Company interview guide
KPMG interview process and practice questions
KPMG's interviews usually combine an assessment, technical questions for the practice you've applied to (audit, tax, advisory or consulting) and a conversation about fit and behaviour. KPMG in India publishes an indicative process: an online assessment, a group discussion, a case study round, then interviews with a recruiter and a technical panel. Elsewhere the steps vary by country and role.
As candidates commonly report it; it varies by team, level and year. Last reviewed 18 October 2026.
The interview process
- 1Online assessment: comprehension, reasoning and psychometric questions (quantitative or data questions for some practices)
- 2Group discussion (some campus roles)
- 3Case study round, written or as a discussion
- 4Interview with a recruiter on fit and behaviour
- 5Technical panel interview, sometimes with two or three interviewers
Outside India
Candidates elsewhere more often report:
- Online application, with online assessments for many graduate roles
- Interview on your experience and motivation, often with behavioural questions
- Technical or case discussion for the role
- Final interview with a manager, director or partner (for some roles)
What interviewers listen for
- Integrity: we do what is right
- Excellence: we never stop learning and improving
- Courage: we think and act boldly
- Together: we respect each other and draw strength from our differences
- For Better: we do what matters
- Structured thinking and clear communication
- Business awareness and resilience
Behavioral questions
Tell me about a time you did the right thing when it would have been easier not to.
A good answer covers
- The easier path and why it was tempting
- What you did instead and who you involved
- The result and what it says about how you work
Tell me about a time you taught yourself something difficult so you could do better work.
A good answer covers
- What you needed to learn and why
- How you went about it, with specific resources or practice
- How your work improved because of it
Describe a time you suggested a bold idea. How did people react, and what happened?
A good answer covers
- The idea and why it was a risk
- How you made the case and handled doubts
- The outcome, even if it didn't go your way, and what you learnt
Tell me about a time you worked closely with someone very different from you to get a result.
A good answer covers
- How you differed: background, working style or views
- What you did to understand them and use their strengths
- What you achieved together
Role and technical questions
What is materiality in an audit, and how does it change what an auditor tests?
A good answer covers
- The size of error that could change a reader's decision
- How it's set, often from a benchmark such as profit or revenue, with judgement
- How it guides sample sizes and where the audit team spends effort
A client's inventory records don't match the warehouse count. How would you investigate?
A good answer covers
- Checking the count itself first: timing, goods in transit, items held for others
- Tracing differences to records: receipts, dispatches, returns, write-offs
- The likely causes, the control that failed, and what you'd recommend
Explain transfer pricing in simple terms, and why tax authorities care about it.
A good answer covers
- The prices one part of a group charges another, often across countries
- The arm's length idea: prices as if the two were unrelated
- Why it matters: where profit is taxed, and the risk of disputes
How would you assess whether a mid-sized company is ready to move to a new ERP system?
A good answer covers
- Its reasons and goals, and what systems and processes it has today
- Readiness: clean data, people's time and skills, budget and leadership support
- Main risks and a phased plan with clear checkpoints
A bank wants fewer false alarms from its anti-money-laundering checks without missing real cases. How would you approach it?
A good answer covers
- Understanding the current rules, alert volumes and what share turn out to be real
- Tuning thresholds, adding customer context, or using better data or models
- Testing changes safely and keeping regulators' expectations in view
A retail chain's sales grew this year but its profit stayed flat. Where would you look?
A good answer covers
- Costs rising faster than sales: stock, staff, rent, delivery
- Lower margins from discounts or a shift towards cheaper products
- One or two hypotheses, the data that would test them, and a first recommendation
Why KPMG? Fit and HR questions
Tell me about yourself and why you're interested in professional services.
A good answer covers
- Your studies or current role in two or three lines
- One achievement that shows the skills this practice needs
- Why advisory, audit or tax work appeals to you
Why KPMG, and why this practice?
A good answer covers
- What the practice does and the kind of clients it serves
- Why that work fits your skills and interests
- Something specific about KPMG you learnt from its people or work
Where do you see yourself in five years, and are you planning a professional qualification?
A good answer covers
- A realistic goal linked to the practice
- Any qualification you're pursuing or considering, and why
- How this role helps you get there
Tips
- Practise reading a short business case and summarising it in a minute: the problem, the key facts, and what you'd recommend.
- In a case round, state your structure first, then go area by area, saying your assumptions as you go.
- For the technical panel, revise your subject's basics, such as accounting standards, tax or the tools on your CV, and be ready to apply them to an example.
- In the group discussion, make two or three structured points, build on others' points rather than talking over them, and offer to summarise at the end.
- Keep behavioural answers short: the situation, what you did, and the result, with a number if you can.
- Read about one recent change in your field, such as a new accounting rule, a tax change or a technology trend, and what it means for clients.
Practise it out loud
A mock interview asks the way KPMG's interviewers are known to, follows up on your answers and gives you a report. The warm-up is free, needs no account and checks five of these questions as you answer.
About this guide
Written by Orbit from KPMG's own public pages and what candidates commonly report. Orbit isn't affiliated with KPMG. The questions are practice questions in the style of its interviews, not questions taken from them. Processes change, so check the job post and what your recruiter tells you.