Here are the reasons why:

1. There are not enough physicians/providers to meet the current demand and many new insured people will be looking for care in 2014.
2. Filing insurance is not the only way anymore. Today you can choose from a number of direct-pay options that allow the practice to rely less (or not at all) on insurance payments.
3. Fractional Practice Administrators are available to assist new practices get started right and stay on the right track. Once you get started, an FPA may only be needed one hour a week.
4. Software is available at a low cost and sometimes even no cost. The cost of an EMR/EHR is no longer a barrier to the private physician, Physician Assistant (PA) or Nurse Practitioner (NP.)
5. Hiring remote employees means you can have your pick of qualified staff and often they are willing to work for less for the perk (and savings) of working at home.
6. Time-share offices are available and retail space, no longer the sign of a low-class practice, could fit you perfectly – good parking, good foot traffic, good signage. There is lots of business space to choose from almost in most communities.
7. Attaining a retiring physician’s practice does not need to be the costly proposition it used to be. Many retiring physicians are looking for someone to take responsibility for their charts and the phone calls.
8. Moonlighting physician jobs are plentiful and a good way to bolster income while the practice stabilizes.
9. Many large physician networks accept affiliated practices that can share in the negotiated contract rates for a fee.
10. Micropractices are a type of “popup” business. Physicians can choose to work without nurses and receptionists, further limiting their overhead by leasing space from another doctor or timeshare office.
11. Social media takes time, but little to no money. With a little guidance, you can do it yourself.

Account receivable specialist in Medical billing – tips

Building rapport with the Insurance Representatives

In an AR Follow-up, while calling the Insurance Company, we need to develop a certain level of professional relationship with the Insurance Representatives. This would help us find solutions for cases where the claims have been denied consistently for various reasons including Global Issues. In some instances, the representatives might even turn hostile and might not even reveal much of the required information, which could prove vital in proceeding further on the claims and we have to be very careful in handling situations like this.
The AR Representative should have strong interpersonal & communication skills and should be able to make the Insurance Representatives feel comfortable and also should make the call easy going. Any information, which could help us find the solution for an issue, should be obtained over the call.

For instance, after a few follow up on the pending claims and building viable working relationship with a particular insurance carrier, the representative was able to see that the team was working on legitimate claims that could be worked on. We were asked to send a fax with nearly 100 claims and the relevant information. The Insurance office worked on all the claims and reverted back with status information on fax.
Working on Underpaid Claims

The Patient’s Account including the Demographics, Claims & Payment’s history, Follow up Notes etc has to be analyzed thoroughly before making a call to the Insurance Company regarding the status of any pending claim. If the Insurance has already made a payment on a claim and if that payment’s found to be lower than the Contract Fee Schedule, then this issue needs a special attention, as collectively the balance on the claims which are underpaid constitute a significant portion of the Accounts Receivable and this portion can be definitely converted into Revenue. This task could be cumbersome or complex, but an AR Representative would achieve it, using his/her experience, knowledge, intelligence & skills. Our team also reverts back to the practice with changes in the billing guidelines – as in, revising billed amounts – to achieve maximum value on contracted payments.
When do we call patients?

•When there is no insurance coverage information found in the Demographics Section of the Patient’s Account.

•When the Insurance Company has denied a claim stating that the Patient is not eligible for coverage at the Time Of Service, where the Date Of Service could be prior to the effective date or after the termination date of patient’s insurance coverage.

•When there is a Patient Balance due in the Patient’s Account.

•When any personal info like Patient’s name, Social Security Number, Date of Birth, Address etc is found to be incorrect in the Patient’s Account.

Oracle Interview Questions Answers

Oracle Interview Questions provides you a wide range of questions that can be asked during a Interview. Application answers most commonly asked interview questions and has been categories for ease. 
This app is unique in that it helps you master the most commonly asked questions, instilling you with the confidence that you need to endure the most difficult of interviews. 

Features: 

1. 1000+ questions that prepare you for any type of interview on Oracle. 
2. Provide an option for user to practice his/her own answers as your application will present your with question. User can think of his answer then compare how his answer is different from our answer. 
3. Interview Questions has been categories for ease of use. 
4. The Application Covers a wide range of questions related to oracle. You may not be interested in all of them so please select the Categories in which you are interested. 

