KPMG interview questions

KPMG Graduate Application and Interview Process

[Edit] The graduate application process consists of 4 parts:

• Online Application Form + Personality and Preference Inventory (PAPI) (psychometric test)
• Online Reasoning Tests
• First Interview
• Assessment Day

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Academic Requirements

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You should have at least a 2.1 degree from any University and 320 points at A-Level (the equivalent of ABB) and grade B in GCSE English and Maths - or equivalent. Extenuating circumstances are accommodated for, but you should specify this on your application form.

Key Competencies

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KPMG's key competencies are the qualities it expects all members of staff to have. You should aim to demonstrate these competencies at each stage of the interview process.

The competencies are:

• Business Focus
• Building Relationships
• Leadership
• Problem Solving
• Drive and Resilience
• Career Motivation
• Making an Impact
• Task Management

More information about these can be found on KPMG's recruitment website here.

Take a practice course to prepare for difficult competency based questions in your upcoming job interviews at KPMG - click here.

Online Application Form

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The online application form requires you to fill in personal details and written sections which demonstrate your competencies. Make sure you demonstrate these competencies throughout.

Questions that appear on the application form include:

• What attracts you to the position you have applied for ?
• Why do you want to work for KPMG?
• What research have you conducted about KPMG?
• What do you think you will be doing in your first year at KPMG?

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KPMG Psychometric Test

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KPMG give a psychometric test to all candidates. You can find out more details about this test and take a practice versions of this test here.

KPMG Application Form Questions

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What attracts you to the position you have applied for?

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You should make your career motivation clear and demonstrate commitment to career. If the position you are applying for includes training, mention that here. Aspects like helping clients and excelling at what you do are valid points.

Why do you want to work for KPMG?

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This may seem like a tough question as firms such as PwC, Deloitte and Ernst & Young offer similar experiences, however the following points should help provide some inspiration.

• Quality of training offered by KPMG
• Great team working attitude of KPMG
• Support of colleagues
• The great work KPMG does in the community (make sure you are aware of this because you will be asked this at interview if you mention it)
• Possibilities for career advancement in KPMG
• Reputation of KPMG

You will also be asked 'why KPMG' at interview, however it will likely be phrased, "What separates KPMG from other firms and why do you want work for KPMG instead of the others?"

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What do you think you will be doing in your first year at KPMG?

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You absolutely need to know the answer to this. You will be asked it at interview as well. If you answer this question wrong, you will be showing that you do not know what you are getting yourself into and haven't done your research. In this case, you absolutely will not get the job.

You can telephone KPMG and tell them that you are considering applying and you would like to know what sort of things you will be doing in your first year. They would be more than happy to tell you, and may even offer you the chance to come in and ask them questions before you even apply.

If you have signed up to doing any training, such as the ICAEW ACA, you will spend a lot of time doing this.

Make sure you have looked at the WikiJob pages for audit and tax, which will help you answer these questions for these service lines.

Personality and Preference Inventory (PAPI)

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This is a questionnaire which asks you to rate how much you agree with particular statements about yourself. For example, a potential statement might be: "I prefer to tackle tasks sequentially rather than juggle many tasks at once." It is worth considering the key competencies discussed above as well as your own opinions with respect to answering the questions. Notice how this statement relates to the competency "Task Management".

The purpose of this test is to generate questions for the interviewer based on your PAPI answers and you will not be selected or screened on this.

Online Reasoning Test

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You will be asked to take the online reasoning test. This is a Cubiks test, which is industry standard.

There are 40 verbal questions and 24 numerical questions. The KPMG tests are more difficult than most other firms however they have a lower pass mark (around the 30th percentile). So the key is accuracy, but don't expect to finish all the questions.

Practice online reasoning tests here

Most people will need to practise the numerical reasoning test to pass it. Pages 7-23 of this book may prove extremely useful in preparing for any of the numerical tests.

First Interview

[Edit] The first interview will last approximately one hour and will be by a manager from your line of service (or occasionally someone from HR), and is a competency based interview. You will be asked a number of questions, which will profile your experience against the key competencies described above. Ideally, you should also aim to display the following attributes:

• Commitment to teamwork
• Ability and desire to lead and inspire
• Respectability and responsibility - are you how the company would like to be perceived by clients
• Ethical and truthful - are you trustworthy and can you demonstrate your integrity

Furthermore, they will be looking to see if you display a commitment to career (you should be able to answer questions about what you will be doing in your first year and the qualification to which you are applying), and a clear understanding of what makes you want to want to work for KPMG instead of other accounting firms.

