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.
021What are the main valuation methodologies, with the pros and cons of each?Centerview PartnersInvestment Banking · Menlo Park · 2026Piper SandlerInvestment Banking · New York · 2026InvescoAsset Management · New York · 2023
Say this
Three core ones: comparable companies, precedent transactions and DCF. Comps tell you what the market pays today, precedents tell you what buyers paid including control, and a DCF tells you what the cash flows are worth on your own assumptions.
Then walk it
- Trading comps: fast, market-based, easy to defend. But no two companies are truly comparable, and if the whole sector is mispriced your answer inherits that.
- Precedent transactions: captures the control premium and what strategic buyers actually paid. But deals are stale, each had its own circumstances, and disclosure is patchy.
- DCF: the only method grounded in the actual economics, and it forces you to state your assumptions. But it is enormously sensitive to WACC and terminal value, so it can be made to say almost anything.
- Situational ones sit alongside: LBO analysis for a floor value a sponsor would pay, sum of the parts for conglomerates, NAV for asset-heavy or real estate businesses, and dividend discount for banks.
- In practice you show all of them as a football field and argue for a range, because the overlap between methods is more persuasive than any single number.
Where candidates lose it
Listing the three and stopping when the question explicitly asked for pros and cons. Also, claiming DCF is 'the most accurate'. It is the most theoretically sound and the most easily manipulated, and saying both is what makes you sound credible.
Expect next
- Rank the four methodologies from highest to lowest value and explain why.
- Which would you weight most for a company like this?
- When would you not use a DCF at all?
Reported by candidates at Centerview Partners (Investment Banking, Menlo Park, 2026); Piper Sandler (Investment Banking, New York, 2026); Invesco (Asset Management, New York, 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.