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Crack the Investment Banking Interview with FIC's 350 Interview Question Guide

  • 59 Behavioral Fit 
  • 15 Market Knowledge Questions
  • 53 Accounting Questions
  • 46 Enterprise Value/Comparable Questions
  • 49 Discounted Cash Flow Questions
  • 59 Mergers and Acquisitions Questions
  • 15 Leveraged Buyout Questions
  • 26 Private Equity Questions
  • 3 Hedge Funds, Corporate Banking, Risk Management Questions
  • 4 Other Questions

Interview Break-Down

350 Questions To Transform Your Interview

Based on the experience and collection of interview questions from over 50 active Investment Banking interview formats – Finance Interview Coach’s 350 Interview Question guide is the culmination of over 14 years of interview experience. Learn the critical concepts underpinning every topic of investment banking through our 6 slide decks which cover behaviorals, accounting, enterprise value / comps, DCF, M&A, and LBO.

Interview Break-Down

The most comprehensive resource on the Market

This is the most updated and best-written IB interview prep resource in the market. The author of the book, Josh Jia, has 8 years of experience in finance including investment banking and private equity and brings his industry experience, recruiting, and interview coaching to the table.

 

The guide also includes advanced written questions which require calculations, such as M&A, accretion/dilution, and LBO questions. No other guide includes such advanced questions.

Get access to the Full 350 Question guide and the 6 Investment Banking Slide Decks

Behavioral and Fit

Asked to determine if the candidate is able to: work under high pressure, apply high atention to detail, tell an engaging story, demonstrate high motivation, and if they have the skills to do the job.

Questions Include:

  • Walk me through your resume / tell me about yourself?
  • Why do you REALLY want to enter investment banking?
  • What is your greatest strength?
  • Tell me about a time you showed leadership.
  • Tell me about a time you disagreed with somebody in your team, and how you resolved it.
  • Walk me through your role on XYZ item on your resume.
  • Have you ever managed a team before? What was your role and what were your greatest challenges?
  • And many more!.

Market Knowledge

Questions about market knowledge are frequently asked; this section covers stock pitches, market forecasts, as well as the investment banking deal process

Questions Include:

  • What do you look for in an investment?
  • What makes a good investment thesis?
  • What makes a good company?
  • Pitch me an M&A transaction that you think should happen.
  • Where is the (North American) market going in the next 6-12 months?
  • Explain the stock market to a 5 year old.
  • Walk me through an IPO.
  • And many more!

Accounting Questions

These questions test the candidate’s understanding of critical accounting concepts and how they impact the three financial statements

Questions Include:

  • Walk me through the 3 financial statements.
  • If you could only use one financial statement, which would you use to evaluate an investment?
  • What is net working capital?
  • How do changes in net working capital affect the three statements?
  • Why do changes in inventory affect the income statement?
  • What is the difference between accrual and cash accounting?
  • What are two ways the cash fl ow statement can be displayed? Which one is better?
  • And many more!

Enterprise Value / Comparables Questions

These questions are asked to test the candidate’s knowledge on critical concepts such as enterprise value and relative valuation metrics

Questions Include:

  • What is the main difference between equity value and enterprise value?
  • What is the formula for enterprise value?
  • Why do we add back minority interest?
  • Why do you subtract cash in the enterprise value equation?
  • What’s the difference between market capitalization and shareholder’s equity?
  • If a company has negative enterprise value, what does that mean?
  • Why do companies issue preferred equity in the fi rst place?
  • And many more!

Discounted Cash Flow Questions

These questions are asked to test the candidate’s understanding of discounted cash flows with both unlevered and levered cash flows

Questions Include:

  • What is the formula for unlevered free cash flow?
  • What is the difference between unlevered and levered free cash flow?
  • How do you go from unlevered free cash flow to levered free cash flow?
  • What is WACC and when do we use it?
  • How do you account for preferred stock in WACC?
  • When would WACC be higher than the cost of equity?
  • When would debt be more expensive than equity?
  • And many more!

M&A Questions

These questions test the candidate’s understanding of Mergers and Acquisitions, including accretion / dilution calculations and merger models

Questions Include:

  • Why do most M&A deals fail to be accretive?
  • What are some driving factors behind mergers and acquisitions? Why do mergers and acquisitions happen?
  • Would a strategic acquisition or a sponsor acquisition result in a higher valuation?
  • What’s the difference between a merger and an acquisition?
  • Walk me through an accretion-dilution analysis / merger model.
  • Are revenue synergies or cost synergies easier to predict?
  • Walk me through an M&A deal on the buy-side.
  • And many more!

Leveraged Buyout Questions

These questions test the candidate’s understanding of leveraged buyouts (LBOs), including LBO modelling and IRR calculations

Questions Include:

  • What makes a good LBO candidate?
  • Why use debt in an LBO?
  • What impacts how much debt you can raise in an LBO?
  • What are the types of debt in an LBO?
  • What are the 5 biggest drivers of IRR?
  • Why do we not assume any exit multiple expansion in most LBO models?
  • What is the circular reference in an LBO model?
  • And many more!

