Top 40 PwC Interview Questions and Answers with Interview Process

PwC, or PricewaterhouseCoopers, is a global leader in professional services, offering audit, tax, and consulting solutions to clients across various industries. With operations in over 157 countries and a workforce of more than 284,000 professionals, PwC is known for its high standards and competitive recruitment. This blog aims to guide you through the key PWC interview questions you might face, helping you prepare effectively and increase your chances of landing your dream job at PwC.

PwC Recruitment Process

PwC’s recruitment process involves multiple stages designed to assess various competencies. From analytical skills to technical knowledge and personality traits to cultural fit, each round serves a specific purpose in recruiting the best candidates. Here’s a detailed breakdown of what to expect at each stage of the PwC interview process.

1. Aptitude Round: This initial online test assesses candidates’ analytical, logical, and reasoning abilities through multiple-choice questions. Topics include quantitative aptitude, verbal reasoning, and logical reasoning.
2. Technical Round: Depending on the position, this round may involve a written test, coding challenge, or case study. It evaluates the candidate’s knowledge and skills relevant to the job role.
3. Partner Round: In this round, candidates meet with a partner or senior team member. It focuses on personality, communication skills, and teamwork abilities. It also assesses the candidate’s knowledge of the company and industry.
4. HR Round: The final round involves discussions with the HR team about compensation, benefits, and company culture. It also covers questions about salary expectations, relocation willingness, and availability to join.

PwC Interview Questions and Answers

Preparing for a PwC interview can be a bit nerve-wracking, but knowing the types of questions they ask can help. So, let’s cover some common PricewaterhouseCoopers interview questions and provide tips on how to answer them effectively.

1) PWC HR Interview Questions with Answers

HR PwC interview questions focus on understanding your personality, work ethic, and how well you fit into the company culture. These questions aim to gauge your soft skills, such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities. 

Q1. Can you tell us about yourself?

Answer: I am a recent graduate with a degree in Accounting. I have completed internships at two different firms where I gained experience in auditing and tax preparation. I am passionate about numbers and problem-solving and eager to bring my skills to PwC.

Q2. Why do you want to work at PwC?

Answer: PwC is a global leader in professional services and is known for its commitment to quality and innovation. I am particularly impressed by PwC’s focus on sustainability and its efforts to drive positive change in the industry. I believe that working at PwC will provide me with the opportunity to grow professionally and make a meaningful impact.

Q3. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Answer: My strengths include strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and the ability to work well under pressure. My weakness is that I sometimes take on too much work, but I am learning to delegate tasks and manage my time more effectively.

Q4. How do you handle stress and pressure?

Answer: I handle stress and pressure by staying organized and prioritizing my tasks. I also make sure to take breaks and practice mindfulness techniques to stay focused and calm.

Q5. Can you describe a challenging situation you faced and how you handled it?

Answer: During my internship, I was tasked with leading a project that had a tight deadline. I organized a team, delegated tasks, and communicated regularly with all stakeholders. We completed the project on time and received positive feedback from the client.

Q6. How do you prioritize your work?

Answer: I prioritize my work by assessing the urgency and importance of each task. I use tools like to-do lists and project management software to keep track of deadlines and ensure that I am focusing on the most critical tasks first.

Q7. What motivates you?

Answer: I am motivated by the opportunity to solve complex problems and make a positive impact. I also find motivation in continuous learning and professional development.

Q8. How do you handle feedback?

Answer: I view feedback as an opportunity for growth. I listen carefully, ask for clarification if needed, and take actionable steps to improve based on the feedback I receive.

Q9. Can you describe a time when you worked in a team?

Answer: During a group project in college, I worked with a team to develop a business plan. We divided the tasks based on our strengths, communicated regularly, and supported each other throughout the process. The project was a success, and we received good marks.

Q10. What are your career goals?

Answer: My career goals include becoming a certified public accountant (CPA) and advancing to a leadership position within PwC. I am also interested in specializing in forensic accounting and contributing to PwC’s efforts in combating financial fraud.

2) PwC Interview Questions for Freshers

For freshers, PwC’s technical questions are designed to assess your foundational knowledge and problem-solving skills. These PwC company technical interview questions often cover basic concepts in your field of study, whether it’s accounting, finance, or IT. Demonstrating a strong grasp of these fundamentals can show that you’re ready to take on entry-level roles and grow within the company. Let’s explore some typical questions you might face.

