# Accountant interview questions and answers Source: https://digitalcvmaker.com/interview-questions/accountants Last updated: 2026-10-01 Accountant interviews check whether you can keep the books clean day to day: journal entries, bank and vendor reconciliations, GST and TDS compliance, payroll inputs and a tidy month-end close in Tally or an ERP. Expect a practical test on entries or Excel. This page gives 20 questions asked for accounts executive and accountant roles, what each one checks, a sample answer and likely follow-ups to practise. Most accountant hiring has an HR screen, a technical round with the finance manager that often includes a Tally or Excel practical, and a short final talk with the owner or CFO. ## Role and technical questions ### 1. How do you prepare a bank reconciliation statement, and what items usually cause differences? Round: Role · Level: Fresher **What they’re checking:** Whether you understand timing differences between the cash book and the bank statement and can actually find and clear unmatched entries. **Sample answer:** > I start with the balance as per the cash book on the reconciliation date and compare every entry with the bank statement. The usual differences are cheques issued but not yet presented, cheques deposited but not yet credited, bank charges and interest that the bank has recorded but we have not, direct credits from customers, and NEFT receipts posted to the wrong party. I add or subtract each item to arrive at the bank balance. Items like bank charges I pass as entries in the books straight away. In Tally I use the bank reconciliation screen and enter the bank date for each cleared entry, so only genuine pending items remain. **Likely follow-ups:** - What would you do with a cheque that has been pending for over three months? - How often should bank reconciliation be done? ### 2. Walk me through the journal entries for a credit purchase of goods with GST, and then the payment to the supplier. Round: Role · Level: Fresher **What they’re checking:** Basic double entry with input tax credit, and whether you separate the purchase, the GST and the supplier liability correctly. **Sample answer:** > For an intra-state credit purchase I debit Purchases with the taxable value, debit Input CGST and Input SGST with the tax amounts, and credit the supplier’s ledger with the invoice total. For an inter-state purchase the tax goes to Input IGST instead. When we pay, I debit the supplier and credit the bank. If TDS applies to that supplier, I credit the TDS payable ledger with the deducted amount and pay the supplier the net figure. In Tally I record the purchase as a purchase voucher with GST details filled so it flows into the returns, and the payment as a payment voucher against the bill reference. **Likely follow-ups:** - How would the entry change if the goods were capital goods? - When can you not claim input tax credit? ### 3. How do you reconcile the input tax credit in your books with GSTR-2B before filing GSTR-3B? Round: Role · Level: All levels **What they’re checking:** Practical GST compliance: matching purchase registers with supplier filings, following up on mismatches and claiming only eligible credit. **Sample answer:** > Each month I download GSTR-2B from the GST portal and export our purchase register from Tally into Excel. I match on supplier GSTIN, invoice number and tax amount using a lookup. Then I sort the result into three lists: matched, in our books but missing in 2B, and in 2B but not in our books. For missing invoices I email the supplier asking them to upload in GSTR-1, and I hold that credit until it appears. For invoices in 2B that we have not booked, I check with purchase whether the goods arrived. I claim in GSTR-3B only what is matched and eligible, and keep the working file for audit. **Likely follow-ups:** - What do you do if a supplier keeps missing their filing? - Which credits are blocked even if they appear in 2B? ### 4. What is the month-end closing checklist you follow as an accountant? Round: Role · Level: Experienced **What they’re checking:** Whether you have a disciplined close process covering accruals, reconciliations and reviews, rather than closing whenever entries stop coming in. **Sample answer:** > My close runs over the first five working days. Day one, I make sure all sales and purchase bills for the month are posted and cut off at the right date. Then I complete bank, cash and credit card reconciliations. Next I pass accruals for expenses like rent, electricity and professional fees where bills have not arrived, reverse last month’s accruals, and book prepaid expenses and depreciation. I reconcile the GST and TDS ledgers with the returns and the debtor and creditor control accounts with the ageing. Finally I review a trial balance for odd balances, such as a credit in a debtor account, before sending the MIS. **Likely follow-ups:** - How did you shorten the close at your last job? - Which reconciliation do you find most often goes wrong? ### 5. How do you deduct and deposit TDS on a contractor bill and a professional fee, and what returns follow? Round: Role · Level: All levels **What they’re checking:** Working knowledge of TDS sections, timelines and returns, and whether you check the deductee’s PAN and thresholds instead of deducting blindly. **Sample answer:** > First I check the nature of the payment. A contractor bill falls under section 194C and a professional or technical fee under 194J. I confirm the vendor’s PAN, because without a valid PAN a higher rate applies, and I check whether the payment crosses the threshold for that section. I deduct at the applicable rate when the bill is booked or paid, whichever is earlier, and deposit it through challan 281 by the due date of the next month. Every quarter I file Form 26Q with the challan details