General

Question 1

What are your hobbies and interests?

Answer 1

Writing

Question 2

How would you describe your communications skills?

Answer 2

Verbal - I am very collaborative. My long time being at Aria Care proves this

Written - Strong. Completing my ACCA exams. Assignments at the Open University

Overall, I communicate very clearly and concisely

Question 3

What makes you unique?
What can you do for us that other candidates can’t?

Answer 3

Reliable through my studies, strong independent learning abilities

I can learn tasks very quickly - exemplified by the multiple roles I’ve done for the past two years. I don’t just do the job, I actively search for improvements

Question 4

How do you handle stress?

Answer 4

Have a positive mindset - (Glass half full rather than glass half empty)

Focus on fixing the stress ratehr than letting it eat me up. What steps can i take to resolve this

Question 5

Tell me about an accomplishment you are most proud of?

Answer 5

S: Presenting my macro idea to over 20 people
T: Get people on board that my macro idea could be beneficial
A: Gave a demonstration of my macro during the meeting
R: Everyone liked the idea

Question 6

How would you describe your organisational skills?

Answer 6

Managing multiple bank reconciliations within a tight deadline (especially during month-end)
Google calendar (Scheduling throughout the day, Open university meant a lot of independent learning and up to me to submit assignments)
ABC matrix I use personally (Analyse the urgency and importance of tasks)

Question 7

Do you prefer working independently or on a team?

Answer 7

Blend of both.

Independent work allows me to use all my brain power to focus on the task. Useful to build initiative which will be needed in more senior positions

Collaboration is essential for a business’ success. Someone may have all the accounting knowledge but if they can’t communicate it, they won’t go very far

Question 8

What did you do in the last year to improve your knowledge?

Answer 8

Got myself involved in the Treasury process

Passed an ACCA paper that year (Aduit and Assurance)

Question 9

How do I prioritise tasks?

Answer 9

A useful tool I’ve used is the ABC matrix (Most important tasks are A, least important is C)
Example was when I was working in Treasury, I had to ensure the cash flow was up-to-date every day whilst managing the daily payments

Question 10

How do you handle conflict at work?

Answer 10

I get the facts don’t get emotional about one topic
Focus on getting multiple solutions - liaising with multiple people

Question 11

What experience do you have liaising with wider teams and stakeholders?

Answer 11

S: Management accounts at Aria Care
T: Working with manual invoices I coded. I had noted a supplier had made too many payments by looking at the company’s cash flow
A: I contacted the supplier about us refunding them. They agreed for the amount to be refunded. Before the refund was sent to them, a member of the credit control team put the paperwork together, which was then approved by the credit control team member
R: The supplier was given a refund

Question 12

What is my biggest weakness?
What areas need improvement?

Answer 12

Since I’m very motivated, I sometimes rush what I do, sometimes leads to inaccuracies. I’m mitigating this by learning how to relax. Details is everything in accounts and I can’t rush things

Question 13

How is your telephone manner?

Answer 13

Unemotional, focus on the problem. Be polite at all times
Follow company policy
Have the evidence in front of me beforehand

Question 14

How do you plan your day?

Answer 14

Make a list of goals the night before and the tasks required to achieve those goals.

Rank these goals by importance and urgency

Tick them off throughout the day

Question 15

What motivates you?

Answer 15

A strong return on investment - I’m not just focused on my salary, I want to know if I’m making an impact

Gaining new skills to benefit company - Allows me further opportunities

A positive atmosphere - A supportive team gives me motivation to achieve

Question 16

What makes a good team?

Answer 16

Everyone is involved - (e.g. drives an organisation’s success)

Good listener and communicator- (e.g. communicate clearly, listen to everyone, not a select few)

It is diverse - (e.g. composed of people who are at different stages in their career)

Question 17

How do I handle conflict?

Answer 17

Don’t leave it, resolve ASAP - waiting for long periods of time really annoys me

Keep a positive attitude - being negative doesn’t get anywhere

Review my own performance - identify the root cause of the problem

Question 18

How do you define success?

Answer 18

High job stability

Employees have new found knowledge. Learn soemthing new every day

Very high work satisfaction rate

Question 19

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

Answer 19

The new challenges the day has

Getting the tasks done

Question 20

Do you like constant change?

Answer 20

If such change is necessary, I’m ok with it

I worked at a startup, new staff were being introduced, leading to changes in company’s structure

Question 21

What is great customer service?

