Bookkeeping interview questions and answers
Short answerBookkeeping interviews usually test three things: whether you understand debits and credits, whether you can use software like QuickBooks Online, and how careful and trustworthy you are with numbers. Below are 20 common questions with short model answers you can adapt.
Basics
- What does a bookkeeper do? Records every transaction, keeps the books up to date, reconciles bank and card accounts every month, and prepares reports. An accountant or CPA uses those books for tax returns and advice.
- What's the accounting equation? Assets = Liabilities + Equity. Every transaction keeps it in balance.
- What's the difference between a debit and a credit? A debit is the left side of an account and a credit is the right side. Debits increase assets and expenses; credits increase liabilities, equity and income.
- What's the difference between accounts receivable and accounts payable? Receivable is money customers owe the business (an asset). Payable is money the business owes suppliers (a liability).
- Cash basis or accrual basis? Cash basis counts income and expenses when money moves. Accrual counts them when they're earned or incurred, for example when an invoice is sent.
"What's the entry for…?"
| Transaction | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| The owner invests cash | Checking | Owner's investment (equity) |
| Pay rent | Rent expense | Checking |
| Send a customer an invoice | Accounts receivable | Sales |
| Customer pays the invoice | Checking (or Undeposited Funds) | Accounts receivable |
| Receive a supplier bill to pay later | Expense or cost of goods sold | Accounts payable |
| Pay that bill | Accounts payable | Checking |
QuickBooks Online
- When do you use a sales receipt instead of an invoice? When the customer pays at the time of the sale.
- How do you record a payment on an invoice? Create, then Receive payment, choose the customer and select the invoice. Never a sales receipt, which would double the income.
- What is Undeposited Funds? A holding account for payments received but not yet deposited, so one bank deposit can match the bank statement.
- How do you reconcile a bank account? Enter the statement's ending balance and date, check off each matching transaction, and finish when the difference is zero.
- What do you do with the bank feed? Review each downloaded transaction, match it to an existing one or categorize it to the right account, and watch for duplicates.
Situations
- The reconciliation is off by $27. What do you do? Look for a missing or duplicate transaction, then for swapped digits: a difference that divides by 9 often means two digits are reversed.
- You find a mistake you made last month. What do you do? Tell the owner or your manager, correct it, and note what changed. Never hide it.
- Someone outside the business asks how much profit the company made. What do you say? Politely say you can't share it, and pass the request to the owner.
- How do you stay accurate with lots of data entry? Work from source documents, check totals against the documents, reconcile monthly, and review reports for anything that looks unusual.
Related guides
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