and then issue Form 16A to the vendor. I also keep the vendor master updated so the TDS ledger is picked up automatically. **Likely follow-ups:** - What happens if TDS is deposited late? - How do you handle a lower deduction certificate? ### 6. How do you manage accounts payable so suppliers are paid on time without duplicate payments? Round: Role · Level: All levels **What they’re checking:** Whether you control payables with matching, ageing and approvals, and can protect the company from duplicate or fake invoices. **Sample answer:** > I book every bill only after a three-way match between the purchase order, the goods receipt and the invoice. In Tally or the ERP I enter the supplier invoice number in the reference field, so a second entry with the same number gets flagged. Every week I pull the payables ageing, list bills that are due within the credit period, and send the payment run to the finance manager for approval. Payments go through the bank portal with bill-wise settlement so each payment knocks off the correct invoice. Once a quarter I ask key suppliers for a statement of account and reconcile it with their ledger to catch missed debit notes or double postings. **Likely follow-ups:** - How would you spot a fake supplier added to the system? - Who should be allowed to change a supplier’s bank details? ### 7. How do you follow up on receivables, and how do you read a debtors ageing report? Round: Role · Level: Fresher **What they’re checking:** Whether you understand the link between receivables and cash flow, and can follow up politely but firmly with customers. **Sample answer:** > An ageing report splits each customer’s outstanding amount into buckets such as 0 to 30, 31 to 60, 61 to 90 and over 90 days from the invoice date. The older the bucket, the higher the risk of not collecting. I go through it every week, send a statement and a polite reminder for anything just past due, and call the customer’s accounts team for older items to ask for a payment date. I note every promise in a tracker. If a customer disputes an invoice, I pass it to sales to resolve rather than letting it age silently. Anything over 90 days I flag to my manager with notes for a decision on credit hold. **Likely follow-ups:** - When would you suggest a provision for doubtful debts? - How do you match an unidentified receipt to a customer? ### 8. What inputs do you need to process monthly payroll, and which statutory deductions do you handle? Round: Role · Level: All levels **What they’re checking:** Familiarity with the payroll cycle and Indian statutory deductions, and whether you check inputs before running salaries. **Sample answer:** > I need attendance and leave from HR, new joiners and exits, salary revisions, reimbursement claims and any loans or advances to recover. Before running payroll I compare the headcount and gross total with last month and investigate big changes. The statutory deductions I handle are employee PF, ESI for eligible employees, professional tax as per the state, and TDS on salary based on each employee’s declared investments and tax regime. After approval I upload the bank file, pass the salary journal, and deposit PF and ESI by their due dates. I also file the quarterly 24Q return and issue Form 16 at year end. **Likely follow-ups:** - How do you handle full and final settlement for an employee who resigns? - How do you keep salary data confidential? ### 9. How do you record depreciation and fixed asset additions, and how do you keep the asset register accurate? Round: Role · Level: Experienced **What they’re checking:** Understanding of capital versus revenue expenditure, depreciation methods and the discipline of keeping a register that matches the books. **Sample answer:** > When a purchase comes in, I first decide whether it is capital or revenue. A laptop or machine with lasting use goes to fixed assets, while an annual maintenance charge is an expense. I record the asset at cost including freight and installation, net of eligible input credit. Each asset gets a line in the fixed asset register with a tag number, location, date put to use and useful life. Depreciation is calculated as per the company’s policy, usually straight line for the books, and separately as per Income Tax rates for the tax computation. Once a year I do a physical verification with the admin team and reconcile the register with the ledger. **Likely follow-ups:** - How do you treat a sold or scrapped asset? - Why do book and tax depreciation differ? ### 10. Which Tally or ERP features do you use most, and how have you used Excel to speed up your accounting work? Round: Role · Level: Fresher **What they’re checking:** Hands-on software skills the role needs from day one, and whether you can use Excel to reduce manual checking. **Sample answer:** > In Tally Prime I use purchase, sales, payment, receipt, journal and contra vouchers daily, with bill-wise details turned on so ledgers show what is pending against each invoice. I use cost centres for department expenses and the GST reports to check the return data before filing. For Excel, I use XLOOKUP or VLOOKUP to match bank statements and GSTR-2B with our books, SUMIFS for summaries by party, pivot tables for expense analysis, and conditional formatting to highlight duplicates. During my internship I built a simple sheet that matched about two hundred bank entries in minutes, which earlier took most of an afternoon to tick manually. **Likely follow-ups:** - How would you import entries into Tally from Excel? - What shortcuts do you use in Tally? ### 11. The trial balance does not tally by a small amount at month end. How do you find the error? Round: Role · Level: Experienced **What they’re checking:** Logical error-hunting in the books, and whether you know common causes rather than forcing the difference