Other Questions: IB, PE, ER / Hedge Fund

This section covers consulting style questions that are sometimes asked in finance interviews, as well as some questions asked in PE, equity research, and hedge funds

Questions Include:

  • How much is the coffee shop market worth in New York City?
  • How many eggs does a college cafeteria sell in the morning?
  • Why would a PE firm choose to do a sale-leaseback after acquiring a company?
  • If a PE portfolio company does a sale leaseback, how does this affect EBITDA?
  • How do you value a football (soccer) club?
  • What is debt sizing in project fi nance?
  • What are some non-financial operational risks in investment banks?
  • And many more!

Comes with: 6 Industry Vetted Slide Decks

6 slide decks which cover behaviorals, accounting, enterprise value / comps, DCF, M&A, and LBO. Get HUNDREDS of real finance interview questions from ACTUAL investment banking interviews. Finance Interview Qs offers the most updated and best-written interview prep resources on the market. We source questions directly from managing directors at world-class institutions.

Slide Deck 1: Behavioral and Market Questions

Slide deck 1 contains 33 slides that covers the most pertinent behavioral and market-based interview questions that potential candidates may face. This slide deck is not only an essential tool for interview preparation but also an insightful guide for understanding the nuanced expectations and challenges in the world of investment banking. Slide deck 1 equips its users with the essential and core questions that make up the base of any interview.

Slide Deck 2: Accounting Questions

Slide Deck 2 includes 27 slides, and delves into the core questions an interviewee might face with regards to financial accounting. It outlines the essentials of the three key financial statements—the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement—and their interconnections. It covers accounting procedure, how the statements are intrinsically linked, and includes a series of example accounting questions with full work shown.

Slide Deck 3: Enterprise Value and Comparables Analysis

Slide deck 3 is a comprehensive 41-slide presentation on Enterprise Value, Multiples, and Valuation Procedure provides an dive into company valuation. The initial 8 slides cover the concept of Enterprise Value, detailing its components and overarching significance. This foundation paves the way for the subsequent slides, which demystify valuation multiples like P/E, EV/EBITDA, and forward vs trailing multiples. The slide deck concludes with a section on valuation procedure and as always provides example questions and answers.

Slide Deck 4: Discounted Cash Flow Analysis

Slide deck 4 is a 46-slide deck dives into Discounted Cash Flow (DCF). The first slides cover the time value of money, paving the way for understanding discounted cash flows. It goes on to tackle the most common DCF topics: discounting cash flows, Unlevered Free Cash Flow, Levered Free Cash Flow, Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC), Cost of Equity, Risk-Free Rate, Beta, Beta – Regression Method, Beta – Comparables, Beta – Levering and Relevering, Equity Risk Premium. The deck concludes with a segment that systematically walks through a DCF process over 22 slides. The presentation concludes with two hands-on example questions.

Slide Deck 5: Leveraged Buy-Outs

Slide Deck 5 provides an LBO Overview. It includes a deep dive into the Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and explores LBO models, detailing how returns are influenced by EBITDA expansion, debt repayment, and multiple expansion. Key criteria for an ideal LBO candidate are highlighted, supplemented by real-world LBO examples. The deck touches on LBO financing intricacies, including PIK Interest and covenants, further elaborating on the IRR and strategies to optimize it. The deck concludes with a step by step LBO model walkthrough and concludes with two example questions.

Slide Deck 6: Mergers & Acquisitions

Slide Deck 6 is a 36 slide deck that explores the topic of Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A). IT starts with the the fundamental questions: What are Mergers & Acquisitions, Types of M&As, reasons for M&A’s and the common types of transactions. The deck then elaborates on specific transaction methods, the buy-side and sell-side, financing options, and concludes with a merger model walkthrough. The slide deck also includes 5 example M&A questions and answers.

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Get the 350 Question Guide and the 6 Slide Decks for only $99.

Who Wrote The Book?

Josh Jia has taught IB lectures at Princeton, Wharton, UCLA, Queen’s University, Ivey, Rotman, Schulich, Waterloo, and Laurier. Josh has coached clients all over the world, including the US, Canada, the UK, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, India, Australia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Kenya. Through his efforts, he has placed 100+ candidates in finance roles.

During his time in investment banking (BMO) and private equity (Imperial Capital), Josh has accumulated significant transaction experience, including the C$300M IPO of Sleep Country, the US$156M acquisition of Atlas Paper by Resolute Forest Products, and an extensive private equity roll-up of food testing labs in the U.S. Having worked closely with the sell side and buy side alike, Josh knows exactly how to position candidates for success both for the short term and the long term, and is eager to provide coaching and share his resources in the areas of investment banking, private equity, corporate development, and other subsectors of finance.