Mazars CA Articleship Interview Questions and Answers

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Be prepared with current budget and affairs.

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Be clear on your accounting standards and auditing standards

Round: Test
Experience: Offline test. Mostly concerned with data sufficiency, geometry and age relations and such apti questions. In verbal part there was sentence equivalence and completion questions. Small RC passages were as well.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: I was mostly asked some problems and approaches of mathematics and I had been asked about an algorithm I implemented in one of my research project.

College Name: Jadavpur University, Kolkata

Round: Resume Shortlist
Tips: Have a well prepared resume that suits for the role you are applying for.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: They asked me a lot of questions based on my resume. I had done a lot of projects and courses related to Finance. I infact wanted them to ask me questions related to that as i was very well prepared. I told them about my passion for finance and the director who was from IIM Ahmedabad started asking me questions related to that. That i answered pretty well.
Tips: Be good at what you do. Prepare all your resume points in detail. Theres no excuse to that. Doesnt matter if its related to the profile you are getting interviewed for.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Except the background and about me I was asked more so of why I was not applying for a finance company and why only Deloitte. I was frank and told them that because of the recession ( euro zone debt crisis at that time ) very few companies came on campus. Hence Deloitte. But also explained them that I liked Deloitte Consulting profile as well because of the kind of work profile it offered.
Tips: Be honest and clear about what you want. They can easily catch you otherwise if you are faking or not.
Do not be hesitant to tell them why you really like them - it could be the work profile / money / etc or a combination of these.

General Tips: Be calm and Cool ? - No. You cant be i think if you are serious about getting placed. [ I feel ]
Prepare smartly ! The more the hardwork, higher the chances of getting your dream job. Many think that it just goes waste but I feel that more than the interview and getting a job you develop a lot of skills under that placement pressure and you should be very positive about it. 

Many of the people just chill out completely after placements even if they get a job they dont like.
NEVER GIVE UP ! You spend 70 % of your life at work, hence do not compromise or settle for less. You will regret later on that you did not try enough.  

I did get into JP Morgan - Equity Research after Deloitte :) Its a separate story that I left that company as well in 4 months and started www.AmbitionBox.com :P
Skill Tips: Most of them you would know but revise well before the interview so that you dont get stuck anywhere while answering. You should at the bare minimum know the very basics of Finance, Infrastructure planning and Management and Bidding. Also it depends on the coursework you have done. The interviewer might ask you questions related to that.
Skills: Communication, Infrastructure Finance, Financial Modelling, Infrastructure Management, Project Bidding , Valuations, Cost Analysis
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Motivation: The profile was good. But frankly that time since i was more inclined towards finance I wanted Bombay as my location being the financial capital and the office at 30th Floor excited me :) Also there were a lot of investment banks in the new Indiabulls Office building, I just thought I could apply off campus there and get in. In retrospect all this sounds very immature. Net net it was all worth it to help me decide what i really wanted :)
Funny Moments: After being rejected and told over qualified by Credit Suisse and Nomura backing off from placements at IIT Madras because of slot issues I was directly going to sit for UBS Verity.Had prepared the least for this company. Had not changed my resume for the profile it offered. Was not well dressed. ( Not that its VERY important ) Did not prepare anything much. Had given the interview in the most causal way. But against all odds someone had already decided that this was the company i would get placed in - DESTINY ! Felt very strange at that time because had prepared really hard for other companies.

Conclusion - After seeing a lot of my friends getting placed and reading a lot of reviews on AmbitionBox of seniors - 70% of the people get placed in companies they least expect to get into :)

PS: Doesn't mean you stop trying :) Keep trying ! There's immense satisfaction when you get something you truly wanted after a lot of Hard and Smart Work !

All the best ! Most of the advice we give at AmbitionBox and that you probably get elsewhere are just hints to solve the equation and not the solutions themselves. So make your own recipe for success.

Hope this helps :)

Round: Interview
Experience: 1st round: Panel of two. Asked questions about the projects which were mentioned in the resume. A few questions were asked about the core intern which I did. Asked about the family background.10 got selected in the next round of interviews.
I think for the second round of interviews they selected on basis of CG.
No case studies were asked Just my opinion was asked in certain topics in the second interview which was taken by the partner of the firm. He asked my opinion about construction in India.
I did well in the interview and they liked my story about my projects.
Tips: I think for the second round of interviews they selected on basis of CG.
I started preparing in Mid-November. I think placement is more about yourself. Starting earlier doesn't help.

General Tips: 2nd years: Decide where your interest lies. Have a decent CG at least above 8.
3rd years: Know your interest. Have mock PIs and GDs. 

Be genuine. If you don’t know something just tell them, do not act to be over-smart.Just revise your basic level courses. Revise Contracts, IPM, Construction Management.
Skill Tips: Just revise your basic level courses.Revise Contracts, IPM, Construction Management.
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Interview
Experience: 2 round of interview
First round- technical (basic infra stuff)Second round- HR skills- just a brush up of civil infra courses like Infrastructure Planning and Management(IPM), ECM.HR preparation – slight basic
First round- they took people with CG>=7.5
They asked me how would you determine toll for the Jamuna Expressway.
Tips: I started in September. Obviously early bird catches the fish.

Round: Interview
Experience: HR preparation – slight basic. My HR was very good. Moreover, my intern was in Mumbai Metro Rail, which helped me push in for infra. Also my PORs gave me an edge over others.
Tips: CFA played a crucial role for my friends.

General Tips: Basically puzzles, as they are helpful in almost every company. It provides you a direction for thinking.
www.brainden.com was a good site.
300,400 puzzles book was very good. (Available in DC++)
Have your resume ready early in the semester.Have mock GDs in your group.Have basic fundamentals about what’s going in the country and world. Don’t RG and prepare in groups.
College Name: IIT MADRAS