Senior Associate, Financial Due Diligence (Transaction Advisory Services)
Posted Sep 15, 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 diligence project where management was slow to give you data. How did you keep it moving?
What they are checking: Whether they can manage data requests and client follow-up with urgency and ownership.
How do you review a junior associate's workpapers before they go to the manager?
What they are checking: Whether they are ready to supervise, checking tie-outs and logic rather than just formatting.
Tell me about a time you juggled two deals with overlapping deadlines.
What they are checking: Whether they can prioritize and communicate across teams in a fast deal environment.
What would you do
You find a revenue cutoff issue three days before the report is due. What do you do?
What they are checking: Whether they escalate quickly and quantify the issue rather than burying it to meet a deadline.
How would you explain a large negative diligence finding to a private equity client on a call?
What they are checking: Whether they can communicate a deal-relevant issue clearly and calmly with its dollar impact.
About the work
Walk me through how you'd build an adjusted EBITDA bridge in a quality of earnings analysis.
What they are checking: Whether they can identify and support normalization adjustments that a buyer will actually accept.
How do you decide whether an adjustment is truly non-recurring?
What they are checking: Whether they can tell a real one-time item from a recurring cost that management wants to exclude.
Explain how you would set a net working capital target and why it matters at closing.
What they are checking: Whether they understand the peg, seasonality and how working capital shifts value between buyer and seller.
What do you look at in a quality of revenue analysis?
What they are checking: Whether they examine customer concentration, churn, pricing, cutoff and revenue recognition, not just totals.
What's the difference between buy-side and sell-side diligence in how you approach the work?
What they are checking: Whether they understand that the audience and purpose change the emphasis and tone of findings.
How does post-merger integration connect to what you find in diligence?
What they are checking: Whether they see diligence findings as inputs to integration risks, synergies and day-one planning.
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Practice this out loudThe full job description
As published by Ankura.