Categories: 

Application Cover questions from Following 22 broad Categories. 
1. Database Administration 
2. Oracle Database Architecture 
3. Database Security Oracle 
4. Oracle Distributed Processing 
5. Oracle Flexfield 
6. Oracle Memory Management 
7. Oracle Accounts Receivable (AR) 
8. Oracle Backup and Recovery 
9. Oracle Basic 
10. Oracle D2K 
11. Oracle Data Access 
12. Oracle Database (main) 
13. Oracle DBA 
14. Oracle Developer 
15. Oracle ETL 
16. Oracle General Ledger (GL) 
17. Oracle PL-SQL 
18. Oracle Programmatic Constructs 
19. Oracle Scenarios 
20. Oracle Security 
21. Oracle Technology Network (OTN) 
22. SQL Plus 



SAMPLE QUESTIONS 

Q. ) Explain When can hash cluster used? 
Ans: Hash clusters are useful in cases where : 
(i) There is a uniform, even and predictable no. of key values. 
(ii) Queries using equality predicates. 
(iii) The table is NOT growing constantly, and the keys are rarely updated. 

Q.) What Is the Difference between Formal Parameters and Actual Parameters? 
Ans : Formal parameter and actual parameter are two different terms related parameters used in the procedures and functions: 
A formal parameter is a term used to refer to a parameter defined in the procedure or function declaration statement. 
An actual parameter is a term used to refer to a parameter provided by the calling statement to a procedure or a function.

Standard Interview Questions for bookkeeping position with answers

It goes without saying that the job of a book keeper contains a lot of customer invoicing. In fact, customer invoicing is one of the most basic of a book keeper’s key responsibility areas. Therefore, when asked this question, you should clarify your comfort levels at customer invoicing. This is one of those basic questions that work in creating the path for the further questions. 

How does the customer invoicing relate to the accounts receivable?
This is another of the basic questions that are asked to a standard book keeper. Though even a layman can glib an answer to this one, only the well educated and qualified book keeper can give a stable and authentic answer to this question. So, make sure that you do your homework well before you opt for a bookmaker’s interview. 

What is an Asset? What is a Liability?
This is another question that aims at finding out whether you slept through your accountancy class or did you actually learn something. An asset and liability are terms that form the base of the world of accountancy. 

Briefly define a journal entry.
Again, this is a basic question that can be asked to a standard book keeper. These questions are generally aimed at finding out your knowledge and capabilities. Good news is that the answers to questions like this will be a reflex if you have actually paid attention in accountancy class and were serious in your studies. 

Experience and educational qualifications
The further questions for a standard book keeper will involve finding out about their experience in the profession. If the book keeper is a novice, his or her educational qualifications will be gone through and authenticated before the interview goes anywhere ahead. 

Overview of Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable for Small Business

Accounts receivable and accounts payable, AP/AR in bean-counter jargon, is about business credit. Credit makes the business world go ‘round. The vast majority of businesses cannot get by as all-cash operations.

If you give credit to your customers, you have to track your accounts receivable, managing and collecting the money owed to your business by your customers. Having accounts receivable means you need to track invoices and credit notes issued to your customers and deduct payments they make. You also a need to make miscellaneous adjustments, such as interest charges on overdue accounts, chargebacks for NSF (not sufficient funds) checks, and so on.

Accounts payable, on the other hand, involves managing what your business owes to others. AP can mean all your short-term payment liabilities, including payroll and taxes, but we will focus on trade payables, normal business expenses such as raw materials, products for resale, and services.

While there are some similarities in processing AR and AP, there are also some significant differences. Both should be recorded and paid when due, but AR usually relies on more complex procedures, particularly in the area of monitoring credit and collecting overdue receivables.

How sophisticated your credit-granting, monitoring, and collections procedures need to be will vary significantly depending on your business. As a rule of thumb, if you have many smaller customers, top-notch automated procedures in collections can be essential to efficient AR management; otherwise you'll spend too much time and effort on getting paid, or else you won't get paid promptly enough. On the other hand, if you sell to only a few larger customers, it may not be important to have automated processes. You may not need to perform much collection follow-up, other than a phone call or two to chase a slow payment.

If your business is involved in importing or exporting, you may need to be able to deal with foreign currencies to properly track AR and AP. Not all systems offer foreign currency support, and those that do rely on varying procedures for calculating foreign currency gains and losses on translation. In these cases, you’ll want to make sure your accountant approves of the method of foreign currency translation calculation in the accounting system you use.

Accounts receivable officer sample cover letter

I am writing to apply for the position of Accounts Receivable Officer, as advertised on SEEK.com.au. 

