What questions are asked in final interview (with audit partner) for an audit apprenticeship?(even for audit grad role)

Hi Toby, thanks for your question and apologies for the delayed response (I was on annual leave last week!).

My big piece of advice is that the questions asked don’t really focus on the technical side of audit. I was asked one question relating to how we might audit a certain area of the financial statements. As far as audit knowledge goes, I would suggest you make sure you know what audit/assurance is, you know why we do it, and you know what we are looking to achieve. You’re not really graded on your audit knowledge, but like any job it’s good to show you have researched the role and have an interest in it.

For my interview, which was a graduate role, I was asked to prepare a short presentation on a topic of my choice. I then had to answer a few questions on that subject area to prove I had done research and considered different viewpoints. After this, the interview questions were more general - e.g. talking about an achievement I was proud of or a time I had to learn about a new topic.

I would advise you get comfortable using the STAR technique - situation, task, action, response - to answer interview questions. It’s worth researching general interview questions and preparing a few examples that you can apply to these questions. Finally, remember that if you’re successful your apprenticeship lasts for 4 years. You’ll want to demonstrate that you have the right attitude to learn and develop over the four years, and that you have the right attitude to work as part of an audit team across the four years.

Good luck in your application - let me know if you have any further questions!