Give an example of an exciting project you worked on in Accounting.
"I had this project in my Tax class that allowed me to make up tax records and fill out all the required tax forms for personal, sole proprietorship, partnerships, as well as major corporate filings. I learned so much about the many facets of tax and how to get tax breaks that I never would have considered. It has helped me in my side business of helping others with their taxes as well as hopefully to one day become a corporate tax accountant."
"After 15 years, I've had a lot of projects that I really enjoyed but my favorite was when I was about five years into my career. I was working for a start up company and they'd never had an accountant before. In the interview, I challenged the owner about their growth strategy and when hired, I consistently asked about their growth potential. After about three months, the owner wanted me to put together a budget forecast of how they could financially afford to grow consistently and to maintain it as a guide for future expansion. Within two years, they opened two new branches and within five year, expanded to other states. It always makes me proud to see how far they came by using my forecasting model."
This is a subjective question. It can be for any level of experience and can have a wide variety of answers. Always remember to be honest and respect any NDA's you've signed. The Accounting world is a confidential, which must be respected. Any interviewer that would pressure you to reveal confidential information should examine their own ethics. You have no loyalty to an interviewer but you do to your former employer who trusted you with that information.
Projects to discuss can be from school or from a project you previously worked on. It's easy to review the broad scope of a project without revealing anything that could violate an NDA.
"At one of my previous positions, I worked on an audit project for a company that had grown too fast to quickly. They had various outdated controls that were duplicated throughout the process. I was put on a team to comb through the controls and decide which ones could be decommissioned or ruled out of scope for the audit. It was like being an investigator because I got to see all the inner workings but didn't have to actually handle the audit."
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Anonymous Answer
Last year, I worked on an assignment with a global recruitment firm that involved preparing audit files, preparing statutory accounts and tax packs, leasing with auditors to file audited accounts in multiple jurisdictions as well as corporation tax in multiple companies.
I learned about different requirements in Africa, South America, North America, Europe, and Asia and it was really exciting because no country was the same. Each had its own special requirements and getting to grips quickly to meet those requirements was part of the fun.
Chad's Feedback
Excellent example! Working on an assignment for a global company, and being able to learn about the different international requirements definitely sounds like a stimulating project to be a part of, as well as a tremendous opportunity for professional growth. Any interviewer would be impressed by your international experience!
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