Why Accounting

During an interview, it is common for your interviewer to question why you picked a particular industry to pursue a job or career in.

They can ask the questions in the following ways:

• “Why do you want to work in the X industry?”
• “Why do you want to be in X position?”
• “Why do you like X career?”

These questions gauge your interest in the job you applied for and understand what makes you passionate about it.

Employers will use this to understand what tasks interest you and place you in teams or projects that allow you to work on those tasks. This helps employers retain employees and foster an engaging and rewarding workplace.

Questions in an accounting interview may include questions like:

• “Why do you like accounting?”
• “Why do you want to work in accounting?”
• “Why do you want to be an accountant?”

Here are some examples for more firm-specific questions:

• Ernst & Young LLP: “Why did you choose tax?”
• PwC: “Why do you want to do the ACA qualification?”
• KPMG: “Why do you want to do accounting with KPMG?”

If you would like to see even more questions asked during interviews, check out the WSO company database for access to peer-provided corporate information, data, and reviews to stay ahead of the competition for your next interview!

The interviewer asking these questions wants to know that you have a genuine interest in the role, apart from monetary compensation, that will make you more eager to solve problems and collaborate on financial analysis and reporting.

This will also help the interviewer determine whether the time and effort needed to train you to become an employee of their company will be worth the investment.

In this article, we will provide strategies to answer these questions and some exemplary sample answers.

How to Answer the “Why Accounting?” Interview Question

The internet age has increased connectivity and made access to information very easy, causing people in the workforce to care about more job factors than before.

Thus, in the modern workplace age, there are many pressure points for the position candidate and the company interviewing them.

While employees are still evaluated based on their employer qualifications, employers are also evaluated on their

• Job satisfaction
• Public image
• Employee treatment,
• and much more

This question works as it helps interviewers evaluate your interest in accounting and their ability to provide a meaningful work experience for you.

The general premise among all the variations of the “Why Accounting?” questions are the same. The interviewer is asking you why you are interested in accounting. As always, your answer must be genuine. 

If your interviewer questions why you like accounting, they tend to refer to the industry as a whole and look to understand why you want a job in the industry. This helps them understand your passion for accounting.

On the other hand, if your interviewer questions why you want to be an accountant or any other position in the accounting industry, they tend to seek what attracts you to that position. This gives your interviewer an idea of how meaningful your work is to you.

How to Answer “Why the Accounting Industry?” Interview Questions

You need to respond with honesty and sincerity to these questions.

Try to think about what got you into accounting, to begin with. Candidates for accounting jobs tend to have an academic background in accounting, finance, or business administration. Try reflecting on the reason you chose to pursue your major to find your “why” for the industry.

You can also talk about parts of the industry that are meaningful to you. Suppose you find specific aspects of accounting that resonate deeply with you, whether it is financial statement analysis or auditing, lean into them.

Here is an example response:

Ideally, you would want to research the firm you are interviewing for and tie your passion into their mission. This gives the interviewer the impression that your passion aligns with the firm’s values and makes you a more competitive candidate.

Let’s apply these principles to one of the corporate examples highlighted earlier. For context, this candidate is applying for a position in the tax section of Ernst & Young’s Accounting department:

As we can see in the example above, there are a lot of portions borrowed from our “why accounting?” question to help us create this response.

This response addresses more than what the question is asking, starting with providing reasoning as to why the individual is interested in accounting, then zeroing in on what makes them interested in tax.

This candidate tied everything together to create a cohesive personal story to communicate their interest in taxes to the interviewer.

How to Answer the “Why do you want to be an accountant?” Interview Question?

Similar to the previous question, you must be authentic in your response.

When answering this question, you can easily take inspiration from how you would answer the “why accounting industry” question. Therefore, reflecting on why you pursued the major you did would be an excellent start for answering this question.

You can build on this by reflecting on childhood stories, academic projects, etc. From there, you can link that to your career goals and explain how this position sets you up for those objectives.

Using our suggestion of building off of your answer for the “Why Accounting?” interview question, here is an example of how you could answer this question.

Remember, this is only a surface-level answer to be used as a reference to craft your personal “Why do you want to be an accountant?” interview question. Try to think of specific examples or stories in your responses!

It would help if you researched the firm and the position's responsibilities. That way, you can include your interest in those responsibilities and provide examples of when you did those tasks.

If you want to practice your interview skills, you can practice by checking out the Wall Street Oasis’s mock interviews.

You can also check out the Wall Street Oasis’s Investment Banking Interview Course to assist you in preparing for your next finance & accounting interview.

Key Points & Suggestions

When asked about questions pertaining to “why accounting,” candidates must be straightforward and honest in their answers. They might also need to adjust their response depending on the question’s premise or angle.

For example, one interviewer may ask a question about the industry, while another might focus more on the job position specifically.

When your interviewer asks you why you like accounting, or what drew you to become an accountant, they are interested in knowing why you like the industry and your passion.

Here are some key points to remember when crafting your answer:

Point #1: Remember the Reason

Have a personal story. Be ready to express what drew you into becoming an accountant and how that ties into your personal brand and message.

Point #2: Honor your Mentors

The candidate should be honest and sincere during the interview. They should reflect on what got them into accounting in the first palace, such as their academic background, experience, or mentors.

Point #3: Stick to your Values

Explain the parts of the industry that are meaningful to you. For example, if you have always preferred an analytical and systematic approach to a problem, use this question to express that to your interviewer.

This can include an interest in analyzing financial statements, the complexity of financial data, or even a high school report on the history of a business, as long as you can explain why you were “made” for accounting.

Point #4: Do your Due Diligence

Research the firm you are applying for a position for and tailor your response in a way that expresses interest in the position's responsibilities. This can help portray that you are a match for the organization and the role.

Point #5: Have a Future

It would help if you also mentioned your career goals, whether becoming a chief financial officer or an entrepreneur. Explaining how this position you are applying for can set you up for those goals can impress your interviewer and show you are a goal/results-driven person.

Answering the “Why Accounting?” questions during an accounting job interview require you to be genuine, honest, and sincere. Therefore, it would be best to reflect on everything that led you to click apply for the position you are interviewing for to provide your answer.

Your story needs to explain your interest and passion for the industry and position and how you plan to leverage it for your future. Having a story will set you apart from the other candidates for the position and leave a lasting impression on your interviewer.

Summary

The “Why Accounting?” question is commonly asked during accounting job-related interviews. Your interviewer may frame the question as “Why do you like accounting?”, “Why do you want to work in accounting?”, or “Why do you want to be an accountant?”

These questions are designed to gauge the candidate’s interest in the position and understand what motivates them beyond monetary compensation.

The ideal candidate will be enthusiastic and motivated by their love and passion for their job. These candidates will be more efficient and bring a positive attitude to the workplace.

Interviewers use these questions to understand what tasks are compelling to the candidate and whether they can place them on teams or projects that will allow the candidates to flourish in those tasks.

This helps employers retain employees and create an engaging and rewarding workplace.

You can enhance your interviewing skills through our investment Banking Interview Prep Course to help you prepare to respond to any technical questions asked during your accounting interview.

Good luck!

Researched and Authored by Rohan Rajesh | Linkedin

Reviewed and Edited by Justin Prager-Shulga | LinkedIn

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