Advanced questions on M&I 400?

Do interns need to know ALL the advanced questions on the M&I 400? Like questions like “Walk me through how you create an expense model for a company”, “walk me through how to create a revenue model” and “walk me through what flows into APIC” in accounting are nowhere on the WSO guide. Not just are the questions not covered, but even those topics are nowhere on the guide. Thus is it ok to only have to know questions whose topics are at least mentioned on the WSO guide for internships?

Do interns even have to know advanced questions?

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Based on the most helpful WSO content, interns are generally not expected to master all advanced questions from the M&I 400, especially those that delve into niche or highly technical areas like creating detailed expense or revenue models or understanding specific accounting flows like APIC. The focus for most internships, particularly in investment banking, is on foundational knowledge and demonstrating preparation, discipline, and likability during interviews.

The WSO guides and courses emphasize core concepts such as the 3-statement model, DCF, and basic valuation techniques. Advanced questions are less likely to come up unless you're interviewing for a highly technical role or a firm known for grilling candidates on such topics. It's more important to have a strong grasp of the basics and be able to articulate your thought process clearly.

If you're aiming to stand out, you could familiarize yourself with advanced topics, but it's not a strict requirement for most internships. Instead, focus on mastering the topics covered in the WSO guides and courses, as they align closely with what interviewers typically expect.

Sources: What to ask a former intern about the internship?, My Issues with Diversity Recruiting in Finance, Corporate Finance Q&A with accountingbyday, BJM85, STorIB, and djfiii, Advice for summer Asset Management interns, Starwood Acquisitions Summer Internship Questions

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

Anyone who says you need to know this are total hardos, you don’t need to know anything apart from basic stuff like what the wacc is, as long as you’re willing to learn and suck up doing ppt you’ll be fine.

Odds are 99-1 you won’t use anything in the guide/interview prep on a day-to-day as an intern, it’s just there for interview prep.

 

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