TOP 5 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

WITH SAMPLE ANSWERS FROM BIG4BOUND

Big 4 Interviews can be stressful, but if you prepare and practice enough it will make it a much

easier and relaxed experience. Big 4 firms are looking for polished, professional, and

hardworking people to fill their slots for new hires.

Let’s dive into the top 5 most common interview questions and how to answer them. Keep in

mind, these answers will need to be tailored to your own experiences. The following should be

used as a template / guide for you to fill in the blanks with your own words.

For a thorough walk through of how to prepare for your interview, how to adapt these

questions to your personal situation, and tons more info on the Big 4 recruiting process

including networking, resume prep, and tons more interview questions / answers, make sure

to download The Ultimate Big 4 Interview Prep Kit. It contains behind the scenes info on how

to ensure you have an excellent interview.

My intent is to provide enough of an explanation and example of what a good response is to

help you develop your answers. Keep in mind that if you practice your answers ahead of time,

get asked the question, and then deliver your answer in a rehearsed way, it will show.

When you’re asked the questions, you should speak like you’re recalling the experience, not like

you wrote down the answer yesterday. The purpose is instead to have a thought out, developed

answer to avoid having to think on your feet, accidentally contradicting yourself, having trouble

coming up with an answer, or saying something stupid.

This should be a guide for how to develop your answers. This is also a great way to catalog

your experiences in the event that a question arises that isn’t contained in this guide. If you are

reflecting on your past experiences and you’ve already put them into writing, it will be much

easier to discuss them.

I made this mistake a few times when asked a question: I either gave an answer that wasn’t

complete or didn’t even answer the question. Later, I thought to myself “Man, I totally forgot

about that time...” I missed providing an awesome response.

One of the most important things to keep in mind with these behavioral interview questions is

that it isn’t so much what you say, but how you say it. Specifically, how do you present yourself

in a stressful environment such as an interview? Do you present as someone whom is

personable?

Below we will walk through the 3 most common Big 4 interview questions, with model answers

you can use to base your own, personalized response from:

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1) Walk me through your resume

or

Tell me a little about yourself/your background

Prepare for this question by going through your resume and looking at the items that you have

identified as achievements or responsibilities. Try to think of specific examples of each. This is

an ideal chance to provide the interviewer with an overview of your resume from your viewpoint.

“I’m a senior accounting major at XYZ. I will be graduating in the Spring of 2014 and currently

hold a 3.5 GPA. I’ve been involved in on campus activities as treasurer of my fraternity/sorority.

I’m also on a committee within Beta Alpha Psi, and volunteer at XYZ. Two summers ago I had

the opportunity to work as a camp counselor at XYZ and last summer I worked as an accounting

intern at XYZ. As a camp counsellor, I was able to… (list 2 or 3 key areas) and in my accounting

internship I… (list 3 things).

Make sure to spend more time discussing things that are relevant (like accounting internships).

This is good time to jump into where you want to go from here:

“Since I’m graduating from XYZ next Spring, I plan to enroll in the Masters in Accounting at XYZ

to fulfill the CPA exam requirements. My plan is to intern in audit/tax next summer so I can work

full time after my graduation in Spring of 2015.”

I’ve said this before as a art of this guide that it is important that the interviewer knows your

graduation schedule, your plan to meet the CPA requirements if you aren’t doing grad school,

and whether you are targeting audit or tax. I know some of you are hesitant to choose one

because it is a big choice, but I think it is better to choose one and commit to it rather than

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saying you aren’t sure. For internships it is less important as if you choose one and don’t like it,

you can likely switch. If you’re going for full time but can’t choose, it makes things a little more

difficult.

2) Why KPMG/Deloitte/PwC/E&Y?

There are a few good ways you can answer this, and you can use all of them.

Discuss how you are interested in a Big 4 firm vs. smaller firms for the reasons below

(applicable to all of the Big 4):

• Your firm consistently tops the list in BusinessWeek’s best places to launch a career
• The opportunity to work with high profile clients and key executives at a really early point
in my career
• There is a ‘learning culture’ where questions are encouraged and regular feedback
provided (which is very true, I’ve found). You are constantly being challenged to perform
at your highest and you truly learn something every day.

A second way to answer is to talk about the culture if you have met someone from the office. If

you collected cards from ‘meet the firms’, or wherever, remember the representatives names

and the topics you discussed. If you’ve visited the office on a prior occasion for a recruiting

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event or something, this is also helpful. Discuss how you believe you would mesh well with the

office environment.

“When talking with Mellissa H and Jason D at ‘meet the firms’, I felt very welcome and was

invited into the discussion. Not all the firms were this friendly, and if they are an appropriate

indication of the office culture, then I think I would enjoy the atmosphere your office provides.”

Or

“When I attended the XYZ office summer event, I was really pleased with how pleasant and

inviting everyone was. I could tell from the interactions between the employees that they

enjoyed each other’s company outside of the work setting, and that is something I am looking

for. I’ve heard that office culture is very important because you can spend a lot of time together

in an audit room (or work together in tax) and you definitely want to be around people you feel

comfortable with.”

Lastly, if you want to provide a specific answer to the question of why XYZ, discuss the clients

that the local office you are interviewing with has. If they audit a bank in the area and you’re

interested in financial services, discuss how the office lines up with your interests.

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3) Why audit/tax/advisory?

You should have a thoroughly researched answer for this question because it demonstrates an

authentic interest in the field. The truth is there are actually a lot of great reasons to choose a

career in audit and tax. A few things regarding audit that you could say suit you that apply to

both audit and tax are that you wanted to choose a career where you would have the

opportunity to:

• Be constantly challenged and receive regular feedback

• Work in a team environment with people my age
• Have the opportunity to travel

4) Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

The answer to this question is simple: manager. At the Big 4, after 5 years you make it to

manager. Many people leave after 2 years when they make senior (3 years at PwC) because

some pretty decent opportunities open up. At the manager level, there are even greater

opportunities and this is the goal of many Big 4 employees. That said, many can’t stand the

hours and make it to senior and get out.

Example answer:

“I’ve heard from a lot of people that you should shoot for manager, and that is my plan. I know it

will be a challenging 5 years, but I don’t want to leave before manager when I know there are so

many great opportunities beyond that point. If I really enjoy the work, I would be interested in

staying with the firm beyond manager. Outside of public accounting I would be interested in

(pick something such as Internal Audit, Financial Reporting, Financial Planning & Analysis).”

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5) Tell me about a time when you had to be a leader

At the Big 4, you have the opportunity to be a leader within a short amount of time. As a senior,

you can basically be running engagements. A good response would discuss situations where

you were:

● Captain/leader of sports team

● In a leadership position in a fraternity/sorority/club

● Head of a group project in class or elsewhere

The biggest things to emphasize are:

● How many people you managed

● How you organized the project with the people you managed and how you delegated

their tasks

● How you succeeded in keeping everything to a timeline or within a deadline.

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