Q11. What does RDBMS stand for?

Answer: RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management System. It is a program that allows users to create, delete, and update a relational database. A relational database stores and retrieves data in a tabular format, i.e., with rows and columns.

Q12. What is DML or data manipulation language?

Answer: Data Manipulation Language (DML) is a framework of functions provided by the database management system to modify the data. It includes commands like INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and SELECT.

Q13. What are the characteristics of vectors?

Answer: Vectors are resizable arrays that automatically deallocate when they reach the end of their scope. They can be copied or assigned to another vector, making them flexible and easy to use.

Q14. What are the characteristics of arrays?

Answer: Arrays are fixed in size and cannot be resized. Unlike vectors, arrays cannot be copied or assigned to another array. They are allocated in contiguous memory locations.

Q15. What is a dangling pointer?

Answer: A Dangling Pointer is a pointer that points to a previously released location. Dereferencing a dangling pointer leads to undefined behaviour and can cause program crashes or unexpected results.

Q16. What do you mean by an assessment year?

Answer: The assessment year is the period from April 1 to March 31 of the next year. During this time, the previous year’s income of an individual is taxed and assessed for income tax filing purposes.

Q17. What do you mean by a financial year?

Answer: The financial year is the period from April 1 to March 31 of the following year. This is the time when income is earned and is taxed after the financial year ends.

Q18. What is a statutory audit?

Answer: A statutory audit aims to review an organization’s financial records and statements to ensure they are correct and there are no discrepancies. It ensures that the financial statements provide a fair and accurate representation of the entity’s financial position.

Q19. What is Bootstrap? 

Answer: Bootstrap is an open-source front-end framework used for making web development faster and more efficient. It is reusable code that a professional can download for free and use in their development projects to get the desired functionality without rewriting the code. Bootstrap is useful in making the website more responsive. 

Q20. What is an internal audit?

Answer: Internal audits evaluate a company’s internal controls, including its corporate governance and accounting processes. They ensure compliance with laws and regulations and help maintain accurate and timely financial reporting and data collection.

c) PwC Technical Interview Questions For Mid-Level Professionals

Mid-level professionals can expect more in-depth PwC technical interview questions that test their practical experience and advanced knowledge. These questions often involve real-world scenarios and problem-solving tasks relevant to your field. Showing your expertise and ability to apply your skills in complex situations can highlight your readiness for more challenging roles at PwC. Let’s delve into the kinds of questions you might be asked.

Q21. What distinguishes linear data structures from non-linear data structures?

Answer: Linear data structures organize elements sequentially, where each element has a unique predecessor and successor, except for the first and last elements. Examples of linear data structures include arrays, linked lists, stacks, and queues. Non-linear data structures, on the other hand, do not follow a sequential order. Elements can be connected in various ways, forming hierarchical relationships. Examples of non-linear data structures include trees and graphs.

Q22. What are audit control procedures?

Answer: Audit control procedures are systematic methods and practices used to ensure the accuracy, completeness, and reliability of financial records and statements. These procedures include internal controls, compliance checks, risk assessments, and verification processes to detect and prevent errors, fraud, and discrepancies.

Q23. How do exclusive locks differ from shared locks?

Answer: Exclusive locks (also known as write locks) prevent any other transaction from accessing the locked resource until the lock is released. This ensures that only one transaction can modify the resource at a time. Shared locks (also known as read locks) allow multiple transactions to read the resource simultaneously but prevent any transaction from modifying it until all shared locks are released.

Q24. What is risk-based auditing?

Answer: Risk-based auditing is a methodology that connects internal auditing to a company’s overall risk management framework. This auditing allows internal audit to assure the company’s board that risk management processes are handling the risks effectively and efficiently. This methodology comprises steps such as determining key risks, evaluating their impact, and allocating audit resources accordingly to offer assurance on critical aspects. 

Q25. What is the output of the following code?

int main() {

   for(;;)

   std::cout<<"hello\n";

}

Answer: The code will continuously print “hello” indefinitely because the for loop has no termination condition.

Q26. Is BCNF superior to 2NF and 3NF? If so, why?

Answer: Yes, BCNF (Boyce-Codd Normal Form) is considered superior to 2NF (Second Normal Form) and 3NF (Third Normal Form) because it addresses certain types of anomalies that 3NF does not. BCNF ensures that every determinant is a candidate key, providing a higher level of normalization and reducing redundancy and dependency anomalies.