into a suspense account. **Sample answer:** > In an ERP the trial balance rarely differs outright, so the real issue is usually a ledger that does not match its supporting report. I compare control accounts first: debtors with the ageing, creditors with the payables report, GST ledgers with the return working, and bank with the reconciliation. If I am working in sheets, I check whether the difference divides by nine, which points to a transposition, or is double a figure, which points to an amount posted on the wrong side. I also review entries passed on the last two days of the month and any manual journals. I avoid parking the difference in suspense unless my manager agrees and it is cleared before reporting. **Likely follow-ups:** - What is a suspense account used for? - Give an example of an error that does not affect the trial balance. ## Behavioural questions ### 12. Tell me about a time you found a mistake in the books after the month was already closed. Round: Behavioural · Level: Experienced **What they’re checking:** Honesty and ownership with numbers, and whether you fix errors properly and prevent repeats instead of hiding them. **Sample answer:** > At a trading company where I handled accounts, I noticed while reconciling the next month that a freight bill had been booked twice by different people, once against the purchase and once as an expense. The month’s MIS had already gone to the owner. I told my manager the same day with the two entries and the amount, passed a reversal in the current month with a clear narration, and sent a short note to explain the change in the freight line. Then I asked that all freight bills come only to me and that the transporter’s bill number be entered in the reference field so duplicates would be flagged. **Likely follow-ups:** - What if the error had affected a GST return already filed? - How did your manager react? ### 13. Describe a time a vendor was angry about a delayed payment. How did you handle it? Round: Behavioural · Level: All levels **What they’re checking:** Whether you can stay calm, find the real cause of a payment delay and communicate clearly without making promises you cannot keep. **Sample answer:** > A packaging supplier called me upset that a payment was three weeks late and threatened to stop supplies. I listened, then checked the ledger while still on the call. The invoice was on hold because the goods receipt showed a short delivery, but nobody had told the supplier. I explained this, emailed them the receipt note and asked for a credit note for the shortfall. I also spoke to our store team to confirm the quantity. Once the credit note came, I put the balance in the next payment run and called the supplier to confirm the date. After that I started sending a hold reason to suppliers whenever a bill was stopped. **Likely follow-ups:** - What would you do if your manager asked you to delay payments to save cash? - How do you prioritise payments when funds are short? ### 14. Tell me about a deadline, such as a GST or TDS due date, that you nearly missed. What happened? Round: Behavioural · Level: All levels **What they’re checking:** How you plan around statutory deadlines and what you do when inputs arrive late from other departments. **Sample answer:** > In one month the sales team sent a batch of invoices for GSTR-1 a day before the due date because a new billing person had not uploaded them. I stayed late with them to check GSTINs and tax rates on every invoice, uploaded the return through the portal, and filed on time with a few hours to spare. The next morning I set up a shared calendar showing each due date and the date I needed inputs, five days earlier. I also asked the sales head to make the billing person send a daily invoice register. We did not have a late rush after that. **Likely follow-ups:** - How would you handle it if you did miss the date? - Which compliance dates do you track every month? ### 15. Have you ever been asked to pass an entry you thought was wrong? What did you do? Round: Behavioural · Level: Experienced **What they’re checking:** Integrity and judgement: whether you can raise concerns respectfully and keep proper documentation when pressured on accounting entries. **Sample answer:** > A sales head once asked me to book a customer invoice in March for goods that would only be dispatched in April, so the year’s target would look met. I explained that revenue can only be recorded when the goods are delivered, and that the auditors check cut-off using delivery challans. I offered to show the order in the order book report instead. When he insisted, I asked him to put the request in an email and I took it to my finance manager, who supported me. The invoice went out in April. I kept the conversation polite, and later he asked me to explain cut-off to his team. **Likely follow-ups:** - What would you do if your own manager asked for it? - How do auditors test cut-off? ### 16. Tell me about a time you made a manual accounting process faster or more accurate. Round: Behavioural · Level: All levels **What they’re checking:** Initiative and practical improvement, and whether you can measure the result of a change you made. **Sample answer:** > At my last company the petty cash and staff expense claims came on paper, and I spent two days a month typing them into Tally. I made a simple Google Form with fields for date, amount, category, cost centre and a photo of the bill. The responses landed in a sheet that I formatted to match a Tally import template. My manager approved claims in the sheet, and I imported them in one go. Entry time fell from two days to about half a day, and the number of claims returned for missing bills dropped because the form would not submit without a photo. **Likely follow-ups:** - How did you get staff to use the form? - What controls