Financial Analysis interview preparation

Questions

100

Traced to a firm

42

Firms

28

Updated

September 2026

Asked at

All firmsMoody's7Bain Capital3SSState Street3AMAres Management2BLBlackRock2DED.E. Shaw2MSMorgan Stanley2Oaktree Capital Management2S&P Global2Bridgewater Associates1Citadel1FTFranklin Templeton1Golub Capital1HWHarris Williams1Houlihan Lokey1J.P. Morgan1Jane Street1MWMarshall Wace1Millennium Management1Morningstar1PIMCO1Sycamore Partners1TSTruist Securities1Two Sigma1Vanguard1WMWellington Management1Wells Fargo Securities1Wolverine Trading1

Topic

All topicsThree statements9Accounting policy and standards5Working capital and cash7Ratio analysis8Forecasting and budgeting9Variance and management reporting7Unit economics and costing8Capital budgeting7Cost of capital and valuation7Markets and rates5Modelling, Excel and data8Business partnering6Brainteasers and estimation4Fit and career10

Level

AnyCoreIntermediateHard

Type

AnyTechnicalCaseBrainteaserMarket viewFit

1. 033What should a makeup company think about regarding revenue?Forecasting and budgetingIntermediatetechnicalBain CapitalGeneralist · Boston · 2023

   Say this

   Volume times price times mix, but for cosmetics the three things that decide it are channel, repeat rate and trend risk. It is a business where a single viral product can double revenue and then vanish, so the question is how much of revenue is repeatable.

   Then walk it

   1. Build the revenue as units times realisation per unit, split by channel, because channel economics differ wildly. Modern trade, general trade, e-commerce marketplace and own direct-to-consumer site carry very different gross-to-net and different receivable days.
   2. Then gross to net, which is where cosmetics revenue really lives: list price less trade schemes, retailer margin, promotional discount, influencer and marketplace commission, and returns. Reported revenue can be 25 to 35 percent below list.
   3. Then repeat versus new. A colour cosmetic is trend-driven and often a one-time purchase; a skincare or base product repeats. Two brands with the same revenue and different repeat rates are worth very different multiples.
   4. Then SKU concentration and shelf life. If the top three SKUs are half of sales, one formulation problem or one competitor launch is a revenue event. Inventory carries expiry risk, so aggressive channel loading creates returns later.
   5. For India specifically: sachet and small-pack price points drive penetration, GST slab and regulatory labelling change cost to serve, and quick-commerce has compressed the path to repeat purchase.
   6. So the summary I would give: forecast it by channel with an explicit gross-to-net, hold the repeat rate as the key assumption, and stress the top three SKUs. That is where the volatility is.

   Where candidates lose it

   Answering generically about consumer demand. The interviewer wants category-specific thinking: gross to net, channel mix, repeat rate and SKU concentration. Also do not forget returns, which are a real revenue line in beauty.

   Expect next

   • How would you model a viral product launch?
   • Which is a better business, colour cosmetics or skincare?
   • What does quick commerce do to the working capital cycle?

   Reported by candidates at Bain Capital (Generalist, Boston, 2023). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

2. 052Here are a few figures about an airline. Work out what it should charge for a ticket, and ask me for anything else you need.Unit economics and costingHardcase studyBain CapitalGeneralist · Boston · 2024

   Say this

   I would build cost per available seat kilometre, convert it to cost per seat on the route, divide by the load factor to get cost per sold seat, then add a margin. Before that I need four things: seats per aircraft, sector length, load factor and the split of fixed versus variable cost.

   Then walk it

   1. The structure: total operating cost per flight divided by seats gives cost per seat. Divide by the expected load factor, say 80 percent, and cost per sold seat rises by 25 percent. That step is the one candidates skip and it is the largest single adjustment.
   2. A worked illustration. If a flight costs 15 lakh to operate with 180 seats, that is about 8,300 per seat. At 80 percent load, cost per sold passenger is about 10,400. Add a 10 percent margin and the average fare needs to be around 11,500.
   3. Then I would ask what I am solving for, because the answer differs. The average fare needed to break even on the route is one question; the price of the marginal seat two days before departure is another, and there the only relevant cost is a few hundred rupees of fuel, catering and commission.
   4. That marginal-cost logic is why airlines use dynamic pricing. The same seat is worth 3,000 in a seat-sale ten weeks out and 18,000 to a business traveller on the day, and the fixed cost of the flight is sunk either way.
   5. The inputs I would keep asking for: fuel as a share of cost, aircraft ownership or lease cost per hour, crew and airport charges, ancillary revenue per passenger, and the competitive fare on the route. Ancillary matters enormously for a low-cost carrier; baggage and seat fees can be 15 to 20 percent of revenue.
   6. And the conclusion I would state: cost tells you the floor, competition and willingness to pay tell you the price. In a market with a dominant low-cost competitor, the cost-plus number is often simply unachievable, and then the decision is whether to fly the route at all.

   Where candidates lose it

   Dividing cost by total seats and quoting that as the fare. You must divide by load factor. The second trap is not asking questions: the interviewer deliberately gave you partial data, and the questions you ask are half of what is being marked.

   Expect next

   • What is the marginal cost of the last seat sold?
   • How would ancillary revenue change your answer?
   • A competitor prices 20 percent below your floor. What do you do?

   Reported by candidates at Bain Capital (Generalist, Boston, 2024). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

3. 068What is the current SOFR rate?Markets and ratesCoretechnicalBain CapitalGeneralist · Boston · 2023

   Say this

   Give the level, then show you know what it is. SOFR is the secured overnight financing rate, the overnight cost of borrowing cash against US Treasuries, and it replaced USD LIBOR as the benchmark for floating-rate loans. Know the number the week of your interview and know roughly where term SOFR sits.

   Then walk it

   1. What it is: a transaction-based rate calculated from actual overnight repo trades, published each morning by the New York Fed. Because it is secured and backward-looking, it is nearly risk-free, unlike LIBOR which embedded bank credit risk.
   2. That difference is why loan documents add a credit spread adjustment when they convert from LIBOR to SOFR, historically in the region of 10 to 26 basis points depending on tenor.
   3. It tracks the Fed's target range closely, so if you know where the federal funds range sits you can bracket SOFR within a few basis points. Say the range and then the number, so if your number is a week stale the answer still stands.
   4. Term SOFR, the one, three and six month forward-looking versions, is what leveraged loans actually price off. A credit priced at SOFR plus 500 has an all-in cost of term SOFR plus 5 percent.
   5. The Indian equivalents are worth having ready in the same breath: the RBI repo rate, MIBOR for overnight rupee funding, and the fact that Indian corporate loans are typically benchmarked to an external benchmark lending rate or to MCLR.
   6. And the reason they ask: it is a five-second check on whether you read anything. Also be ready for what the rate implies, because the follow-up is always what it means for leverage, deal volume or hurdle rates.

   Where candidates lose it

   Not having a number. This is pure preparation and there is no way to talk around it. Quote the Fed funds range alongside it so a slightly stale number still lands, and have the RBI repo rate ready for an Indian interview.

   Expect next

   • Why did the market move from LIBOR to SOFR?
   • What is the RBI repo rate right now?
   • What does the current level mean for leveraged lending volumes?

   Reported by candidates at Bain Capital (Generalist, Boston, 2023). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

Firm tags come from public, anonymous candidate reports on Wall Street Oasis: strong signal, not sworn testimony. Firms are named as the places a question was reported, not as partners of Fin Maverick. Answers are written for this page to show how to think out loud; they are not scripts to recite.