Credit Analyst Interview

Hello,

This is a follow up to a thread that was posted 7 years ago ( https://www.analystforum.com/forums/cfa-forums/cfa-general-discussion/91198280 )

I’ve had a number of credit analyst interviews over the last couple of years. …good positions with a lot of promise & good salaries but I’ve been declined as my experience has been deemed too junior.

In all the interviews I’ve had, they have presented me with a set of abbreviated unaudited accounts of a company which include a P&L, balance sheet, cash flow statement and some management accounts.

I think the obvious reason why i am not getting anywhere is because my level of analysis is not adequate enough and does not meet the technical requirement of the role. This is frustrating as I thought as my CV got me the interview it would be enough.

I currently work as a credit analyst role but its highly transactional and its not a requirement to go into that much detail when doing a credit assessment. I would like to continue in credit but wanted to know what are employers are looking for when they present you with a set of accounts as detailed above. I talk about trends in sales/net profit, their cash figure, where cash is tied up such as goodwill, stock, a/r balances, net worth , negative equity as this is what i talk about in my daily role. However other companies are looking for somebody with even more insight so wanted to know what sort of things I should be talking about if another interview comes up in the future.

Many thanks,

Habib .

Is there anyone you interviewed with that you think would answer that question? It is surprising how often all you have to do is ask.

while not exactly on point, I have once in a while asked competitors about how they do certain things. Very often, they tell me.