CAMS Accountant Interview Questions and Answers

Topics to prepare for KFintech Accountant interview:

• Accounting
• Cashier Activities
• Balance Sheet
• Data Entry

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - If you salute you are duty you don't salute everyone if you pollute you are duty you have to salute everyone.

Round: Test
Duration: 1 hour

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: The first round of interview was identifying your interest and testing it. I told I am good at Math and Fin and I was asked all probab and Fin questions. Many others were asked Guesstimates and Puzzles
Tips: Be confident and keep talking and keep interacting, even when you are struggling- it's more about the ideas you put on the table than the answers. Be thorough in basics of probab including all kinds of distribution and all.
Also the job is for analysing Credit Card usage. And it is a gloabla financial firm. So for questions like, "Tell about yourself" or "Walk me through the resume", keep telling how you are good at handling data. And if you have Fin background, pitch about it.

Round: Technical + HR Interview
Experience: The interview was mostly a stress interview. They kept telling me that I am somehow not so good for the job and my knowledge in the field is insufficient. And I kept convincing them back that I am indeed a good candidate.
Tips: Keep calm. Prepare HR questions perfectly. You should talk to them as if you are dying too get this job and detail it to them that you are the best candidate for this job. You have to tell them that you have some special capability that others don't (I told about my knowledge in Fin). And you should be really special in that and be able to answer anything.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Basic HR questions to test if you are really serious about the hjob and firm. If you did previous 2 intervies well, this must be a cakewalk.
Tips: Be ready to give answers convincing them that this job is the most important thing in your life

Skills: Mathematical Aptitude, Probabiity, Finance, Conversation Skills
College Name: IIT Madras

Round: HR Interview
Experience: 1. At First, I missed the Credit Suisse GD since I hadn’t brought along a portfolio manager (one who handles your interview schedule and attends to the ever-ringing mobile phone).
2. I proceeded to Credit Suisse, and requested their HR contact to give me a chance since I could not turn up for the GDs.
3. It was here that I handed over my mobile phone to my friend Apratim Tiwari, who was managing the Credit Suisse procedures, and requested him to pursue the HR guy to schedule an interview, and also handle my phone when I was interviewing and he had successfully managed to get me an interview with Credit Suisse.
4. The interview went well. They were apparently quite impressed.
5. Two more rounds of interviews, and the HR guy made me an offer.
6. But, since Deutsche Bank was my dream company, I was also interviewing with them and got selected.
Tips: You would need to focus on three broad areas for a comprehensive preparation:
(a) HR questions: This is the most important part for any interview. In companies like DB, your communication skills coupled with your preparation of such questions account for more than 70% of a candidate’s selection. Answering questions about your career goals, interests, and your career thus far should become second nature by the end of November. You must also know the firms and job profiles inside out. I worked on this specific area, and by the end of the placement session, I had gained a reputation among my wingies for my expertise at answering HR questions.
(b) Puzzles: Since this is a non-core sector, puzzles are the only way to objectively test the ability of candidates with diverse backgrounds. Look up braingle.com and techinterview.org. These two should suffice. Also, whenever you come across a puzzle that you’ve already encountered, pretend as if you’re going through it for the first time. Don’t rush through. This is your opportunity to impress them. Do not squander it away!
(c) Finance and economic affairs: If you have a comprehensive knowledge of the financial markets, national economy, and international affairs, in addition to the above two, it is highly improbable that you won’t be selected. For brushing up these, read the Economist (print or online), and read through the opinion pages of Economic Times or the Business Standard for 2-3 months leading to the Placement season. You must also regularly read a newspaper like the Hindu or Indian Express to keep yourself abreast of the latest events which frequently become a focal point of group discussions (for Credit Suisse). You CANNOT afford to walk into the interview ignorant of terms like European debt crisis, global financial crisis, fiscal cliff, QE, and basic finance like options, hedging etc. Wikipedia, Investopedia and J.C.Hull (first few chapters) are great sources to pick up these.