did you keep on cash? ### 17. Describe a time you had to explain an accounting issue to someone with no finance background. Round: Behavioural · Level: Fresher **What they’re checking:** Whether you can translate accounts into plain language for owners, managers or colleagues in other teams. **Sample answer:** > During my internship at a small CA office, a client who ran a bakery asked why his profit showed high but his bank balance was always low. I took his own numbers and explained that profit counts sales when he bills them, but many of his café customers paid after sixty days, and he had also bought a new oven, which is not an expense for that year. I showed a simple table: profit, minus money stuck with customers, minus the oven, equals the cash he actually had. He then asked us to send him a monthly list of pending customer payments, which became a regular task for me. **Likely follow-ups:** - How would you explain depreciation to the same person? - What report would you give an owner every month? ## HR round questions ### 18. Given your Tally, GST and payroll experience, what monthly salary do you expect in this accounts job? Round: HR · Level: All levels **What they’re checking:** Whether your expectation is realistic for the city, company size and your Tally, GST and payroll experience, and whether you can discuss it calmly. **Sample answer:** > I currently earn a fixed monthly salary with PF, and I handle GST returns, TDS and bank reconciliations on my own. Based on that scope and what similar roles in this city offer, I am looking for a reasonable increase on my current pay. I can share the exact figures on the form. I am flexible if the role offers good learning, such as exposure to an ERP or to statutory audit support, and I would like to understand the full structure, including any allowances and the appraisal cycle, before we settle on a number. **Likely follow-ups:** - What is the lowest you would accept? - Do you have any other offers? ### 19. Our year-end and audit period is heavy. Are you comfortable with longer hours in those weeks? Round: HR · Level: All levels **What they’re checking:** Whether you understand the seasonal workload of accounts roles and can commit honestly without overpromising. **Sample answer:** > Yes. I know the last few weeks before the books close and the audit fieldwork need extra time, and I have worked late during those periods before. What helps me is preparing early: keeping reconciliations and schedules up to date every month, so the auditors’ requests take less time. I would only ask for some notice for very late evenings so I can plan my travel. I would also like to hear how the team usually splits audit schedules, so I know which areas I would own. **Likely follow-ups:** - How do you keep accuracy up when you are tired? - Which audit schedules have you prepared before? ### 20. Why do you want to work in our finance team rather than at a CA firm handling many clients? Round: HR · Level: Experienced **What they’re checking:** Your motivation for an in-house accounts role, and whether you have thought about the trade-offs instead of just wanting any job. **Sample answer:** > At the CA firm I handled bookkeeping and GST for eight small clients, which taught me a lot quickly. But I only saw each business for a few hours a month, and I want to own one company’s books end to end, from purchase entries to the final audit. Your company is growing and has moved to an ERP, which is the skill I want to build next. I also like that this role works closely with purchase and sales, so I can understand why the numbers move, not just record them. **Likely follow-ups:** - What will you miss about practice? - Where do you see yourself in a few years? ## How to prepare for a accountant interview - Practise passing entries in Tally Prime for purchases, sales, GST, TDS and payroll, since many companies give a short live test on a laptop during the interview. - Bring a sample of an Excel reconciliation you built, with names removed, so you can show how you match bank or GSTR-2B data quickly. - Revise due dates for GSTR-1, GSTR-3B, TDS deposit and returns, PF and ESI, and explain how you plan your month around them. - Be ready to explain the difference between a bookkeeper’s work and an accountant’s, and give examples of reviews and reconciliations you own. - Prepare one honest story about an error you caught or made in the books, with the amount, the fix and the control you added. ## Questions about accountant interviews ### What is asked in an accountant interview for freshers? Expect journal entries for common transactions, the golden rules of accounting, bank reconciliation, the basics of GST input and output tax, TDS sections for contractors and professionals, and Tally vouchers. Many companies give a short practical where you pass entries or reconcile data in Excel. Revise the basics thoroughly and be honest about what you have and have not handled. ### Is a Tally test part of an accountant interview? Often, yes, especially at small and mid-size companies. You may be asked to create ledgers, pass purchase and sales vouchers with GST, record a payment with TDS, or pull a trial balance and outstanding report. Practise in the latest Tally version with sample data before the interview so the screens and shortcuts feel familiar under time pressure. ### How is an accountant role different from a chartered accountant role? An accountant usually handles daily bookkeeping, reconciliations, GST and TDS compliance, payroll inputs and month-end closing. A chartered accountant is a qualified professional who can sign audit reports and typically leads reporting, tax planning and controls. Many accountants hold a B.Com or M.Com, and interviews focus more on practical accuracy and software skills than on accounting standards.