After clearing the GD-WAT round, comes the personal interview round. If you ace that, nothing can stop you from scoring a seat in your dream b-school. And because Personal Interview is the ultimate ‘make it or break it’ round you will have to study extra hard, especially, for if you are opting for MBA with Finance specialisation. How do you prepare yourself for a finance interview? Do you know what finance is? Are there any concepts that you might need to learn? And how do you answer ‘Why finance’ questions? Read this article to get all the answers.
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An MBA in Finance is great if you want to pursue a career that deals with money. If you want to excel in this field, you need to have a strong base in mathematics, financial theory, economics, etc. A Finance MBA is a careful mix of mathematical skills with management classes. It is also a faster way to navigate your career towards c-suite jobs in finance.
- Increased Financial Knowledge: You will gain the ability to understand, analyse and recognise opportunities and risks in the financial markets.
- Business Understanding: You will be able to understand macroeconomics and gain the ability to analyse patterns in the industry, apart from other concepts like - profits, losses, investment portfolios and margins.
- Determining Value: A MBA Finance guy knows about various value markers of business like - the worth of stocks, shares and know how to build and maintain a capital budget.
- It's More Than Finance: In MBA you are not just exposing yourself to knowledge related to finances, but also get practical experience through various management simulations, case studies, internship and projects.
- Banking Roles - Corporate Banking, Investment Banking, Retail Banking, Bank Treasury Management, Transaction Banking, etc
- Corporate Finance Roles - Treasury Management, Finance Manager, Accounts Manager etc are some popular corporate roles open to you.
- Other Finance Jobs - Analyst at a rating agency, Manager at Financial Consulting firms, Risk Manager at a Financial Institutions, Fund Manager at Insurance companies, Manager at new-age Fin-Tech companies like Wallets, SME Lending platforms, Venture Capital, etc.
It is not acceptable for you to know about finance in-depth. However, a basic idea of the concepts will be helpful to you. Here is a list of a few things that you can briefly learn about.
- Basics Of Accounting: There are some common terms that you can learn about, like revenues, assets, liabilities, expenses, income statement, balance sheet, record transactions, statement of cash flows, debits and credits, the revenue recognition principle and the matching principle. The idea is to get yourself familiarized with the terms and concepts. No need to go in-depth, you will get the chance to learn about it in detail in the b-school.
- GDP: Also known as Gross Domestic Product, GDP is the monetary value of all finished goods and services made in a country in a particular period of time. GDP is like an economic snapshot of a country. Through GDP you can calculate the size of the economy and what the growth rate is like. A GDP can be calculated using expenditures, production, or incomes. So, as an interviewee, learn about Indian GDP, Industries that are contributing to the GDP, ways of calculating, etc.
- Asset: In easy terms, an asset (in financial term) means the type (and kind) of resources owned by the business. Anything tangible or intangible that has positive economic value is an asset. For interview prep, understand what asset is, and what should be considered an asset and what should not.
- Liability: In financial terms, liability are future sacrifices an entity makes to other entities because of past transactions, past events, a settlement which requires transfer or use of assets, services or any other yielding of economic benefits in the future.
- Financial Statements: They are reports organised by the company's management to find out the financial performance and position of the entity, at a point in time. This includes balance sheet, income statements, statement of owner's equity, and cash flows.
- Stock Markets: Stock (share, equity) market is a place where buyers and sellers meet in order to trade stocks. More the people sell stocks/shares of a company in a given time (i.e volume), the more 'liquid' a market is said to be. For the interview, learn about what it is? Type of stocks? Name of major stock markets? What happens when the market crashes, etc.
- FDI: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a kind of investment which leads to ownership in a business in one country by an entity of another country. FDI includes - mergers and acquisitions, building infrastructure, intra-company loans, reinvesting profits earned from other overseas operations, etc. You just need to know the basics of FDI, why it is important for an Indian economy, current conditions, etc.
Note: You should also keep yourself updated with current affairs, what is happening in the world! Read The Most Important Current Affairs Topics For Your MBA Interviews!
Types of Question Asked During MBA Interview (Finance Specialisation)
- What is finance?
- Do you know the difference between profit and revenue? What is the difference?
- What is the full form of GAAP?
- What’s Income Tax? Do you know how to calculate it?
- What do you understand by ‘listed company’?
- How does one determine a discount rate?
- What is India's Foreign Exchange Reserve?
- What do you understand about Investment Banking?
- What do you have to say about the current condition of the Indian Economy?
- “The US-China trade war has adversely affected the global trade and financial markets.” Comment on this.
- Goldman Sachs
- JP Morgan
- BCG (Boston Consulting Group)
- Morgan Stanley
- Lehman Brothers
- Bain & Company
- Barclays
- HDFC
- State Bank Of India
- McKinsey
- Deutsche Bank
- Deloitte
- Citigroup
- ICICI Bank
- Apple
- Facebook
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Check Out Our Guides On Answering The Difficult Personal Interview Questions: Part 1 | Part 2
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