Give an example of a time when you took a manual process and made it automated.

How to Answer
Answer Example
Community Answers

Innovative companies are always looking for ways to improve their processes. Many times, financial processes have been carried over from previous years and could use a refresh. Give a specific example of a time when you took a clunky process and made it more efficient.

"In my previous role as Financial Analyst, I improved a process related to our forecast workbooks. The legacy method of updating our forecasts was very manual, and involved copying and pasting in Excel workbooks. I brought this up to our internal IT team, and together we created a process by which we could map financial data from our data warehouse to automated reports. This allowed us to create most of the workbook with a click of a button, which allowed more time for us to analyze each month."

Anonymous Answer

"My company started automating our inventory management system from an excel spreadsheet to an inventory module in our accounting system. We had an inventory count to verify that the quantities we had on the spreadsheet were the same as the ones on the flow. After making those verifications, we separated absolute inventory for an accurate valuation, and then the inventory sheet was imported in the system."

Chad's Feedback

Good answer! It sounds like the organization was certainly able to improve the inventory management system through automation. To improve this response, clarify your specific role in the process improvement for the interviewer. Also, be sure to include the specific outcomes that resulted from your actions and the process change. I recommend using the STAR answer method to construct your answer. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result and is used to form a story-based response that the interviewer can follow. If you'd like to read more about the STAR format, you can find a guide here: Master Behavioral-Based Interviews Using The Star Method