Senior Auditor Interview Questions:
The Senior Auditor is responsible for planning and overseeing the auditing process to secure the financial stability and compliance with the law. They conduct multiple assessments to recommend ways to prevent any predicted risk.
Because this is a senior-level position, look for applicants who have an academic background in accounting or finance, as well as demonstrated risk management expertise. Additionally, professional certification (e.g. CPA or CMA) is an asset to consider in your prospective candidates. While having theoretical knowledge of accounting procedures and regulations is extremely important, having hands-on experience with accounting software (e.g. Zoho, QuickBooks, etc.) is equally important.
Furthermore, the ideal candidate should possess leadership skills such as team management skills because they will be responsible for supervising the Internal Auditors. You could ask situational questions to analyze your candidates’ responses and if they’re able to delegate tasks to their team and establish the team environment. Additionally, search for candidates who have passion towards their profession and how they perform as well as are eager to learn and develop in the accounting and finance world.
Operational and Situational questions:
- How would you respond to a request made by a client/manager to cover up fraud?
- What would you do if a high-performer on your team delivered many reports that contain errors?
- What are the steps you are willing to take to persuade your team members of following your ways of working?
- How would you present your findings to senior company executives if you come across a process that is not as cost-effective as it could be?
Role specific questions:
- What are the audit software or Computer Assisted Audit Techniques (CAATs) that you have used in the past? Which ones do you prefer and how did they complement your work?
- What are the methods you follow to make sure that your colleagues’ reports and flowcharts are accurate?
- What is the value of using periodical internal audits and what are the advantages they can contribute to our company?
- What are some of the control management processes you apply to your work to minimize risks?
- Tell us about your experience of using accounting software like Zoho or QuickBooks.
- Explain to us in detail the steps you take for fraud detection processes.
Behavioral questions:
- Have you ever given any recommendation or advice to improve the audit process of a previous company you worked for? If yes, what was the advice and was it incorporated into the auditing process?
- Tell us about a previous experience in which your detail-orientation skills were helpful to identify a possible law violation.
- How do you keep yourself updated with any changes that occur to accounting regulations?
- Have you ever made a mistake at work? If yes, tell us about it and what were the steps taken by you to fix the mistake? If not, how do you make sure that your work is error-free?