I have over eight years of professional accounting experience, with specialisation in accounts receivable. I have experience in all aspects of accounts receivable, as well as general accounting knowledge and expertise. I also keep up-to-date with relevant tax and superannuation legislation. 

Being an energetic person and quick learner, I thrive in busy and challenging environments. I work to tight deadlines and am renowned in my office for my accuracy and ability to resolve reconciliation discrepancies. I have made a number of recommendations to improve our existing system that have helped to make our processes smoother and more efficient. 

I have a solid education in accounting, with a Bachelor of Accounting as well as a Certificate IV in Financial Services (Accounting). I am also adept in essential computer software, including MYOB, Excel, Word and Quickbooks. 

In addition to my varied and extensive accounting experience, I pride myself on my strong work ethic and attention to detail – qualities which I demonstrated during my time at Effervescence Industries, where I was commended and rewarded for my diligence and discovery of misappropriated funds. 

I am therefore keen to make a contribution and apply my skills, while building on my experience and learning and growing with the team. 

My resume is attached and I look forward to being able to discuss the position with you further.

Fifteen Questions to Ask at a Job Interview

What makes a job interview question “good”? A good job interview question gives you the specific information about a job applicant that you need to make a sound hiring decision and helps you gaininsight into how the candidate’s mind and emotions work.

Develop a list of questions designed to elicit responses that will be most helpful in evaluating a candidate's suitability for your position and organization. These questions can get you started:

• Can you tell me a little about yourself? A confident applicant can give a brief summary of his or her strengths, significant achievements, and career goals.
• What interests you about this job, and what skills and strengths can you bring to it? Stronger candidates should be able to correlate their skills with specific job requirements.
• Can you tell me a little about your current job? Strong candidates should be able to give you a short and precise summary of duties and responsibilities.
• In a way that anyone could understand, can you describe a professional success you are proud of? The answer shows the applicant’s ability to explain what he or she does clearly.
• How have you changed the nature of your current job? A convincing answer here shows adaptability and a willingness to “take the bull by the horns,” if necessary.
• What was the most difficult decision you ever had to make on the job? The answer to this question tells you the person’s decision-making style and how it fits into your company culture.
• Why did you decide to pursue a new job? This question is just a different way of asking, “What are you looking for in a job?”
• Why did you leave your last job, and what have you been doing since then? It isn’t really unusual for highly competent people to find themselves unemployed through no fault of their own. Try to get specific, factual answers that you can verify later.
• Who was your best boss ever and why? Who was the worst, and looking back, what could you have done to make that relationship better? These answers give you insight into how the candidate views and responds to supervision.
• Which do you enjoy the most: working alone with information or working with other people?An excellent candidate might say the different perspectives within a group produce moreinnovative ideas than one person working alone can, but without information, a team can’t get very far.
• What sort of things do you think your current (past) company could do to be more successful? You’re probing to find out whether the candidate has a clear understanding of his or her current or past employer’s missions and goals and whether he or she thinks in terms of those goals.
• Can you describe a typical day at work in your last job? See how the applicant’s current (or most recent) routine compares with the requirements of the job in question.
• What sort of work environment do you prefer? What brings out your best performance?Probe for specifics. You want to find out whether this person is going to fit into your company.
• How do you handle conflict? Can you give me an example of how you handled a workplace conflict in the past? You want candidates who try to be reasonable but nonetheless stand up for what’s right.
• How would you respond if you were put in a situation you felt presented a conflict of interest or was unethical? Have you ever had this experience in previous positions? No rational candidate today is going to say that sometimes it’s okay to be unethical. But how individuals approach this question can offer valuable insights.

Examples of Accounts Receivable Accomplishments for a Job

When approaching the interview process, it is important to know your strengths and how to communicate these strengths to interviewers. If you are looking for a career in accounts receivable, or A/R, there are specific qualities that a hiring manager is concerned with. By emphasizing these qualities, you may have a much better chance at landing the job you want.

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Increase Collection Speed

One of the most persuasive qualities of an A/R applicant is the ability to increase collection speed. Also known as reducing time in the A/R cycle, a competent A/R manager will be able to speed up collection. As A/R amounts to granting credit to customers, usually without interest, slow A/R is effectively financing customers at the expense of the company. In addition, if A/R remains uncollected for an extended period of time, with all else remaining the same, customer A/R balances will increase, leaving the company with greater exposure if a customer cannot pay.

