Your Part-Time Controller, LLC interview questions

It was a thorough process with three rounds of hour long plus interviews and discussions with multiple staff throughout the organization. Interviewers assessed accounting knowledge and problem solving skills and soft skills.

This was a lengthy interview process, and for the amount of time I dedicated preparing for it, they sure rejected me quickly. As others have said, the process begins with a screening. This went really well. The interviewer was a delight to speak with, and got me excited about the prospect of working here. The first official interview was with an associate. This was...not a good experience. It involved a short accounting quiz about account classifications, credits, debits, and practice journal entries, along with an Excel quiz while the interviewer watched me perform the steps. Very quickly into the interview, I had the feeling like I just wanted to cut it short and leave early. The interviewer came off cold and truthfully made me feel stupid. I don't think that was their intention, but I left the interview with the wind taken out of my sails. A few days later, I received a follow-up call for interview #2. The second interview involved a detailed discussion of ASC 905-605 and ASC 905-205, with some background info on ASU 2016-14. This experience was better. The interviewer was nicer to work with, but I encountered a few red flags during the interview that made me ultimately decide this job wouldn't be a good fit for me. They beat me to the punch, and I received a rejection email the next morning. Overall, the process took almost 3 months and they rejected me in about 3 business hours. As for those red flags, I feel this job requires more (out-of-state) travel than they initially let on. I also asked how the staff accountant and controller divvy up the workload, and was essentially told the staff accountant could sometimes share some of the workload of the controller. To me, that sounds like I would be doing more advanced work but getting paid less. I started out with high hopes for this job, but as I went through the process, I realized this position wasn't right for me. Like others have said, they put you through the ringer and take a lot of your time. I spent many hours studying for the ASCs/ASUs (with absolutely no context as to what I was actually looking for) and took about 20 pages of notes, just to be rejected 3 hours later. It seems they expect you to have advanced accounting knowledge for what is essentially a bookkeeper role. My CPA brother-in-law even commented on the ASCs/ASUs I was reading and said it was pretty advanced. Also, they perform background checks before the final interview stage, and the criminal check after you’ve received an offer. Seems very strange to perform all these screening checks before they’re even sure about offering you a job. As for the amount of time I invested, I don't necessarily mind a lengthy interview process, because it helps me decide if the job is a good fit for me, too. But to be rejected so quickly after all the time and energy they require of you is off-putting. I'm torn between calling this a neutral and bad experience.