People and finance
A first interview with an accountant should show three things. They can close the books cleanly each month. They catch errors before anyone else does. And they can explain a number to someone who doesn’t read a balance sheet. All of it can be talked through. None of it needs a calculator.
The AI’s follow-up questions can ask “and then what?” at each step of the close. That’s where real experience shows.
What to look for
The questions
Ask them in order. Listen for real details: what happened, what the candidate did, and how it ended.
Strong answer
Gives the steps in order: making sure transactions land in the right month, recording costs that belong to a different month than their bill (accruals and prepayments), reconciliations, reviewing the full list of account balances, explaining big differences from budget, then reporting. Knows who they depend on and where it usually slows down.
Weak answer
Lists tasks in no particular order, or describes only their own small piece.
Strong answer
Looks into it anyway: payments that haven’t cleared yet, duplicates, swapped digits and bank fees. Won’t post an entry just to make it balance without knowing what the difference is.
Weak answer
Writes it off as too small to matter without looking.
Strong answer
Names the specific warning sign, like an expense line far above its usual level, traces it to the cause, and fixes the process so it doesn’t happen again.
Weak answer
Can’t name one, or the error was pointed out by someone else.
Strong answer
Gives the answer in one sentence, breaks it into a few main causes in plain words, and separates costs that simply landed in a different month from real overspending.
Weak answer
Sends a spreadsheet and talks in accounting terms like debits, credits and accrual reversals.
Strong answer
Looks for goods or services received but not yet billed, so the cost is recorded in the month it happened. Checks open purchase orders, asks the people who manage each budget, and reverses the accruals the following month. Treats what’s big enough to matter as a judgment call.
Weak answer
Only records a cost once the invoice has arrived.
Strong answer
Asks the colleague first, checks the documents behind it, and raises it with the financial controller if it isn’t sorted out, even if that delays the close.
Weak answer
Lets it through to hit the deadline.
Strong answer
Names real checks, like making sure the person who approves a payment isn’t the one who makes it, spending limits that need approval, or a second person reviewing reconciliations. Explains honestly why one failed in practice.
Weak answer
Speaks in textbook terms, with no example from their own work.
Strong answer
Describes the before and after, like replacing matching entries by hand with a standard report, and how they checked it gave the same results.
Weak answer
Talks about wanting to automate things without having done it.
Before the interview
Short form questions the candidate answers before the interview. You read the answers next to the interview. They aren’t scored.
Listen for
Avoid
Use this in LessRounds
Paste the questions into a scripted interview, where the AI reads each question word for word. Add the skills from the scorecard, then share one link. Every accountant candidate gets the same questions. You get a score for each skill, with the candidate’s own words that explain it.
Yes, for a first interview. Ask them to talk through a month-end close, a reconciliation that didn’t match and an error they caught. The detail in those answers tells you how they work. Save practical tests for later interviews.
A bookkeeper records each transaction and keeps the accounts accurate. An accountant builds on that: closes the books each month, makes adjustments such as accruals, prepares reports and explains the results. See our bookkeeper screening questions for that role.
Start with 100 free credits, enough for about 20 interviews. No credit card or sales call needed.