient are you with Excel?
• Can you explain six sigma?

Behavioral interview questions

• Tell me about a time you helped reduce costs.
• What’s a key decision you made that helped your company?
• Recall a time you helped senior management assess a decision that could have gone wrong if you didn’t intervene.
• What’s your biggest accomplishment so far? How has it helped your career?
• Tell me about a time you improved the proficiency of a process at your job.
• Have you ever faced an ethical dilemma in your job? What was the outcome of your response to it?