Finance Manager Skills Interview
Author:
Alycia Damp, PhD IRHRA Finance Manager interview assessing key skills required for success. We've also included a few motivation and values questions to help you make the best decisions about your candidates.
Focus area:
Question
1
Why are you interested in making a career move to our company as Finance Manager? How do you see this opportunity within the context of your career?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate exhibits fit and motivation to join the company
Explore tips
- Is seeking an opportunity to grow by applying and developing multiple skills
- Wants to make a defined impact on others and the organization’s success
- Is motivated to add value to the company's culture and work environment
- Is passionate when discussing how this connects with their strengths/interests
- Exhibits awareness of the role expectations and the organizational context
Question
2
If senior leadership asked you to help them understand whether their business was financially solvent, what information would you need, and how would you calculate how much financial runway they have?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to understand financial reporting and financial solvency
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- Understands the relationship between financial reporting and financial solvency
- Highlights specific indicators that could help reflect financial solvency
- Discusses assumptions and other factors that could impact financial solvency
- Considers how the result will affect day-to-day business operations
Question
3
If we asked you to create the financial reporting structure for the C-suite, what reporting structure would you suggest? What data would you include, and which Business Intelligence tools would you use?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to develop and present financial reports for the business
Explore tips
- Identifies basic information like financial statements and high-level KPIs
- Structure contains information relevant for the company leadership
- Elaborates on BI tools and expands on how to select a suitable provider
- Elaborates on their reporting approach (e.g. daily, weekly, quarterly reports)
Question
4
Imagine you have joined a fast growing company, and the CEO comes to you and says, "I would like a quick, back-of-the-envelope estimate on when we will reach our break-even point." How would you respond?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to understand/calculate break-even points
Explore tips
- Explains the relevance of break-even and how to calculate the equation
- Uses assumptions for an estimation and explains how to run a quick calculation
- Explains when a break-even isn't reachable for a business
- Clarifies how to best summarize a break-even analysis to the CEO
- Elaborates on how the break-even point can affect business strategy
Question
5
Describe a time you had unexpected challenges with a financial process/aspect of a project. What happened? How did you respond to the problems, and what did you learn from the experience?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to develop solutions for problems stemming from unexpected financial challenges
Explore tips
- Describes context and specific financial challenges
- Explains how the problem arose and identifies key cause of the issue
- Considers the pros and cons of different solutions to resolve issue
- Communicates issue to other parties and solicits input from others if relevant
- Explains which solution they implemented and justifies their decision
Question
6
Improving a budget plan is essential for grasping opportunities in a volatile economic environment. Considering that pretext, what approach and practices would you employ to run a more flexible budgeting plan?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to improve a budgeting plan and make it more flexible
Explore tips
- Acknowledges challenges of budgeting in volatile financial periods
- Understands interdependencies between moving parts (e.g. revenue/cost forecast)
- Highlights ideas to create more flexibility ahead of an uncertain year
- Discusses early warning signals to recognize when the business veers off budget
- Discusses the importance of tracking information for budgeted versus actual KPIs
Question
7
Imagine the sales for a new product are below our six-month target. You need to decide whether to change the annual budget for the product. What information would you rely on to make the decision?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to determine whether to revise an annual budget forecast
Explore tips
- Discusses potential causes for underperformance
- Outlines how financial indicators could support various potential scenarios
- Discusses various scenarios and how the proposed answer would change for each
- Draws conclusions based on information and elaborates with real-life examples
Question
8
Imagine your company tells you they are planning to launch an entirely new product line. Your instincts tell you this project will negatively impact the company's financial health. What would you do in this situation?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to identify risks and communicate them to the company
Explore tips
- Considers how the product line relates to the broader organizational context
- Illustrates how to use data from financial statements to help with the decision
- Exhibits an ability to influence others and promote financial health
- Offers potential solutions or alternatives to consider the plan in the future
- Discusses how biases and implicit assumptions can lead to the wrong decision
Question
9
Tell me about a time you proposed a new process/idea for a project but it was met with some resistance from relevant stakeholders (e.g. client, manager, teammates). How did you advocate for your idea, and what was the outcome?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to promote ideas to make an impact on projects/the organization
Explore tips
- Uses data-driven insights to promote ideas
- Presents ideas in an innovative and accessible way to convince stakeholders
- Solicits feedback and/or input on their idea from others
- Considers the other's point of view to tailor the delivery of their ideas
- Demonstrates how the idea will benefit the client/project/organization
Question
10
Describe a time your financial forecast proved to be wrong. How did you notice when it deviated from the initial forecast? What did you do to address the situation?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to identify, analyze and rectify incorrect financial forecasts
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- Elaborates on the cause of the deviation and the severity of the problem
- Discusses the actions taken to communicate the missed forecast
- Discusses how to analyze and communicate the consequences of the missed forecast
- Highlights learnings and how to mitigate similar problems in the future
Question
11
Imagine we tell you that we plan to increase spending on one of our product lines. What information would you need to help make a recommendation on where to allocate more resources?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to make sound recommendations on resource allocation
Explore tips
- Proposes a method to acquire financial information to support the decision
- Identifies various ways to make comparisons between the products' potentials
- Discusses internal and external data (e.g. industry benchmarks)
- Interprets hypothetical results and discusses next steps in the analysis
Question
12
Imagine some team members you are managing are not able to work effectively with one another. How would you handle conflicts between members of your team?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to reduce team conflicts
Explore tips
- Shows they value implementing strong communication and team-building skills
- Encourages collaboration and brainstorming strategies to hit team goals
- Shows they can use collaboration to overcome challenges and improve situations
- Shows they would identify and address the underlying cause, and later follow up
- Shows they would ensure commitment from all members to the proposed solution
Question
13
Imagine your team is under a substantial amount of pressure to complete a deliverable. What tactics would you employ to encourage collaboration and effective completion of the work?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to enable collaboration within team when under pressure
Explore tips
- Suggests offering support to the team and promoting support within the group
- Discusses ensuring everyone is aligned in terms of objectives and work streams
- Actively helps others to achieve team goals
- Shows consideration and respect toward others and their work
- Suggests communicating relevant knowledge and information with all parties
Question
14
Based on your past work history and professional experience, in what type of work environment were you the happiest and most productive?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate shares preferences for organizational culture and workstyle aligned with your company
Explore tips
- Discusses attributes that align with your organization
- References different organizational factors (people, place, work, etc.)
- Highlights the values that shaped the environment/culture
- Shares a story from past experience to support their claims
- Justifies why it made them happy and productive
Question
15
What is one thing you wish I had asked you in our conversation today?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate displays self-awareness of unique strengths and value-add
Explore tips
- Gives a response that is relevant to the role in question
- Justifies their suggestion by explaining their value-add
- Exhibits strengths that were not previously covered
- Further demonstrates their value-add and competitiveness as a candidate