Reduce Bad Debt

An effective A/R manager will be able to reduce bad debt. Bad debt occurs when a customer is granted credit, but then does not pay his account. A/R managers can reduce bad debt in multiple ways. First, if the A/R manager is responsible for making credit decisions, then prudence must be exercised to ensure that credit is granted only to customers that are solvent. The A/R manager should not cave to pressure to grant credit from sales staff that may be more focused on sales figures than the company's overall health. Second, successful A/R managers periodically review customer files to ensure that credit granted is still reasonable based upon the customer's history with the company. Last, A/R managers who are the most coveted are able to quickly react when a customer starts showing signs of potential insolvency, by increasing communication with the customer and aggressively pursuing collection. This helps to ensure that the company actually gets paid if the customer goes out of business.

Develop Team Members

A/R managers are not only judged on their ability to manage A/R. Effective accounting personnel are able to manage people as well. If an applicant has the proven ability to develop employees, this can set her apart from other employees. If this is the case, it is important for the applicant to not sell herself short. By explaining during the interview how the applicant is able to get work done through other people, the applicant can demonstrate how valuable she is to the company. For an A/R manager, this could include tasks such as reviewing credit applications prepared by other employees or performance evaluations of collections staff. A key to a successful interview is the applicant showing that she has the skills to perform technical A/R tasks, like collection, but also has the ability to teach these methods to others.

Retain Customers

A successful A/R manager is able to both retain great customers and provide guidance to management on the customers that the business can afford to lose. The A/R manager has a distinct perspective on the business, as he is interacting with customers that want to buy the company's product, but are in need of financing. By identifying customers that require a disproportionate amount of the company's resources, but do not buy in sufficient quantity to warrant this attention, A/R managers can make a great contribution to the company's profitability.

Calm and Cool In Traffic – Not On Your Driving Abstract

Drivers are human too and like everyone else from time to time may let their frustrations get the best of them and have some road rage.  In your personal life it is your own business how you manage your blood pressure.  At work, road rage and aggressive driving becomes the employer’s problem.  Smart employers know that you may be an overly aggressive driver even though you have a clean record.  And the last thing they want is to get phone calls about their driver who flipped the bird or got road rage.

To convince an employer you are level headed behind the wheel, make sure you speak about your safety philosophy.  That’s right, safe driving does not only result from driving skill but also from being “safety minded”.  So give some thought to your philosophy when it comes to safety as adriver.  Why is it important?  What is the important factor in being a safe driver?  Jot down some notes, so you are ready to answer this during your interview.

And guess what?  That’s right, a great way to answer this kind of interview question is to provide an example.  Tell the interviewer one example of how you avoided an accident from a recklessdriver or how another driver flipped you the bird and cursed at you and how you reacted by staying calm and SAFE.  Do this and you will score some major points with the hiring manager.

Hiring process information for an interview at Steve Madden

A leading footwear industry firm, Steve Madden interviews a large selection of customer service, sales, corporate, and management personnel to staff professional and entry-level opportunities. During the Steve Madden job interview process, interviewees may need to participate in background checks and drug tests to garner employment consideration. According to position, Steve Madden interviewees may attend numerous sessions of group/panel, 1:1, and telephone interviews. Steve Madden interview questions cover several subject fields, such as customer service skills, education, experience, and footwear industry operations.
Dress professionally to attend a Steve Madden job interview and make a good impression on human resources personnel. Demonstrate footwear knowledge and answer all interview questions with honesty, care, and brevity throughout the Steve Madden hiring process. Maintain eye contact with each interviewer during the Steve Madden interview process. Do not expect to learn hiring decisions during a Steve Madden job interview. Contact a Steve Madden personnel manager within two weeks of the final interview to learn of potential job offers.

Finance Job Interview Questions And Answers

Financing jobs require you to manage the money of others as well as put them in a situation where the money can grow. People often times go to those who are in charge of managing money because they have shown an inability to do so for themselves. So if you plan on getting a job in finance you will definitely need to know how to manage money as well as deal with other aspects of the job. Once you are done with yourfinance resume, there are many finance job interview questions and answers you can study to prepare you for your job interview. 


You never want to give canned responses with his position. Make sure that the finance job interview answers you give are relative to your own unique situations. But you also want to make sure that finance job interview questions to give will heighten your strong points in order to properly sell you to your prospective employer. Here are a few finance job interview questions and answers you can use as your how-to guide to get started.


Q. Tell me about your experience with accounts receivable.
A. Here is your chance to explain to your prospective employer your experience doing with accounts receivable. Dealing with accounts receivable will be a possible part of the finance job you are hoping to get. So it is very important for you to display competence when it comes to this. Make sure the answer you give will make you appear to be competent as well as efficient when dealing with such accounts.


