Chief Financial Officer

I like to know how a potential executive stays in touch with changes in their area of expertise. Are they constantly trying to learn more about the industry, or are they fine with stagnation? How they consume knowledge can also tell a lot about their personality.

How do you build relationships with people you oversee? Like the previous questions, these will help you figure out if a candidate would work well with his or her subordinates and also offers insight into how relational a candidate it.

For some finance candidates, the answer may be related to a specific project they undertook or an award they received. If they don’t share insightful details about why they feel this was their greatest achievement, be sure to question further. Ask yourself: Is this relevant to the role they’re interviewing for?

This is your chance to detect what drives your finance candidates. Dig further to find out whether it’s about the money or the finance industry itself. Keep in mind, the desire to make money doesn’t necessarily equate to a sufficient drive to succeed or real passion for the business. It often comes with limitations.

Cost Accounting is the process of classifying and recording of expenditure incurred during the operations of the organization in a systematic way, in order to ascertain the cost of a cost center with the intention to control the cost.

Many candidates will answer yes to this, whether they mean it or not. When posing the question, watch their facial expression and listen for any insincerity. Raised eyebrows or widened eyes might mean they don’t plan on working longer than the normal nine to five schedule. Their answer and reaction to this question will reveal if they’re really willing to make sacrifices to achieve success.

Share Capital is that portion of a company’s equity that has been obtained by issuing share to a shareholder. The amount of share capital increases as new shares are sold to public in exchange for cash.

According to this concept, while calculating the profits during the accounting period in a correct manner, all the expenses and costs incurred during the period, whether paid or not, should be matched with the income generated during the period.

Do they read the Wall Street Journal every morning? Knowing how a candidate keeps up with industry news can indicate two important things — it shows how much interest they have in the industry as well as how serious they are about working in finance. If they stutter or name a general news website, it may be a sign that they don’t live and breathe finance.

Uniform costing is the application of the same accounting and costing principles, methods or procedures uniformly by various undertakings in the same industry. It is a particular technique which applies the usual accounting methods like standard costing, marginal costing, and budgetary control.

According to this concept, the organization is going to be in existence for an indefinite period of time and is not likely to close down the business in the shorter period of time. This affects the valuation of assets and liabilities.

This question easily demonstrates how much research the candidate put into the company prior to the interview. We’ve noticed that the best hires usually put a lot of research into the company and our goals, so this question gives these candidates a chance to demonstrate their knowledge.

According to this concept, only those transactions find place in the accounting records, which can be expressed in terms of money. This is the major drawback of financial accounting and financial statements.