Audit and consulting interviews

Audit and tax at an accounting firm, and the analyst role at a management consultancy, are the 2 applications business students in Hong Kong make most often. The interviews do not test the same things. A firm looks at accounting basics, at professional judgement, and at whether you understand the work of an audit. A consultancy looks at structured thinking, at business analysis, and at how you explain it. What follows is a general way to prepare. It is not written for one firm. It does not cover pay, and it does not cover when firms hire. For the route into a professional qualification, see the briefing in this series on HKICPA, the CFA and qualifying as a solicitor.

What the 2 jobs look like day to day

1. Audit. You learn the client's business and the internal controls. You carry out the audit procedures: sampling, confirmations, a stocktake, and analytical review. You gather audit evidence, prepare the working papers, and talk to the client's finance team. The work has a clear seasonal peak.
2. Tax. The work includes tax returns, tax advice, transfer pricing, cross-border tax, and work of that kind. It depends on reading the rules with care.
3. Consulting. The client has a single business problem, such as growth, cost, operations, the organisation, or a digital change. You analyse the data, hold interviews, and do the market research. You reach a conclusion and a recommendation, and you present them to the client.

In the interview, say what the work actually is, and why you fit it. That is more useful than a general line about liking a challenge.

The usual stages of a firm interview

1. An online test: numerical, verbal, logical, and situational judgement. The method is in the briefing in this series on online tests and AI video interviews.
2. A group discussion. The group is given a business case or an ethics case, discusses it, and then presents. What is being watched is whether you can move the discussion on (a framework, a split of the work, and the time), whether you can listen and build on what other people say, and whether the conclusion is clear. You do not need to speak the most. Each time you speak, say something that adds.
3. An individual interview: behavioural questions and technical questions. A later round may be with a partner or a manager.

Technical questions at a firm

1. Accounting basics: how the 3 statements connect; the basic principle of revenue recognition; the accrual basis and the cash basis; the treatment of inventory, depreciation, impairment, and provisions.
2. Audit concepts: the purpose of an audit, and the types of audit opinion; what materiality is, and why it is set; the audit risk model, made up of inherent risk, control risk, and detection risk; the difference between a test of controls and a substantive procedure; an example of how you would audit one account, such as receivables or inventory.
3. Professional ethics: independence, confidentiality, and what you do if you find that the client may have a misstatement. The shape of the answer is this. Follow the professional standards and the firm's procedures. Report it to the person above you. Do not decide it on your own. Do not ignore it.
4. A current event: a recent economic event that affects an industry, and the possible effect on audit risk.

How to practise. For each concept, prepare 1 sentence of definition and 1 example. Take a listed company's annual report, and practise saying which high-risk accounts you would look at.

The case interview

1. The form. The interviewer gives you a business problem. Examples are a fall in profit, whether to enter a new market, and how to price a product. Over 30 to 40 minutes you talk it through with the interviewer. You offer a framework, you ask for data, you calculate, and you give a conclusion.
2. The usual order. Restate the question and clarify it: the objective, the measure, the time frame, and the constraints. Split the problem into parts that do not overlap and that, taken together, cover the whole. Profit, for example, is revenue minus cost, and revenue is price times volume. Work through the parts in order of priority, and ask the interviewer for the data. Say each step of the calculation out loud. Keep a sensible degree of precision, and say what the number means. Then draw it together: a conclusion, what you would do next, and the risks.
3. A market-size estimate. Start from the population, or from the number of households. Multiply, layer by layer, by the penetration rate, by how often the product is used, and by the price. What matters is that the assumptions are reasonable, and that you say them. An exact figure is not the point.
4. A chart. Start with the title, the axes, and the units. Then give the single most important finding.
5. Where marks usually go. You open with a framework you have memorised, and it does not fit the question. A calculation is wrong, and you do not check it. You finish the analysis and do not give a conclusion.
6. How to practise. Take turns as the interviewer with a partner. After each case, go through a score sheet: structure, analysis, calculation, and communication. Each day, do 2 pieces of mental arithmetic: percentages, growth rates, and multiplying and dividing large numbers. When you read business news, try to state the problem, and your assumption, in 1 sentence.

Behavioural questions in both

1. Why this industry, why this organisation, and why this role? Be specific about the service line, and about the work you have actually learned.
2. Tell me about a conflict in a team, and how you dealt with it.
3. Tell me about finishing a task under pressure, or against a tight deadline.
4. Tell me about a time you made a mistake, and what you learned.
5. Tell me about a time you persuaded someone to accept your view.

Prepare with STAR (situation, task, action, result). Keep each story within 2 minutes. End on a skill you can carry into the job.

Language and communication

1. An interview at a firm or a consultancy in Hong Kong may be in English, Cantonese, or Mandarin. The language can also switch inside the same round. Prepare a self-introduction, and the core stories, in all 3.
2. In a case interview, thinking out loud is better than thinking in silence. You can say, "I will take 30 seconds to set out the framework."
3. Use professional words, and do not pile terms on top of each other. The interviewer is listening for whether you can make a complicated problem clear.

A checklist for the week before

1. You can say, in 2 minutes, who you are, why this role, and why this firm.
2. You have been through the definitions and the examples for the accounting basics and the audit concepts (firms).
3. You have done at least 10 full cases, including market-size cases and profit cases (consulting).
4. You have 5 behavioural stories, covering a team, pressure, a failure, leadership, and persuasion.
5. You have 3 questions worth asking. Examples are how the team is made up, how a new joiner is trained and assessed, and the main kinds of project the team has had recently.
6. You know your visa status, and you can state it clearly if you are asked.

Sources

• A general note on method. It does not draw on an official dataset. For the requirements of a professional qualification, follow the website of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (see the briefing in this series on HKICPA, the CFA and qualifying as a solicitor).