Q. Explain for me any experience you had involving collections.
A. Sometimes you may not get the type of finance job that only requires you to manage the money of others, such as in accounting job. Sometimes you may have a type of financing job that will require you to go after others for collections on past due accounts. Your prospective employer may want to see that you have a sound strategy for doing this. Your prospective employer wants to see that you're able to handle collections in a way that would not reflect badly on the company. Make sure the response you give lines up with what I've just mentioned.


Q. What process do you go through to prepare a bill for services?
A. Once again when it comes to financing jobs there are various aspects you may have to deal with, which may not be what you are accustomed to. Preparing a bill for services is a very important aspect of certain finance jobs you will have. If you not have experience doing this, then you do not be afraid to admit it to the interview. It will only hurt you any and should you get the job and not be able to carry out the various tasks and duties required of you.

Top Interview Questions for Medical Billing and Coding Jobs

We’ve put together a list of the top interview questions asked for medical billing and coding jobs to help you with your job interview preparation.

Also included is the reason they are asking these questions and what the interviewer is likely looking for. These are questions we’ve either been asked or asked ourselves for when interviewing formedical billing jobs.

What’s your understanding of medical terminology?

Having a basic understanding of medical billing terms is important not only for medical coding but also for medical billing specialists. Make sure you can explain some of the more basic medical terms related to billing and coding as it relates to the billing process.

What type of certifications do you have?

I would expect this question to be asked more for medical coding jobs.Certification in medical billing is a definite plus, but I haven’t seen that requirement for strictly medical billing jobs. Certification does show you are committed to your profession and meet certain minimum standards.

Have you billed for Medicare and Medicaid?

This would be one of the top interview questions for providers who have a lot of Medicare or Medicaid patients Government payers can be difficult and challenging to bill for. CMS has more paperwork, usually takes longer to pay, and can be frustrating to deal with. Providers who have a lot of Medicare patients will want to know your knowledge and experience of Medicare and ability to get problems resolved quickly.

How do you deal with rejected or unpaid claims?

The longer claims go unpaid, the less likely it is they will be paid. Getting denied or rejected claims corrected and re-submitted can be a lot of revenue to a provider. A prospective biller or coders effectiveness and experience here is very important to a practice's accounts receivables and likely one of the top interview questions.

Are you familiar with Electronic Medical Records (EMR) systems? Which ones have you used. How did you use it?

The use of medical records software - also referred to to as EMR or EHR software - is increasingly important to providers. They may want the biller and/or coder to enter and maintain information in the EMR system. Employers value someone who is proficient in electronic medical records software and know how to use it. It can also be a valuable asset to the biller and coder in their job when verifying patient information and treatments for a claim. Many billing and practice management software programs are increasingly integrated or interface with the EMR system.

Are you comfortable working with computers? What types of software do you have experience with.

The ability to create and share documents, manage and upload files, and perform back-ups are skills that are helpful for medical billing and coding jobs. You would also want to mention any word processing (Microsoft Word) or spreadsheet (Excel) programs you have experience with.

What practice management or medical claims software do you have experience with?

Once you’ve learned on practice management or medical billing softwareprogram, it’s pretty easy to learn another. Most well written software is fairly intuitive to use. If you’ve only used on software, you might effectively make this point and emphasize your computer skills.

Do you know how to submit claims to a clearinghouse? Have you ever set up a provider with a clearinghouse or resolved claim submittal problems with them?

Sometimes there are format or compatibility problems when sending claims to a clearinghouse - especially when getting set up with them. There’s also a lot of paperwork and forms to fill out when you sign up a provider or practice. Most clearinghouses also provide valuable reporting features to help scrub and catch claim errors so they can be corrected before being sent to the insurance company. Being able to use these features and tools and being able

Do you know how to run reports? Can you customize reports?

Many practices need to run reports from their practice management software that show their financial status and performance, outstanding claims, patient balances, etc. The ability to create and customize these reports is a definite advantage. Many times when meeting with a provider, they will express a desire to see certain information in a certain format. Of course sometimes the reporting functions of the software can’t produce exactly what they want. Buy knowing how to extract information out of the practice management software - or database - is very important for a provider.

What specialties have you billed or coded for?

Certain specialties have unique coding and billing requirements. For example some mental health specialties have limitations on the number of visits and require pre-authorizations. These have to be monitored so there are no surprises for either the patient or the provider.

