Interview Questions for Accounts Payable Clerks:
Demonstrates how the candidate approaches the job.
This Accounts Payable Clerk interview profile brings together a snapshot of what to look for in candidates with a balanced sample of suitable interview questions.
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6 Accounts Payable Clerk Interview Questions & Answers
I have a bachelor’s degree in accounting and am currently pursuing my Certified Bookkeeper designation from the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers. I also spent the last two years as the bookkeeper for my last company, so I feel I am prepared to take on the additional responsibilities required from this accounts payable clerk position.
Where do you see yourself in five years from now?
Try to connect your future with their business. Obviously nobody knows what will happen in five years time. You may live in another country, be married (or divorced, if you’re married already), and have a completely different job, or you may even run a business and make big money each month :).
But big corporations invest a lot into the training of their new hires, and they hope to keep the best talent onboard. I suggest the following: Browse their website and try to find the organizational structure (hierarchy) of the company. Find a job which you can realistically have in five years time, and refer to it in your interview answer: “It would be great to work as an XYZ in your company…”.
Sample answer:
Why do you want to work as an account payable clerk?
Not a single person in the world dreams about having this job, and you should not try to convince the interviewers that you always wanted to process invoices at work, and that you want to do it for the rest of your life… But you should show some enthusiasm in your answer. You can say that you want to become an accountant one day, and consider this a good first step of your professional career.
Or you can say that you want to understand the functioning of the business, and hope to have different entry-level roles within their company in the next few years. Account payable clerk is one of them.
Sample answer:
Can you explain why integrity plays such a vital role in accounting?
Thank you for asking this important question. Integrity plays a vital role in accounting, and more specifically being an accounts payable clerk, because of the sensitive financial information involved. As an accounts payable clerk, I schedule payments for vendor bills. If I do not act with complete honesty, there is a chance that fraudulent activities will take place. Integrity helps ensure the company’s money goes where it should. Not only that, but I think is it important for honesty to permeate a work environment to give make all employees feel confident in the work being done.
This job requires a fair amount of data entry, and it can become boring. How do you plan to motivate yourself in work?
You have a few good options here. First one is saying that you have your goals, know what you want to achieve in both personal and professional life, and understand that this step (job of an account payable clerk) is necessary on your journey. The awareness of your goals and the bigger picture you carry in your mind will help you to stay motivated.
Second option is saying that you actually prefer routine work, that you aren’t the most creative fellow out there, and exactly that’s why you opted for a job with a big corporation (which always requires much less creativity than the job in a small business, where you respond for a variety of tasks).
Third alternative is saying that you do not consider the job repetitive, or boring–there are always some new vendors, you have to communicate with other people in the team, and problems arise on daily basis, different issues you have to address…
Sample answer:
* Do not forget to check also: Guide on how to overcome interview nerves – Do not let anxiety to kill your chances in accounts payable clerk interview.