Free Accountant Practice Assessment (2026)

Cohesyve · Practice for candidates

Going for a Accountant role? Find out how you'd actually score.

Run a Accountant simulation built the same way employers build theirs, and get a full report showing exactly where you lost marks — before it counts.

free assessments a month

no card required

Full

scored report every run

Every

question type included

5 free assessments a month · No card required · Pro from $16/mo

Overview

Accounting assessments are practical rather than theoretical. You are usually handed a trial balance, a bank statement, or a folder of invoices and asked to produce something correct under a clock. The questions are less about whether you can recite a standard and more about whether your numbers reconcile and whether you notice the item that does not belong. This page covers the formats employers use and what assessors mark.

Why employers assess this role

Bookkeeping errors are cheap to make and expensive to unwind, and nothing on a CV distinguishes an accountant who reconciles carefully from one who forces a balance. A practical task shows within an hour whether a candidate checks their own work and whether they can explain a difference rather than plug it.

What gets tested

Reconciliation and difference investigationDouble-entry and journal preparationMonth-end close sequencingAccruals, prepayments and cut-offSpreadsheet accuracy and structureChart of accounts and correct codingWritten explanation of a varianceAttention to detail under time pressure

The format

Duration

45–90 minutes

Question types

Reconciliation exercise with a deliberate difference
Journal preparation from a described scenario
Spreadsheet task on a provided ledger extract
Short written explanation for a non-finance manager

Levels

Entry · Mid · Senior

What you'll be asked to do

Reconcile two records that disagree

A bank statement against a cash book, or a supplier statement against the purchase ledger. You are scored on whether you find and categorise every difference rather than getting to a number that ties.

•Reconcile a bank statement to a cash book and list each reconciling item
•Match a supplier statement to the purchase ledger and explain the gaps
•Reconcile an intercompany balance where one side has posted in a later period

Post the right entries

A described transaction and a request for the journal. Assessors look at whether cut-off, VAT treatment and account coding are handled, not just whether debits equal credits.

•Prepare the accrual for an invoice received after the period end
•Post a prepayment for an annual insurance premium paid mid-year
•Correct a misposted capital item that was expensed to repairs

Work in a spreadsheet accurately

A ledger extract with the usual problems — inconsistent formats, duplicated rows, text where numbers should be. Speed matters, but a wrong total scores nothing.

•Summarise a transaction listing by account and period
•Identify the duplicate payments in a payments file
•Build an aged debtor analysis from raw invoice data

Explain it to a non-accountant

A short written section. Marked on whether a budget holder could act on it without a follow-up conversation.

•Explain to a department head why their cost centre is over budget
•Write the note supporting an unusual journal for the auditor
•Explain why a supplier has been paid twice and what stops it recurring

Cohesyve for candidates

Practise a Accountant assessment before the real one

Run the same AI job simulations companies use to evaluate applicants. You get a scored report showing where you're strong and where you're not, plus what to work on.

Sample tasks — and what strong looks like

Reconcile the attached bank statement to the cash book. The difference is 1,842.

Entry

What strong looks like: Works through the differences methodically — unpresented cheques, bank charges not posted, a transposition — categorises each one, and states which side needs adjusting. Weak candidates find a single item close to the difference and stop, or post a suspense entry to make it balance.

An invoice for services delivered in the period arrives after the ledgers are closed. Handle it.

Mid

What strong looks like: Accrues in the correct period, reverses in the next, notes the VAT treatment separately from the cost, and flags whether the amount is material enough to reopen. Weak answers post the invoice in the month it arrived and move on.

Identify possible duplicate payments in a file of 400 supplier transactions.

Mid

What strong looks like: Matches on more than one key — supplier, amount, invoice reference, date proximity — allows for near-matches where a reference was retyped, and separates genuine duplicates from legitimate instalments. Weak submissions filter on exact amount alone and report the recurring rent as a duplicate.

Gross margin in the management accounts looks wrong to the finance director. Investigate and report.

Senior

What strong looks like: Checks cut-off and coding before assuming a trading issue, tests whether stock movements and cost of sales are in the same period, quantifies each cause, and reports the conclusion first with the workings behind it. Weak answers describe the movement without establishing whether it is real or an accounting artefact.

How to prepare

#1
Practise a full bank reconciliation from scratch under a timer, categorising every difference rather than working towards the number you already know.
#2
Rehearse accruals, prepayments and cut-off until they are automatic, because they appear in almost every accounting assessment at mid level.
#3
Build the habit of adding a check total or a tie-back line to any spreadsheet you produce, and make sure it is visible to the person marking it.
#4
Practise cleaning a messy transaction listing quickly — text-formatted numbers, inconsistent dates, trailing spaces — since the raw data is deliberately untidy.
#5
Write a short explanation of a variance for a non-financial reader, then cut it in half and check the action is still obvious.
#6
Sit one timed end-to-end simulation rather than more untimed exercises, because pacing rather than knowledge is what most candidates run out of.

Common mistakes

Forcing a reconciliation to balance with a suspense or rounding entry instead of investigating the difference.
Ignoring cut-off, so costs and the revenue they relate to fall in different periods.
Coding to a convenient account rather than the correct one and leaving no note.
Reporting a total without a single check that the components add back to it.
Treating VAT as part of the cost when it is recoverable, or the reverse.
Writing a variance explanation full of ledger terminology that the budget holder cannot act on.

How it's scored

Criterion	What strong looks like
Numerical accuracy	The figures are right, the schedule casts and cross-casts, and the output ties back to the source data provided.
Reconciliation discipline	Every difference is identified and explained by cause, with nothing absorbed into an unexplained balancing figure.
Technical treatment	Period, VAT and capital-versus-revenue decisions are handled correctly, with the reasoning noted where a judgement was made.
Working papers	A reviewer can follow the work without asking questions — sources referenced, assumptions labelled, no hidden hardcoded numbers.
Communication	The explanation leads with the conclusion, quantifies the effect, and is written for the person who has to do something about it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which accounting standards will I be tested on?

Usually only at a working level, and normally the framework the employer actually reports under. Most assessments care far more about whether you reconcile properly and get cut-off right than about your ability to quote a standard number.

Do I need to know a specific accounting system?

Rarely. Assessments are typically spreadsheet-based precisely so that candidates from different systems can be compared. Familiarity with a particular package is normally treated as trainable.

How strong does my Excel need to be?

Comfortable rather than advanced. Lookups, pivot summaries, conditional totals and clean formatting cover most tasks. What loses marks is an unchecked total, not a missing exotic function.

What if I cannot get the reconciliation to balance in the time?

Document what you found, what remains unexplained and where you would look next. A partly reconciled schedule with a clear list of open items usually scores better than a balanced one with an unexplained plug.

Can I try one before the real assessment?

Yes. Cohesyve gives you five free scored assessments a month, so you can sit an accounting simulation and read the report on your reconciliation and accuracy before an employer sees the same thing.

Practise another role

Cohesyve · Practice for candidates

Practise a Accountant assessment now — free.

Five scored assessments a month, a full report on every run, and a learning pathway built from what you got wrong. No card required.