Investment Banking interview preparation
Every question below is either traced to a named firm from a public candidate report, or tagged at desk level when we could not trace it. Answers are written the way you would actually say them out loud — answer first, then the mechanism, then the limitation.
100 questions, mapped to the firms that asked them
- Questions
- 100
- Traced to a firm
- 100
- Firms
- 46
- Updated
- September 2026
001Walk me through the three financial statements and how they connect.Goldman SachsInvestment Banking · New York · 2026Guggenheim SecuritiesHealthcare · Glen Allen · 2026Piper SandlerInvestment Banking · New York · 2026Truist SecuritiesReal Estate · Atlanta · 2026Moody'sCorporate · New York · 2022
Say this
The income statement shows profitability over a period, the balance sheet is a snapshot of what the company owns and owes at a point in time, and the cash flow statement reconciles the two by tracking the actual cash that moved. They link through net income and cash.
Then walk it
- Net income is the bottom of the income statement. It becomes the top line of the cash flow statement.
- On the cash flow statement you add back non-cash charges like depreciation, adjust for working capital changes, then run through investing and financing.
- The ending cash number flows to the top of the balance sheet as the cash balance.
- Net income also flows into retained earnings in shareholders' equity, less any dividends. That is the second link.
- So the balance sheet balances because both sides of net income land in it: the cash it generated on the asset side, the earnings it retained on the equity side.
Where candidates lose it
Reciting the three statements as three separate definitions and stopping. The question is entirely about the linkage. Say the two connection points out loud, net income into retained earnings and ending cash onto the balance sheet, or you have not answered it.
Expect next
- Which statement would you look at first if you could only pick one, and why?
- A company is profitable but running out of cash. Where do you look?
- Why does the balance sheet actually balance?
Reported by candidates at Goldman Sachs (Investment Banking, New York, 2026); Guggenheim Securities (Healthcare, Glen Allen, 2026); Piper Sandler (Investment Banking, New York, 2026); Truist Securities (Real Estate, Atlanta, 2026); Moody's (Corporate, New York, 2022). Source: Wall Street Oasis.
015Walk me through a DCF.Goldman SachsInvestment Banking · New York · 2026Deutsche BankInvestment Banking · Honolulu · 2025BarclaysInvestment Banking · New York · 2025Truist SecuritiesCorporate Banking · Atlanta · 2025Houlihan LokeyDebt Capital Markets · Los Angeles · 2025Credit SuisseInvestment Banking · São Paulo · 2021
Say this
Project unlevered free cash flow for five to ten years, discount it at WACC, add a terminal value for everything beyond the forecast, sum to enterprise value, then bridge to equity value and divide by diluted shares.
Then walk it
- Build unlevered free cash flow: EBIT, taxed, plus D&A, less CapEx, less the change in working capital.
- Discount at WACC, because unlevered cash flow belongs to both debt and equity holders. Use mid-year convention if cash arrives through the year.
- Terminal value two ways: Gordon growth on the final year cash flow, or an exit multiple on terminal EBITDA. I would run both and check they agree.
- Sum the discounted cash flows and the discounted terminal value to get enterprise value.
- Bridge down: less net debt, less preferred, less minority interest, plus non-operating assets, to get equity value. Divide by diluted shares for value per share.
- Then say the honest part: terminal value is usually 60 to 80 percent of the total, so the answer is mostly a function of the growth rate and discount rate, and I would sensitise both.
Where candidates lose it
Delivering it as a memorised list with no acknowledgement that terminal value dominates. Every candidate can recite the steps. The one who volunteers that most of the value sits in an assumption, and offers to sensitise it, sounds like someone who has actually built one.
Expect next
- What are the main drivers or sensitivities in your DCF?
- What discount rate would you use and why?
- When is a DCF the wrong tool?
Reported by candidates at Goldman Sachs (Investment Banking, New York, 2026); Deutsche Bank (Investment Banking, Honolulu, 2025); Barclays (Investment Banking, New York, 2025); Truist Securities (Corporate Banking, Atlanta, 2025); Houlihan Lokey (Debt Capital Markets, Los Angeles, 2025); Credit Suisse (Investment Banking, São Paulo, 2021). Source: Wall Street Oasis.
096Why investment banking, and why this firm?Goldman SachsInvestment Banking · New York · 2026CitiInvestment Banking · San Francisco · 2025Truist SecuritiesInvestment Banking · Charlotte · 2026Deutsche BankInvestment Banking · London · 2022Rothschild & CoInvestment Banking · London · 2025
Say this
Three beats: a specific moment that got you interested, what you did to test that interest, and one concrete reason for this firm that could not be copy-pasted to a competitor.
Then walk it
- The origin has to be specific and true. A deal you followed, a project where you built a model, a company in your family, a case competition. Not 'I have always been passionate about finance'.
- Then the evidence that you tested it, because interest is cheap and action is not. A society, a self-taught model, an internship, a stock you have tracked for two years.
- Then why banking rather than the adjacent options, and be honest about the trade you are making. Something like: I want the transaction seat rather than the research seat because I want to be inside the execution, and I know what the hours cost.
- Then why this firm, with one fact that is true only of them: a specific deal, a sector franchise, the size of the analyst class, the staffing model. One real fact beats three generic compliments.
- Keep it to about ninety seconds and finish cleanly instead of trailing off. Then stop talking.
Where candidates lose it
A 'why this firm' answer that would work for any of their competitors. Interviewers hear forty versions a day and the generic ones blur. Name one thing only they do, and if you have spoken to someone there, say who and what they told you.
Expect next
- Why you over the other candidates from your university with the same experience?
- What do you think analysts actually do day to day?
- Which group do you want and why?
Reported by candidates at Goldman Sachs (Investment Banking, New York, 2026); Citi (Investment Banking, San Francisco, 2025); Truist Securities (Investment Banking, Charlotte, 2026); Deutsche Bank (Investment Banking, London, 2022); Rothschild & Co (Investment Banking, London, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.
098Would you deliver an analysis on time with 90 percent confidence in the numbers, or delay it to get to 100 percent?Goldman SachsInvestment Banking · New York · 2025
Say this
Deliver on time, and flag exactly which parts I am not confident in. In banking a late answer is often useless, but an unqualified wrong number is worse. The professional move is to hit the deadline with the uncertainty labelled.
Then walk it
- Start by rejecting the premise that those are the only two options. The third path is to deliver on time and say precisely where the 10 percent of doubt sits.
- Then the judgement: it depends on what the number is for. A directional figure for an internal discussion can go out at 90 percent. A number going into a fairness opinion, a public document or a signed agreement cannot.
- So I would triage: is this decision-critical and irreversible, or is it an input to a conversation that will iterate?
- And the escalation point, which is what they are really testing: I would tell my associate before the deadline, not after, so they can decide whether to take the risk or buy more time from the client. Hiding the uncertainty is the only genuinely wrong answer.
- Then close with the practical habit: I would send it with a short note saying which two assumptions are soft and what I would need to firm them up.
Where candidates lose it
Picking one horn of the dilemma and defending it absolutely. Both extremes are wrong. The answer is on time, with the uncertainty disclosed, escalated early, and the threshold set by what the number will be used for.
Expect next
- What if your associate tells you to send it without the caveat?
- Tell me about a time you were in an ethical dilemma.
- Tell me about a time you fell behind schedule.
Reported by candidates at Goldman Sachs (Investment Banking, 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.