Financial Analysis interview preparation

The three statements, working capital, ratios, forecasting, variance analysis, costing, capital budgeting, valuation and the modelling and Excel work that fills the day, plus the fit questions about why this seat. Every question is either traced to a named firm from a public candidate report, or tagged at desk level when we could not trace it — we do not invent attributions.

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Question bank

100 questions, mapped to the firms that asked them

Questions
100
Traced to a firm
42
Firms
28
Updated
September 2026
Asked at
All firmsMoody's7Bain Capital3State Street3Ares Management2BlackRock2D.E. Shaw2Morgan Stanley2Oaktree Capital Management2S&P Global2Bridgewater Associates1Citadel1Franklin Templeton1Golub Capital1Harris Williams1Houlihan Lokey1J.P. Morgan1Jane Street1Marshall Wace1Millennium Management1Morningstar1PIMCO1Sycamore Partners1Truist Securities1Two Sigma1Vanguard1Wellington 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
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Type
AnyTechnicalCaseBrainteaserMarket viewFit
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  1. 100What do you do for fun?Fit and careerCorephone / first roundMillennium ManagementFinancial Planning and Analysis · New York · 2025

    Say this

    Answer it like a human. Name one or two real interests, give one specific detail that proves it is real, and stop. It is a genuine question about whether people will want to sit next to you for ten hours a day.

    Then walk it

    1. Pick something true and specific. Not 'reading' but the two books you finished last month. Not 'sport' but the league you play in on Sunday mornings and where your team finished.
    2. The specific detail is the whole answer. 'I run, I did the Mumbai half marathon in February and I am trying to get under two hours' is memorable. 'I enjoy fitness' is not.
    3. Two is enough. Something social and something solitary works well, because it shows range without turning into a list.
    4. It is also the question most likely to build actual rapport, so it is worth answering warmly rather than strategically. Interviews are long and interviewers remember the candidate they enjoyed talking to.
    5. What not to do: pretend a work skill is a hobby. 'For fun I read annual reports' is transparent and it makes the rest of your answers less believable. If you genuinely do invest personally, say it as an interest, not as a performance claim.
    6. And be ready for the follow-up, because there always is one. If you name a book, you will be asked what it was about. If you name a team, you will be asked about last weekend. Do not name anything you cannot discuss for two minutes.

    Where candidates lose it

    Giving a corporate non-answer or claiming a hobby that is really work. Both read as inauthentic and this is the one question where authenticity is the entire point. One or two real things, one specific verifiable detail, then stop talking.

    Expect next

    • What was the last book you read?
    • How did you get into that?
    • What do you do to switch off during close week?

    Reported by candidates at Millennium Management (Financial Planning and Analysis, New York, 2025). 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.