How to Answer: Explain what is the most complex work you have done in Excel?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Finance job interview.
24. Explain what is the most complex work you have done in Excel?
How to Answer
This is a question that will give you an opportunity to showcase your Excel knowledge. Excel is something that will be used every day, so being comfortable is a must. If you know VBA, macros, pivot tables, how to create a macro shortcut button or any other advanced level knowledge. Explain any type of project that you have done both professionally or educationally. Here are some examples of applications of Excel that you might want to talk about, if applicable:
1. Constructing dashboards in Excel to measure and track business metrics;
2. Putting together cash flow or revenue projections over time;
3. Using Excel as a project management dashboard to track progress across multiple workstreams;
4. Automating day-to-day tasks using spreadsheets with IF statements and other conditional logic; or
5. Performing back-of-the-envelope calculations to estimate sales volume in various business scenarios.
Written by Bobbi Witt on June 18th, 2018
Entry Level
"My current job is my first job as a Financial Analyst and my Excel skills were a strong beginner and two years later, I'm creating dashboards with Pivot Tables, and correcting many of my co-works VBA errors. The most complex Excel work I have done was with a group of two other co-workers where we were tasked with a project to create a workable Summary Dashboard that rolls up over 15 different manufacturing plants and consolidates all monthly performance into a single dashboard tab. There were 3 of us and we split the work up. My part included more formulas and behind the scenes. I was responsible for mapping all 1500 GL accounts onto the dashboard. This took us a little over 3 months."
Written by Bobbi Witt on June 18th, 2018
Experience
"In my experience as a Senior Finance Manager, financial modeling is quantitative analysis used to forecast or project hypothetical situations (normally financial or pricing). Financial Modeling plays an important role in long-term planning, expansion, development, cost planning, etc. Early in my career, I had worked for a small company with annual sales of $6m. As lead Senior Manager for this company, we were faced with many financial obstacles, to the point where the bank could seize the company's assets since we were in default of the Debt Covenants. I created a financial model including all three financial statements: P&L, BS, and CF Statement. The models looked at 3 financial scenarios the company had to flex for options to become in good standing with the bank. One of the options created and the one the company decided to move forward on was to offer a higher discount on AR to bring in cash on a faster basis over the next 6 months and to require cash payments and milestone payments on any sales project over $25,000. This was forecasted to pull cash payments forward to meet all debt payments and allow the company to have a cash reserve to cover 2 months worth of all company expenses."
Written by Bobbi Witt on June 18th, 2018