CA Articleship Interview Question Bank

Use these questions to prepare your own answers. Do not memorize scripts word-for-word; interviewers usually follow up based on your CV and responses.

HR & Personal Questions

1. Tell us about yourself.
2. Why did you choose Chartered Accountancy?
3. Why do you want to join our organization?
4. Why are you interested in Audit / Tax / Advisory / Industry?
5. What are your strengths?
6. What is one weakness you are actively improving?
7. Tell us about a difficult academic or personal challenge and how you handled it.
8. How do you manage pressure during exams or deadlines?
9. Are you comfortable with travel, field work or extended working hours when required?
10. Where do you see yourself after completing training?

CV-Based Questions

11. Walk us through your CV.
12. Why did you include this skill on your CV?
13. What did you learn from your internship / project / volunteer experience?
14. Which achievement on your CV are you most proud of?
15. You mentioned Excel / PowerPoint / accounting software — what can you practically do with it?

Accounting & Financial Reporting Basics

16. Explain the accounting equation.
17. What is the difference between capital expenditure and revenue expenditure?
18. What is depreciation and why is it charged?
19. What is an accrual?
20. What is a provision?
21. What is the difference between receivables and payables?
22. What is inventory and how can it affect profit?
23. What are the main financial statements?
24. What is the difference between profit and cash flow?
25. What is working capital?

Audit Basics

26. What is the purpose of an audit?
27. What is audit evidence?
28. What is materiality?
29. What are financial statement assertions?
30. What is the difference between internal audit and external audit?
31. What is substantive testing?
32. Why is professional skepticism important?
33. What is an audit risk?
34. How would you verify cash or bank balances?
35. Why do auditors perform inventory counts?

Tax / Business Questions

36. What is the difference between direct and indirect tax?
37. What is withholding tax?
38. Why do businesses prepare budgets?
39. What is gross profit versus net profit?
40. What is the difference between a sole proprietorship and a company?

Scenario Questions

41. Your senior gives you a task you do not understand. What will you do?
42. You notice a possible error in a working paper prepared by a colleague. How would you handle it?
43. You have two urgent deadlines at the same time. How will you prioritize?
44. A client is not providing required documents. What would you do?
45. You make a mistake in a file already shared with your senior. What is your next step?

Behavioural & Scenario Questions

46. Tell us about a time you worked with a difficult team member.
47. Describe a conflict and how you resolved it.
48. Tell us about a deadline you nearly missed.
49. Give an example of learning something quickly.
50. Describe a time you took initiative without being asked.
51. Tell us about a mistake you made and what changed afterward.
52. Describe a situation where you had incomplete information.
53. How would you handle three seniors assigning urgent tasks at the same time?
54. A client asks you to ignore a small error. What do you do?
55. A senior asks you to sign work you did not perform. What do you do?
56. You find an error after sending a working paper for review. What next?
57. You disagree with your senior’s accounting treatment. How would you raise it?
58. A client is rude because you requested supporting documents. How do you respond?
59. A teammate repeatedly misses deadlines. What do you do?
60. You are sent to an unfamiliar industry. How will you prepare?
61. You are assigned a task you have never done before. What steps will you take?
62. A manager criticises your work in front of the team. How do you respond?
63. You notice confidential client information left open on a shared computer. What do you do?
64. A close friend asks about a client’s financial results before publication. What do you say?
65. You discover that an expense receipt may be fabricated. What would you do?
66. A client offers you a gift during the engagement. What would you consider?
67. How would you explain a technical issue to a non-accounting client?

More CV-Based Questions

68. Explain every certification listed on your CV.
69. Which Excel functions can you actually use confidently?
70. What was your role in your most important project?
71. Which result on your CV can you quantify?
72. Why is there a gap in your education or work timeline?
73. Which skill on your CV is strongest? Prove it with an example.
74. Tell us about a presentation you delivered.
75. Tell us about any leadership role you held.
76. Which software have you used: Excel, Word, PowerPoint or accounting software?
77. Have you prepared financial statements before?
78. Have you worked with large datasets?
79. Have you written formal emails or reports?
80. What skill are you currently developing?

Excel, Aptitude & Test Preparation

81. Explain SUMIF/SUMIFS and when you would use them.
82. Explain COUNTIF/COUNTIFS.
83. Explain IF and nested IF.
84. VLOOKUP vs INDEX-MATCH conceptually.
85. How do you remove duplicates in Excel?
86. How do you create a PivotTable?
87. How would you reconcile two lists of transactions?
88. How do you identify missing invoice numbers?
89. How do absolute and relative cell references differ?
90. What is conditional formatting used for?
91. Practice ratio, percentage, average and work-rate questions.
92. Practice number series and logical reasoning.
93. Practice reading-comprehension MCQs and grammar/sentence correction.

Firm-Specific Interview Preparation

Latest updates: We also share time-sensitive interview, test and induction updates on the SC E-Learning WhatsApp Channel.

Questions You Can Ask the Interviewer

• What type of clients or sectors would a trainee typically be exposed to?
• How are trainees allocated across departments?
• Is rotation between departments available?
• What does the learning and feedback process look like for trainees?
• What qualities do successful trainees in your organization usually demonstrate?