Questions that you are likely to be asked during this interview:

• Describe a time when you worked in a team? (testing teamwork)
• If a member disagrees with you, how did you handle that? What was the outcome? (testing leadership)
• If your tasks have become a daily routine, how would you keep yourself motivated? (testing resilience)
• Describe a current issue in the business world?
• Give an example of a company that you believe has the potential to grow and why?
• Give an example of a company that has grown a lot in the last couple of years and what would you advise them to do next?
• What problems do you think professional services firms are facing today?

You will be expected to give examples of situations you have been in which back up these competencies.
You should receive an email ahead of the interview giving a specific list of the competencies that your individual interview will focus mainly on (based on your application and PAPI questionnaire answers). Take a good look at the example questions listed under these competencies on the website, as some of the questions in your interview may be very similar to these.

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Assessment Centre

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E-tray exercise

[Edit] The E-tray exercise is a computer based simulation consisting of two parts:

• Computer exercise (70 minutes). No specific computer or software knowledge is required.
• Written exercise (50 minutes).

The computer software is simple to use, and you will be shown how to use it before the exercise commences. No familiarity with any software is required.

You will be presented with a booklet that contains a business scenario. In the scenario, you will be moving to a new office to cover for another member of staff, and today is the day prior to the move. Clients and colleagues from the new office have already begun sending you emails, and are requesting your response.

You will be required to answer emails as they appear in your inbox. Each one will require you to do one of:

• Extract information from the booklet
• Perform simple calculations
• Decide how to deal with unhappy clients, over-demanding managers and similar situations.

All responses are selected from a multiple choice list. As time progresses emails will arrive faster, and the last few will appear in quick succession. There are 24 emails in all.

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Real life training and practice In-tray and e-tray tests are available here

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Exercise caution as the wrong answers may appear to be correct at first glance. Work swiftly but carefully. Do not guess answers; it is better to leave questions unanswered then panic. Where a question requires a judgement call, often a diplomatic response is the most suitable. You will be provided with calculator and may not use your own. The software format used is exactly the same as the practice test which you can try here.

E-tray exercise scenario

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You are a Trainee Business Advisor who normally works in Newcastle. However, a member of staff in Manchester has been taken ill and they are short-staffed. You have been asked to cover and take over the projects that he was running. Unfortunately you cannot travel to Manchester until tomorrow as you have a client meeting in Newcastle at 11am. However, you have agreed to set aside two hours today to deal with some issues which have already arisen in Manchester. There are three projects which the person you are covering for has been running and you will get e-mails relating to all three. All the information you need to answer the e-mails will be in the booklet. For about 20 of the 24 e-mails you will need to refer to the booklet. The others are judgement calls and you just need to choose what you think would be most appropriate given the situation – be diplomatic.

Take at least 8-10 minutes at the start to read the information and familiarise yourself with it – it will help later. Work as quickly as you can, but make sure you are being accurate – don’t guess. You can get away with not answering one or two, but no more than that. Two or three of the questions will require you to do some basic calculations. You are provided with a calculator and the formulae are given in the booklet. They are simple and nothing to worry about. Each question has four possible answers/responses and you select the one you think is appropriate. Once you respond though you can NOT change your answer. Keep calm and work methodically through it.

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Real life training and practice In-tray and e-tray tests are available here

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E-tray Written Exercise

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The second part of the e-tray is two longer written response e-mails. You are given a different set of information (though it’s only 4 pages so doesn’t take too long to read). You are given 50 minutes for this section. Both e-mails ask for your recommendation on a particular topic/strategy. There are no right answers, the key is to back-up and justify the answer you give. Since this is a longer written piece make sure your spelling and grammar is correct – there is no spell check. Most people at my assessment centre found the first e-mail took longer to answer than the second. It is advisable that you spend 30 minutes on the first one (there is more data to discuss) and 20 minutes on the second one. This exercise is again done on the computer, so the quicker you can type the easier it is likely to be.

Consider writing the end of the email first to help you save time.

The first email relates to a ecommerce retailer that is a client of KPMG. You will be provided information on the market, competitors, consumers, and the company's resources. You will be required to consider the information and advise on the best course of action to improve the company's results.

