I know that people say the 400 guide is the best for interview questions, but what’s the best way to REALLY understand things like accounting? Are there any resources besides that (that are reading material not videos) to better understand and master technicals?
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My recommendation is do the following:
1) Find an intro to financial accounting textbook and read through the whole thing (10 days)
2) Build operating models and write up your rationale for each line item
3) Pick a balance sheet of a public company and understand why its changing over time (related to income statement and CFS)
4) Build a 3 statement model for an imaginary company and make sure it works correctly and then build different cases for income statement drivers, balance sheet assumptions and FCF drivers
If you do the above (~1 month start finish and about 80hrs of work) you will be golden
The important thing is to not cram, your brain will naturally crystalize concepts over time and that is how you build intuitive understanding, unlike school where tests are largely memory based and you can cram in 1-2 days
Lmao no, just read through the individuals BIWS guides
He did said he wanted to truly understand the accounting concepts. If you are able to do so just from guides then you are a superstar, or had some previous accounting knowledge.
The guides are more than enough for passing interviews, not remotely in depth enough to say you can learn accounting on their sole basis.
I'd echo this. I read so many accounting books and even took some online courses, it wasn't until I got into models and "physically" linking the statements together that it started clicking. Getting reps in helps seeing different statements (pick different industries) and understanding accounting nuances. At least it did for me, but I am a far more hands on learner.
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