What procedure codes are you most familiar with?

This is pretty self explanatory and something more likely one of the top interview questions to be asked of coders.

Can you explain the difference between co-pays, deductibles, and co-insurance?

Medical billing specialists should have a good understanding of how deductibles and co-insurance are calculated, how to apply write-offs, and how to apply co-pays. Many times these are determined on the EOB by the insurance company but it’s important to understand how they are calculated. Some providers require the patient to pay their co-insurance and apply deductibles up front before claims are filed to make sure they get paid.

Are you familiar with HIPAA privacy rules? Security rules?

Questions on HIPAA laws are increasingly becoming one of the top interview questions. Because medical billers and coders have access to sensitive patient data, it’s important to have a good understanding ofHIPAA privacy requirements. You also may have responsibilities for the security of patient information and computer systems. Make sure you are up to date on HIPAA standards and can give a basic explanation of what they are and what the providers (and their staff) are responsible for.

Have you dealt much with insurance companies to resolve issues with unpaid or rejected (denied) claims?

Medical billing specialists have to deal regularly with insurance companies to get an explanation why a claim was rejected and what is necessary to get it paid. Being able to understand the insurance claim process and how to deal with payers are important to getting claims paid. That’s why this is one of the top interview questions an employer would likely ask and a weakness of many providers billing efforts.

Have you worked on insurance or patient accounts receivables?

Just about every practice has some outstanding unpaid claims (A/R or Accounts Receivable) or patient balances. May have a significant amount of money “stranded” and waiting for claim issues to be resolved. If you have experience resolving unpaid claims and reducing A/R this is a huge plus.

Have you ever appealed a denied claim? What’s your process in resolving a denied claim?

Knowing how to file an appeal with the insurance carrier is important in resolving denied claims. It takes patience as most all insurance companies have different processes, requirements, and timeframes for the appeal process. It’s not always straightforward for a reason.

What’s your experience in patient collections?

Medical billing and coding specialists don’t usually get involved with “hard” or intense collection efforts - this is usually left to the collection agency. But they usually are involved with “soft” type collections which may be a courtesy phone call or letter reminding the patient their insurance company has paid, they have a past due balance, and offer to make payment arrangements. For the more delinquent accounts it may be a notification that their account will be turned over to collections if arrangements are not made soon.

How do you deal with difficult or angry patients?

If you are a medical billing specialist, you will eventually deal with an angry patient. A lot of times they don’t understand their insurance coverage and they take their frustrations out on you - the bearer of the bad news. So when they receive a statement, that’s usually when they call the billing department and want to know why they owe something - or why it’s so much. That’s when it’s important for the biller to patiently explain their insurance coverage and if they desire more info to call their insurance company. Questions about dealing with patients are typically one of the top interview questions for billers.

How long does it take you to process a day’s charges?

Its good practice to process claims within 72 hours (3 days) of the date of service. Providers want to know that the medical biller and coder will promptly submit claims for payment.

If You Can’t Questions Top Interview Questions - Turn Negative Into a Positive
There will inevitably be interview questions you just can’t answer - or a situation you don’t have experience in. In those cases don’t answer in a negative way - such as “I can’t....” or “I don’t know...”. Answer the question in a way as to emphasize your strengths or knowledge or your ability to learn and adapt quickly. Potential employers prefer candidates who will not require a lot of hand holding or be a burden on the existing staff. They want someone who can get up to speed quickly.

So if you didn’t have any experience with EMR systems and they asked you about it, you could answer in a way that you do have good computer skills and experience on a variety of practice management systems - you can get up to speed on a new software within a day. You might also state that most of these programs are intuitive and your computer skills will apply to EMR software also.

Success Stories
In addition to preparing to answer these top interview questions, have some “success stories” or example you can give that demonstrate your ability to take action and solve problems. You can bring these up during the interview. Potential employers will be very impressed. Giving examples of what you can do can really impress the interviewer make you stand out from the other candidates.

Situation - a short overview of where and when.

Problem - state the problem or challenge.

Action Taken - describe the action(s) you took to solve the problem.

Results - give quantitative results of your actions - like “reduced accounts payable by 75%.” or “reduced unpaid claims by 50%.”

These kinds of short success examples or stories can really impress a potential employer and demonstrate how you can help them - even if you are weak in certain areas mentioned in the top interview questions above. Ideally having two or three of these examples you can go to when you need to. There’s no reason you can’t also put these examples on your resume.

