How to Assess Accounting Skills When Hiring

Practical entry-and-reconciliation exercise

Give the candidate a set of transactions to journalize and a messy account to reconcile (with a planted discrepancy). Ask for the entries, the reconciliation, and an explanation of the variance.

Best for Staff and senior accountant roles where close accuracy is the core deliverable.

Scenario-based judgment questions

Present ambiguous transactions (e.g. an upfront annual payment, a bill-and-hold sale, a warranty obligation) and ask how the candidate would account for them and why.

Best for Assessing technical depth and judgment for senior and managerial roles.

AI-scored case assessment (e.g. a Cohesyve subjective or spreadsheet assessment)

Generate a unique scenario per candidate from your job description — book entries in a spreadsheet or explain a treatment in an open response — scored against a structured rubric so no answer key circulates.

Best for Fairly screening a high-volume applicant pool before live interviews.

MCQ technical knowledge check

A short multiple-choice set on debits/credits, statement impact, and core GAAP/IFRS rules to gate out clear non-accountants early.

Best for Early high-volume screening before a practical round.

Look for Books deferred revenue and recognizes $1,000 monthly; explains the balance sheet and income statement effect correctly.

Look for A methodical approach — outstanding checks, deposits in transit, fees, errors — that finds root cause rather than plugging the difference.

Look for Checks that debits equal credits, scans for misclassified or sign-flipped accounts, and reasons toward the specific error.

Look for Sets up an accrual in March and reverses in April; understands matching and completeness for close.

Look for Applies the criteria (future benefit, useful life, materiality thresholds) rather than guessing case by case.

Look for Assesses materiality, documents the correction, and escalates appropriately rather than quietly burying or ignoring it.

Look for A concrete, ordered process with controls and review steps — and self-awareness about common failure points.

Is a CPA enough to confirm someone can do the job?

A CPA confirms they passed a rigorous exam, but day-to-day accuracy, reconciliation methodology, and judgment under deadline are separate skills. Some certified candidates struggle with hands-on close work, and some excellent staff accountants are not yet certified. Use the credential as context and test the actual work — entries, reconciliations, and judgment calls.

How do I test accounting skills without a long take-home?

Use a focused practical exercise with a few transactions and one messy reconciliation. Cohesyve can generate a unique entry-and-reconciliation scenario per candidate from your job description and score it automatically, so you screen accuracy and judgment without an interviewer present for every candidate.

Should I test GAAP knowledge or practical bookkeeping?

Test both, weighted to the role. Bookkeeping and AP/AR roles lean on accurate entries and reconciliations; senior and reporting roles also need recognition judgment and controls awareness. Pair a practical exercise with a couple of ambiguous-transaction scenarios so you see both correctness and how they handle judgment calls.

What is the most important thing to look for?

Whether they chase a discrepancy to its root cause or force a plug to make it balance. An accountant who quietly plugs differences to hit a deadline will eventually hide a real problem. Design your reconciliation task with a planted discrepancy specifically to see which behavior you get.

How do I keep my accounting test fair across candidates?

Use the same scenario type and a shared scoring key so every candidate is judged on the same criteria. Generating unique-but-equivalent cases per candidate, as Cohesyve does, prevents answer-sharing while keeping difficulty consistent — so a later applicant is not advantaged by a leaked test.