Answer 21

Maintain a positive attitude - If a customer gets angry, don’t get angry
Actively listen - Show the customer I care
Follow company procedures

Question 22

Can you tell me about a time you overcame a difficult work situation?

Answer 22

S: My time in Treasury where I was managing the payments schedule
T: Care home lost access to heating as they hadn’t approved the invoices on time
A: Had to arrange an emergency out of cycle payment. The L1 approver (anything below £5k) was away at a meeting so I sent out an email to all approvers asking who was available to approve. I got a response within 15 minutes and the payment was successfully approved
R: The home had their heating restored

Question 23

How would you describe yourself?

Answer 23

Use strengths and weaknesses
Motivated
Intelligent
Results-oriented
Accurate
Futuristic

Question 24

If you were the hiring manager, what qualities would you look for in a candidate?

Answer 24

Integrity

Collaborative

Motivated

Question 25

How do you delegate responsibilities to team members?

Answer 25

Identify their key strengths and weaknesses. Work on improving their weaknesses to make them a better employee Give them an overview of the task Always have a communication channel open if they're having issues

Question 26

What is the first thing you would do when supervising a department?

Answer 26

Have an informal meeting with my subordinates. Get to know them. What their challenges are and what inspires them

Question 27

When have you faced a challenging situation?

Answer 27

S: No financial accounts report T: Had to produce an income report which involved lots of complex lookups. My Excel knowledge was minimal back then A: I looked at ChatGPT and previous versions of the report to understand how the formulas worked and the order to do the report R: The report was produced on time

Question 28

Can you tell us about a personal achievement at work?

Answer 28

S: issue with being unable to allocate receipts T: A lot of financial accounts hadn't been setup on our sales eldger system and nobody was keeping track on how they're progressing A: Created a report that kept track of the accounts which hadn't been setup, split by local authority R: Saved unnecessary emails to billing and allowed focus on the highest unallocated amount

Question 29

Have you ever taken the initiative?

Answer 29

S: Noticed my schedule was slightly more free after certain reports were deemed unnecessary as a new system had been implemented T: Had to find more to do A: Went to a senior member of staff and suggested I support Treasury R: Was given additional responsibilities

Question 30

Have you ever failed at a task?

Answer 30

S: Recently started in the management accounts team. I was under the impression that I would be told certain things T: I was asked by a member of staff whether I had the report and I didn't have it A: Chase and ask questions instead of expecting everyone to communicate to me in advance R: It has led me to become more proactive in my communication

Question 31

Give me an example of when you have had to deal with a difficult work situation and how you overcome this challenge?

Answer 31

S: Cash flow items had been put in the wrong categories (e.g. pension put in payroll category) T: Identifying which items were misallocated A: Created a spreadsheet that highlighted the amounts that were causing the largest variance, so category could be amended R: Cash flow was successfully amended

Question 32

When have you had to prioritise tasks?

Answer 32

S: A busy month-end morning T: Checking the cash position, managing bank rec, posting receipts file. May be a day where payroll email a lot of corrections to Treasury A: I rank tasks by criticality. I determine this by which one has the most demand and how essential it is for the business R: Everything is done without any issues being raised

Question 33

Give me an example of when you have had to use high levels of attention to detail?

Answer 33

S: Managing cash flow to ensure in a good position T: Large rent payment, supplier payment run and monthly payroll A: Had to arrange an intercompany transfer to make sure balance was above the threshold R: The cash balance was still in a good position

Question 34

Give me an example of when you have had to deal with a difficult customer and how you overcome this challenge?

Answer 34

S: Pushy suppliers in Purchase Ledger T: Supplier was being pushy on the phone about not being paid in time. Said that the purchase ledger email wasn't being fast enough A: Suggested he also CC my personal email in for a faster response as I was working PL on specific days R: Thanked me for the fast response

Question 35

Describe a time where you had to work with limited resources?

Answer 35

S: Lack of staff in allocations T: Had to train a colleague coming over from purchase ledger to allocations A: Supervised the colleague whilst they were allocating receipts. Taught them best practices and the method to allocate receipts for private and LA entities R: Receipts were allocated successfully with no errors

Question 36

How have you worked with accruals?

Answer 36

S: Implementing reports within management accounts T: The no financial accounts report A: Produced a report that made a list of residents that were accruing income as we hadn't set up their account in Homecare. Most fo these values were in the £1k range R: Report was sent out and journals were successfully posted at month-end