Senior Accountant, Accounting and Reporting
Posted Sep 24, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026
Likely interview questions for this role
Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.
About your past
Tell me about a reconciling item you found that turned out to be a real error. How did you track it down?
What they are checking: Whether they dig into the cause of a difference instead of parking it as an unexplained plug month after month.
Tell me about a close process you made faster or more accurate. What did you change and how did you know it worked?
What they are checking: Whether they improve processes with measurable results instead of just suggesting ideas nobody acts on.
When a business partner tells you how a transaction works, how do you check that the accounting reflects what actually happened?
What they are checking: Whether they verify business explanations against contracts and data instead of booking entries on someone's word.
What would you do
An auditor asks for support on an international entity's balance and the local team is slow to respond. What do you do?
What they are checking: Whether they can manage audit timelines across entities they don't control without passing the problem upward.
You're pulling data from several source systems and they don't agree. How do you figure out which one is right?
What they are checking: Whether they can trace data back to its origin, which matters a lot during system integration work after acquisitions.
It's day three of close, you have four reconciliations left, and a cross-functional partner hasn't sent the data you need. How do you handle it?
What they are checking: Whether they protect the close deadline by escalating early and working around gaps rather than waiting quietly.
About the work
Walk me through how you build a balance sheet reconciliation from scratch for an account you've never owned before.
What they are checking: Whether they understand what a reconciliation proves, not just how to tie two numbers together in a template.
An income statement account is up 40 percent over last quarter. How do you write a variance explanation that a controller would actually accept?
What they are checking: Whether they explain the business driver behind a number rather than just restating that it went up.
What's a journal entry you prepared under U.S. GAAP where the right treatment wasn't obvious? How did you decide?
What they are checking: Whether they reason from accounting guidance and document their judgment instead of copying what was booked last period.
You've helped prepare support for SEC filing footnotes. What makes footnote support hold up when the external auditors start asking questions?
What they are checking: Whether they know public-company support must tie cleanly to the ledger and survive line-by-line scrutiny.
What Excel or data tools do you lean on when you're working with very large data sets, and where have they let you down?
What they are checking: Whether their tools match the volume of data here and whether they know the limits that cause silent errors.
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Practice this out loudThe full job description
As published by Ryan Specialty.