Accounting Supervisor Test Questions

ACCOUNTING SUPERVISOR

INSTRUCTIONS:

Please read through this material and prepare a written response using a computerized word processing system. Please send a copy of the questions and your responses along with your other application materials.

SECTION I

1. Based on your past knowledge and experience you see a better way to do a process. You explain your proposed process to the finance manager. Upon discussion and review the finance manager explains several constraints that you were unaware of which would prevent your suggestion from replacing the current processing standard. This has happened several different times with different processes. How would you handle this situation and what would you do next?

2. You are now working for the City of Walla Walla. You have too much to do and not enough time to do it. How would you handle this situation?

3. One joy in working for a city is that there are a lot of different kinds of work to be done. You are given a choice of two projects to work on. Both projects are equally important, both need to be done and both will be assigned to somebody. Other workload requirements will be shifted around to reflect the new project assignment. Project one is well understood by a co-worker but she doesn’t have time to do it. She would be available to point you in the right direction, however, and answer questions as they arise. Project two is something brand new to the city but is required and so the city will have to figure out what the new requirements are; how it affects existing computer systems and define a new way forward. This project will require research and creation of new institutional knowledge. It will require the efforts of multiple departments to both implement and maintain the new process. Work load affects being equal, would you request project one or project two and why?

4. You are now working for the City of Walla Walla. It is the third week of the month and you find yourself having completed all of your monthly tasks. You ask your supervisor for additional work and she gives you the following options. Which task would you request and why?

i. Review the current purchasing policy and the purchasing processing manual and come up with recommendations to update or improve policy/procedures.

ii. Cover for an accounts payable clerk (work is related to your normal duties) who is on vacation that week.

iii. Cover for a utility billing clerk (work that is dissimilar from your normal duties) who is on vacation that week.

iv. Cover for another accountant (work is dissimilar from your normal duties) who is on vacation that week.

v. Test a new upgrade to the existing accounting system using a clone of the accounting software system to find out if there are any “bugs” in the new upgrade. This testing is done on a separate system from the “real” accounting system so that there is no risk in conducting the testing process.

vi. Come up with a training plan and meet with a department that has been making a lot of errors recently in processing that is causing your part of Finance to have to undo and redo work.

vii. Join a task force to coordinate the information flow of infrastructure between Finance, engineering and GIS departments and come up with processes to ensure all the correct data goes to all the correct departments at all the correct times.

5. Please compare and contrast governmental accounting and private sector accounting.

6. The city expects to invest in the training, support and professional growth of the selected candidate. Please out line a learning and training plan including the areas, timelines, resources, etc. that you would like in order to grow into a successful, productive, governmental accounting supervisor responsible for accounts payable processing, ambulance billings and collections, governmental bid and purchasing rules, audit and compliance and assisting in the preparation of the city’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report according to the Governmental Finance Officer’s Association award standards.

SECTION II

SCENARIO #1:

You are working in an accounting environment where: revenue information is posted in the general ledger when the cashier balances her cash drawer at the end of the day and when billings system information is posted throughout the day; disbursement information is posted to the general ledger when vendor checks are printed each day; information for fixed the fixed asset subsidiary system is created when the accounts payable system prints vendor checks; employees are paid once a month when payroll paychecks are posted the third business day of the following month. Departments can pull financial statements at any time and those statements include all information that has been posted at the time the statements are run, but typically departments print the statements about the 5^th of the following month. Full GAAP financial statements are published annually for bonding and audit purposes.

Banking activity (individual deposits, check clearing, transfers, interest revenue and bank fee information) for all accounts are available on-line as it occurs throughout the day. Transfers are made automatically at midnight, from the main account to cover checks that are redeemed in a separate check account. Banking activity reports can be run for any starting and ending range for up to two years. There is no cost to access this information or print these reports.

QUESTION:

On what interval (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, annually, etc.) would you recommend reconciling banking activity to the financial system and why did you choose that interval?

SCENARIO #2:

The cash receipting process works as follows. When checks come in the mail, the cashier batches all the checks for accounts receivable together. The cashier runs a ten-key tape of all those checks and then she enters all A/R payments into a special screen that updates the billing system. This screen provides her with a summary list by general ledger account number for her to enter a summary payment into her normal cash receipting screen. When the cashier posts her payment batch at the end of the day the billing system (subsidiary) customer balances screen reflects the payments as well as the general ledger accounts receivable balances. When a customer comes in to the counter to make an A/R payment, the cashier processes the payments in her cash receipt screen that updates the general ledger balances, but not the billing subsidiary customer balances. She then enters into an excel log the customer’s account and payment information. The day the billing clerk prepares the monthly bills, she reads the walk-in customer payment log and enters the payments into the billing system (this entry does not update the general ledger).

QUESTION:

What changes, (getting a new computer system is not an option), if any, would you recommend to the above processing flow and what were your considerations in making the recommendation?

SCENARIO #3:

Interest is earned on cash and investments. The bank posts the interest to our bank account on the last business day of the month. Our cash in the Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP) post our interest on the last business day of the month, faxes us a statement the first day of the next month and mails us a hard copy 10 business days later. Our other investments have a fixed earnings rate and pay out interest earnings on April 30, and October 31 each year. General ledger cash balances for each fund change daily.

QUESTIONS:

1. When would you record each type of interest revenue?
2. What method would you use to allocate revenue between funds?

Please explain your reasoning.

SCENARIO #4:

Fixed asset information is created as a pending record in the fixed asset system as accounts payable is processed. More information is required to be added to the pending fixed asset record to make it complete. Once it is complete, the fixed asset information is posted to the general ledger. The capitalization policy for fixed assets is $5,000 per item and there are approximately 15 items a month that meet this capitalization policy.

QUESTIONS:

When would you recommend:

1. Completing the pending fixed asset records and posting them to the general ledger?
2. Running the automatic depreciation expense process and posting depreciation expense/accumulated depreciation?

Please explain your reasons for your recommendation.