General Tips: 1. If you are a B.Tech. student, do not be under the wrong impression that you can target all sectors- core as well as non-core. It is really difficult to prepare comprehensively for all companies, especially if you are in the B.Tech. program owing to time constraints.
2. The Dual degree students have an edge over you for precisely two reasons. Firstly, they get more time to prepare for the placements, and have learnt vicariously from their B.Tech. batchmates' experiences. Secondly, they tend to have higher retention rates (good for the companies).
3. Work on your English communication skills which are crucial for performing well in interviews and GDs.
Let neither of these become an obstacle by leaving no stone unturned in the course of your preparations.
4. You can’t appear for more than 4 companies in the first slot. It is not realistic. Hence, decide beforehand. I knew I hadn’t prepared enough for consulting or core, hence I opted out of ITC and Opera.
5. If you are shortlisted in multiple companies, ask a reliable friend to accompany you to the interviews, and handle your mobile phone (“managing one’s portfolio”). You’ll thank me someday for this advice.
6. I was happy that I prepared as much as I did, neglecting my college academics in the process. It is a decision I am proud of.
7. My Morgan Stanley internship distinguished me from scores of other candidates. I had never truly appreciated its importance till then. That also goes to show how important it is to get a good internship.
Skill Tips: 1. I scored a 100 percentile in CAT and the preparation made a huge impact on preparing for any of the interviews.
2. I also interned at Morgan Stanley which was further a plus for me.
3. I had received Honda YES Award, University of Tokyo-IIT Scholarship and my academic background was quite good.
Skills: Problem solving skills, Finance Basics, Basic HR questions, Economic affairs
College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Test
Experience: The first round, quite naturally, was the aptitude round. We had to answer questions that were designed to test our quantitative and technical abilities. But this was only the first part. The second part involved finding computational solutions to simulated situations. These questions needed to be solved in a programming language we were asked to choose earlier, during the aforementioned first part. I chose to do it in Java as that is one language I am really thorough with. I understand that C/C++ are more important and versatile, but what matters here is your inherent understanding of the concepts involved

Round: Group Activity
Experience: We had to build model buildings, using LEGO blocks. Other than the fact that I love building things from other smaller things, the supplied material took me back to my childhood days. We were divided into four groups. Two in each room, and each group consisted of 8-10 candidates. We were given a time limit within which we had to design and construct a building. As a surprise, after half time, they asked the two groups in each room to merge their projects. This probably was to see if the candidates were pro-active team players, and could handle unexpected situations like professionals.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: There was another technical interview after the group activity. I was interviewed by two of their officers, who again asked questions similar to those from the first technical round.  It went quite well, since I was quite confident about the way I was solving the problems they gave me. Thinking out loud is key, as that lets them in your problem-solving abilities. That way, they let you know if you are headed in the right direction. My interviewers were quite pleasant, as they liked discussing possible scenarios to the problems they gave me.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: there was an HR round, where the woman interviewed me about my projects. She needed to know if I had the guts to finish whatever it is that I started. So she asked more on the lines on my role in the projects I had undertaken in the previous years. She also asked me about my working experience from before. That too went well. It was pretty much a standard HR interview – projects, hobbies, traits, etc.

Round: fitness roound
Experience: There was another round in the end, which was to test the candidate’s professional fitness – if they indeed are the right people for the job. I found it to be a blend of technical and HR interviews, more on the lines of HR though. All in all, it was a brilliant experience

General Tips: To my juniors, study hard, be sincere, be yourself, be smart (preferably in that order, but you are free to improvise!)
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Test
Experience: Test was conducted by AMCAT at Madras School of Economics. Test was an adaptive test. Accuracy matters along with the speed. Do focus on all the sections. Questions were easy to moderate.
Tips: Prepare well before the test. HSBC was the second company to conduct test. DO NOT IGNORE RETAIL BANKING.

Preparation Material: Arun Sharma
Duration: 55 minutes
Total Questions: 50

Round: Technical + HR Interview
Experience: HSBC had skype interview at MSE. I was waiting from 11am in the morning. And it was already 6pm in the evening. One girl before me took around 45 minutes. As i entered, they were in hurry. They wanted to finish soon. As i started interview, they directly told me that they are getting late so they would finish things quickly. I was not asked even to introduce myself.

They asked me one project i have worked on and which i think was the best. I told them a project on Credit Risk Modelling. Luckily interviewer was also from the Credit Risk Team at HSBC. He started grilling over all the concepts. Why i used the particular model? What is ROC? What was the delinquency period and why ? I had done that project too seriously. I made him clear all the concepts. They focus more on your concepts and understanding. They also asked my few basic questions on Statistics which were related to my project.

I told them everything in just 10 minutes. And right after that the interviewer told me that it would be the last question they will ask me. I started thinking i won't get selected as no one finished in just 10 minutes. Then interview went on for 5 more minutes. I was given a case study on decreasing sales of a particular departmental store's division.

At last there were some HR questions. At last interviewer was really impressed by me. Guys a

College Name: Madras School of Economics

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: I think they were looking for Basic understanding of financial accounting, confidence.
My experience of working on valuation of Oil & Gas projects, financial modelling helped a lot
Tips: My confidence in answering questions related to finance and Read thoroughly two chapters 11 & 12 of “Financial Accounting” book by RNS

Skill Tips: They will give you required training
Skills: Finance
College Name: IIM Bangalore