Accounts Receivable Interview Questions

Accounts receivable is the first step in a series of collection attempts dealing with the billing of customers who owe money to a consumer, business or an organization for products and/or services that have been provided to the customer. This is sometimes done in a small organization by writing an invoice and sending via mail, fax or email. On an organization's balance sheet, accounts receivable is the amount that customers owe to the business. Also known as AR, they are classified as current assets. To record a journal entry for a sale on account, you must debit a receivable and credit a revenue account. When the customer pays off the account, you debit cash and credit the receivable in the journal entry. The ending balance on the trial balance sheet for accounts receivable is always debit. Companies that have become too big to perform this task by hand (even smaller companies that could but prefer not to do them by hand) will generally use accounting software on a computer to perform this task. Associated accounting issues include recognizing accounts receivable, valuing accounts receivable, and disposing of accounts receivable. Some additional types of accounting transactions include accounts payable, payroll and trial balance. Since not all customer AR will be collected by the Accounts Receivable person, companies typically record an allowance for bad debts which is subtracted from total accounts receivable. Many debtors just won't pay the AR; in those cases, smart creditors turn to a collection agency.

COMMON FINANCE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (AND ANSWERS)

Before we get to accounting questions, here are some interview best practices to keep in mind when getting ready for the big day.

1. Be prepared for technical questions. Many students erroneously believe that if they are not finance/business majors, then technical questions do not apply to them. On the contrary, interviewers want to be assured that students going into the field are committed to the work they’ll be doing for the next few years, especially as many finance firms will devote considerable resources to mentor and develop their new employees.
2. One recruiter we’ve spoken to said “while we do not expect liberal arts majors to have a deep mastery of highly technical concepts, we do expect them to understand the basic accounting and finance concepts as they relate to investment banking. Someone who can’t answer basic questions like ‘walk me through a DCF’ has not sufficiently prepared for the interview, in my opinion”.
3. Another added, “Once a knowledge gap is identified, it’s typically very difficult to reverse the direction of the interview.”
4. Keep each of your answers limited to 2 minutes. Longer answers may lose an interviewer, while giving them additional ammunition to go after you with more complicated question on the same topic.
5. It’s ok to say “I don’t know” a few times during the interview. If interviewers think that you’re making up answers, they’ll continue probing you further, which will lead to more creative answers, which will lead to more complicated questions and a slow realization by you that interviewer knows that you don’t really know. This will be followed by uncomfortable silence. And no job offer.

NOW ON TO ACCOUNTING QUESTIONS…

Accounting is the language of business, so don’t underestimate the importance of accounting questions. Some are easy, some are more challenging, but of all of them allow interviewers to gauge your knowledge level without the need to ask more complex valuation/finance questions.Below we have selected most common accounting questions you should expect to see during the recruiting process.

Q: Why do capital expenditures increase assets (PP&E), while other cash outflows, like paying salary, taxes, etc., do not create any asset, and instead instantly create an expense on the income statement that reduces equity via retained earnings?

A: Capital expenditures are capitalized because of the timing of their estimated benefits – the lemonade stand will benefit the firm for many years. The employees’ work, on the other hand, benefits the period in which the wages are generated only and should be expensed then. This is what differentiates an asset from an expense.

Q: Walk me through a cash flow statement.

A. Start with net income, go line by line through major adjustments (depreciation, changes in working capital and deferred taxes) to arrive at cash flows from operating activities.

• Mention capital expenditures, asset sales, purchase of intangible assets, and purchase/sale of investment securities to arrive at cash flow from investing activities.
• Mention repurchase/issuance of debt and equity and paying out dividends to arrive at cash flow from financing activities.
• Adding cash flows from operations, cash flows from investments, and cash flows from financing gets you to total change of cash.
• Beginning-of-period cash balance plus change in cash allows you to arrive at end-of-period cash balance.

Q: What is working capital?

A: Working capital is defined as current assets minus current liabilities; it tells the financial statement user how much cash is tied up in the business through items such as receivables and inventories and also how much cash is going to be needed to pay off short term obligations in the next 12 months.

Q: Is it possible for a company to show positive cash flows but be in grave trouble?

A: Absolutely. Two examples involve unsustainable improvements in working capital (a company is selling off inventory and delaying payables), and another example involves lack of revenues going forward.in the pipeline

Q: How is it possible for a company to show positive net income but go bankrupt?

A: Two examples include deterioration of working capital (i.e. increasing accounts receivable, lowering accounts payable), and financial shenanigans.