The second email relates to KPMG's marketing budget. You will be required to decide how the marketing budget is best spent. You are provided information about the consultancy market.

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Real life training and practice In-tray and e-tray tests are available here

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Ensure you allocate time between the emails. Task management is a core competency of KPMG. Ensure you write in a clear, logical style. You must present your arguments carefully and with justification. Check the spelling, punctuation and grammar carefully. No spell checker is provided. Do not use information you know but which is not provided with the scenario. All information you require is provided. If you cannot touch type, it might help you to learn to do so. If you complete the task early, you will have the remaining time to review your responses. The exercise is performed on the computer and will end automatically when the time has expired.

Lunch

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Lunch is an opportunity to chat with recent joiners of the graduate scheme, and a few more experienced staff. It will last about 2 hours so there will be plenty of opportunity to chat and ask questions. You are not being assessed during lunch, however you should maintain strictly professional. There may be wine available; it is advisable to steer clear of alcohol.

Group Exercise

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(see group exercise)

You will be placed in a group with 3-5 other candidates. You will be given approximately 10 minutes to read a booklet of information which will relate to one of the companies from the E-Tray exercise, a struggling internet multimedia retailer. You will then be given around 20 minutes as a group to prepare a 10 minute presentation to the company. A trained KPMG assessor will observe you throughout but you should try to ignore them. They will be looking for team working, leadership, communication and task management skills. Make sure you read the whole of the booklet, you only get those 10 minutes (there is too much discussion to be done in the remaining time).

Make sure the team does not subdivide and delegate in the discussion. This is a clear instruction on the front of the book. Your team may try and do this but you would not be following the instructions, so if this happens, try and steer the discussion back on course.

You can practice group exercises like the one you will encounter at KPMG online - click here

Presentation

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In advance, you will be provided the following scenario, and be required to provide a presentation to a partner for 10 minutes.

You are working for KPMG as a junior advisor on a client (an organisation of your choice*). You are presenting to a Partner/Director who is heading up the KPMG team on the project for this client. Your presentation is focused on the ways in which the client can further develop their business. What advice would you give to the organisation on effective expansion of their business, and why? Your presentation should include: A very brief overview of the organisation How they can expand/further develop their business The advice that you would give to this organisation to ensure successful development of their business, and why. You will be asked to deliver this presentation to one of the KPMG partners on the assessment day. The presentation should last no longer than 10 minutes, after which you will be asked a few questions on the subject of your presentation. You should prepare any handouts or other materials in advance of the day. Do NOT prepare any presentation slides, as an Overhead Projector/a computer will not be available. Please note that you will not be able to use a flip chart either. NB – Hand written materials are perfectly acceptable! Do not worry if you do not have access to a computer to prepare your presentation – we do not intend to assess your skills with software packages! * the organisation you choose does not need to be a KPMG client

You will expected to talk for the whole 10 minutes uninterrupted. Following this, the partner will likely ask you questions where you can voice your opinions, and this may last for an additional 20 minutes.

Tips and Advice Stick to what you know; you don't have to talk about a large company, you can talk about your local bakery if you prefer Remember that your task management is being assessed - so try and stick to 10 minutes Stick to easy to understand business e.g. high street retail. Consider avoiding internet businesses such as Facebook or Google - these are too new and too different from traditional businesses Try to avoid using any KPMG clients. Focus on what advice KPMG can give. You want to show an understanding of KPMG and what services it provides. Examples include: Provision of tax advice Providing a list of potential takeover targets

You will be asked questions and challenged about the advice you give and will have to justify your reasoning. If you are struggling to think of ideas for this section, trying using SWOT analysis techniques.

Technical Interview

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You will be asked to pick a role you have done in the last few role (or your most recent role) and explain the project you were working on, what the aim of the project was and what YOU did to ensure the aim was met. You will be asked in detail about the technologies that were used on the project and the processes employed. If you say your role was to ensure the system work you will be required to explain exactly how you did this.
If you managed a team you will be asked about your management style, how you ensured you team worked efficiently and how you ensured they made progress.
You maybe asked about specific investment products that you have worked with, if it is on your cv ensure you can put it into context with the role you are applying for.

Being Made An Offer

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You can reasonably expect to hear within 3 working days if your application has been successful.

Rejection

[Edit] If you are unsuccessful, KPMG will provide you a page of detailed feedback about your application and why you were not accepted at the application stage, and then full feeback at all future stages.