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Essential Reading for Investment Banking Interviews

Don't miss these must reads ahead of the big day

Last Updated March 5, 2024

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investment banking interview

How to Prepare for an Investment Banking Interview?

  1. Landing an investment banking interview. Before you land the job, you have to land an interview.
  2. The investment banking interview process. Investment banking interview questions to expect once you finally landed that interview. Quite broadly, there are two types of investment banking interview questions – qualitative “soft” questions, or quantitative “technical” questions. Most technical questions will be on basic accounting and valuation. But come prepared for technicals around discounted cash flow analysis (DCF), intrinsic valuation vs. relative valuation, etc. Sometimes, interviewers will also ask challenging brainteasers to gauge how you think about problems on the spot.

Investment Banking Interview: Accounting Questions

  1. Accounting quick lesson. You can’t avoid accounting questions in an investment banking interview.  Even if you’ve never taken an accounting class, chances are, you’ll be asked questions that require rudimentary accounting knowledge.
  2. Top 10 most common accounting interview questions
  3. Walk me through the financial statements
  4. How are the financial statements linked together?
  5. What is the cash flow statement important and how does it compare to the income statement?
  6. Walk me through the accounting of the following transaction…
  7. Company A has $100 of assets while company B has $200 of assets. Which company should have a higher value?

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Investment Banking Interview: Valuation Questions

  1. 10 Common Investment Banking Interview Valuation Questions. The rigor of valuation questions asked is also a function of your academic and professional backgrounds.  For example, if you go to the Wharton School and are pursuing Finance as a major and managed to obtain an investment banking internship as a freshman/sophomore at a bulge bracket, the rigor of questions will be higher because the assumption is that you have additional knowledge given your additional experience and course of study.
  2. DCF Intrinsic Valuation Questions

Investment Banking Interview: Qualitative Questions

The kinds of questions that banks can ask you are not limited to finance. While technical questions attempt to establish baseline knowledge, the qualitative questions seek to establish fit.

Since investment banking involves a lot of group work, fit is important in investment banking, and success on this part of the interview sometimes outweighs the technical interview component.

  1. Walk me through your resume
  2. Why Investment Banking?
  3. Addressing a low GPA in an interview
  4. How comfortable do you feel working with numbers?
  5. Tell me about a time when you showed leadership?
Step-by-Step Online Course

The Investment Banking Interview Guide ("The Red Book")

1,000 interview questions & answers. Brought to you by the company that works directly with the world’s top investment banks and PE firms.

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The Investment Banking Interview Guide ('The Red Book')

1,000 interview questions & answers from the company that works directly with the world’s top investment banks and PE firms.

Enroll Today