Q: I buy a piece of equipment, walk me through the impact on the 3 financial statements

A: Initially, there is no impact (income statement); cash goes down, while PP&E goes up (balance sheet), and the purchase of PP&E is a cash outflow (cash flow statement)

Over the life of the asset: depreciation reduces net income (income statement); PP&E goes down by depreciation, while retained earnings go down (balance sheet); and depreciation is added back (because it is a non-cash expense that reduced net income) in the cash from operations section (cash flow statement).

Q: Why are increases in accounts receivable a cash reduction on the cash flow  statement?

A: Since our cash flow statement starts with net income, an increase in accounts receivable is an adjustment to net income to reflect the fact that the company never actually received those funds.

Q: How is the income statement linked to the balance sheet?

A:  Net income flows into retained earnings.

Q: What is goodwill?

A: Goodwill is an asset that captures excess of the purchase price over fair market value of an acquired business. Let’s walk through the following example: Acquirer buys Target for $500m in cash. Target has 1 asset: PPE with book value of $100, debt of $50m, and equity of $50m = book value (A-L) of $50m.

• Acquirer records cash decline of $500 to finance acquisition
• Acquirer’s PP&E increases by $100m
• Acquirer’s debt increases by $50m
•  Acquirer records goodwill of $450m

Q: What is a deferred tax liability and why might one be created?

A: Deferred tax liability is a tax expense amount reported on a company’s income statement that is not actually paid to the IRS in that time period, but is expected to be paid in the future. It arises because when a company actually pays less in taxes to the IRS than they show as an expense on their income statement in a reporting period.

Differences in depreciation expense between book reporting (GAAP) and IRS reporting can lead to differences in income between the two, which ultimately leads to differences in tax expense reported in the financial statements and taxes payable to the IRS.

Q: What is a deferred tax asset and why might one be created?

A: Deferred tax asset arises when a company actually pays more in taxes to the IRS than they show as an expense on their income statement in a reporting period.

• Differences in revenue recognition, expense recognition (such as warranty expense), and net operating losses (NOLs) can create deferred tax assets.

I hope you enjoyed this article.  Please feel free to write me with any comments or recommendations at alibman@wallstreetprep.com.

Best regards,

Arkady

Reviews of Jobs at Accountemps

It's sad to see that so many people were disappointed with AT but I guess it depends on the location and the manager (recruiter) that you deal with. I'm in NJ. I signed up with Office Team (also a division of Robert Half Int.) few years ago and never got any job offers - why? Because I didn't have much experience to match what they were looking for. They are pretty strict when it comes to qualifications. But now, after few years later, I updated my profile with them, went for new tests and got a first assignment within 3 months. It was a dream job so I hated having to leave it (that sucks about temping). But the awesome thing that came out of it was that the employer gave me very good references and now they are going crazy trying to find me a new assignment. Of course I had to do my part and contacted various offices by phone. My assingment ended last Friday. Today is Thursday. I've contacted 4 offices by now. I had one interview yesterday - didn't get the job but that's okay. I have another one today and the guy said that if they like me I can start as soon as tomorrow which would be awesome. 

So here are few tips from me to help you land a job with AT. 
1. There's usually no responses if you apply online. You have to call. And don't call just one office. Call multiple offices that cover the areas you're interested in. Even if the job you saw online is already filled (and they fill super quickly), they will keep you in mind and might call you back. 
2. Don't even bother looking at positions over a week old or the ones that you clearly don't qualify for. 
3. Score well on their tests. I got 100% on the Quickbooks test and I think that's why I got that first opportunity which was exactly what I needed. 
4. Update your status with them. Call them every few weeks to let them know you're still looking for a job. Ask them for their email address and send them your resume. 
5. Be awesome on temporary assingments. I feel like I'm a super valuable asset to them right now as the offices are competing against each other trying to snatch me into a job. It's only because I did a great job on my assingment and that's exactly the type of people they're looking for. 

Their benefits - they offer some but there are certain restrictions as to how many weeks you work and the premium is still pretty expensive. 

The pay - not bad and it all depends on your qualifications. I stuck to my guns and said I won't go below $15 and that's the jobs they're trying to get me now. I actually got a look at the statement of how much they charge the employer and was amazed. My previous assignment, they charged the employer $10 more than what they paid me. Wow. I'm pretty sure they didn't want me finding out how much money they were making on me but it does give you a pretty nice picture of how much the employer is willing to pay for you so if you get a permanent offer, you know what to ask for.