Q27. What are the advantages of a vector over an array in C++?

Answer: Vectors in C++ provide dynamic resizing, which means they can grow or shrink in size as needed. They also offer a range of member functions for easy manipulation, such as push_back, pop_back, and insert. Additionally, vectors manage their memory, reducing the risk of memory leaks and making them safer and more convenient to use compared to raw arrays.

Q28. What will be the output of the below Python program?

class myClass:

    def __init__(self):

        self.x = 10

        self._y = 20

obj = myClass()

print(obj._y)

Answer: The output of the program will be 20.

Q29. Write a Python program to filter list elements between 1 to 20 (both inclusive), which are even numbers.

Answer: even_numbers = [num for num in range(1, 21) if num % 2 == 0]

print(even_numbers)

Q30. Why do we create indexes?

Answer: Indexes are created to improve the speed of data retrieval operations on a database table. They work by providing quick access paths to the data, reducing the amount of time it takes to locate records. Indexes can significantly enhance the performance of SELECT queries, as well as other operations like JOINs and aggregations.

4) PwC Technical Interview Questions For Experienced Professionals

Experienced professionals will face technical questions that delve deeply into specialized areas of their expertise. These questions are designed to assess your advanced skills, strategic thinking, and leadership capabilities. Let’s take a look at the types of PricewaterhouseCoopers interview questions you might encounter.

Q31. How does a Binary Tree differ from a Binary Search Tree?

Answer: A Binary Tree is a data structure in which each node has at most two children, referred to as the left and right child. The main characteristic of a binary tree is its hierarchical structure, but it doesn’t impose any specific order on the nodes.

A Binary Search Tree (BST), on the other hand, is a specialized form of a binary tree that maintains a specific order: for any given node, all the nodes in its left subtree have values less than the node’s value and all the nodes in its right subtree have values greater than the node’s value. This property makes BSTs particularly useful for efficient searching, insertion, and deletion operations.

Q32. What distinguishes a list from a tuple in Python?

Answer: In Python, lists and tuples are both used to store collections of items, but there are a few differences between lists and tuples:

• Mutability: Lists are mutable, meaning their elements can be changed after the list is created. Tuples are immutable, so once a tuple is created, its elements cannot be modified.
• Syntax: Lists are defined using square brackets [ ], while tuples are defined using parentheses ( ).
• Performance: Tuples can be more efficient than lists in terms of memory and performance because they are immutable.
• Use cases: Lists are generally used when you need a collection of items that can change over time, while tuples are used for fixed collections of items.

Q33. How can you print numbers from 1 to 100 without using loops?

Answer:  You can achieve this using recursion in Python. Here’s a simple example:

def print_numbers(n):

    if n > 0:

        print_numbers(n - 1)

        print(n)

print_numbers(100)

Q34. What does the term “volatile” signify in C?

Answer: In C, the volatile keyword is used to indicate that a variable’s value may be changed by something outside the control of the program, such as hardware or a different thread. This prevents the compiler from optimizing the code in a way that assumes the value of the variable won’t change unexpectedly. It ensures that every time the variable is accessed, the actual memory location is read.

Q35. What is merge sort, and what are its time and space complexities?

Answer: Merge sort is a divide-and-conquer algorithm that divides the input array into two halves, recursively sorts each half, and then merges the two sorted halves to produce the sorted array. It is known for its efficiency and stability.

• Time Complexity: O(n log n) in all cases (worst, average, and best).
• Space Complexity: O(n) due to the temporary arrays used for merging.

Q36. How do you write an SQL query to find the minimum, maximum, and average salary from a table?

Answer:  You can use the following SQL query to find the minimum, maximum, and average salary from a table named employees:

SELECT

    MIN(salary) AS min_salary,

    MAX(salary) AS max_salary,

    AVG(salary) AS avg_salary

FROM

    employees;

Q37. What method would you suggest for joining two tables in SQL?

Answer: To join two tables in SQL, you can use the JOIN clause. Here is an example using an INNER JOIN:

SELECT

    a.column1,

    b.column2

FROM

    table1 a

INNER JOIN

    table2 b

ON

    a.common_column = b.common_column;

Q38. What do you understand by the term “big data”?

Answer: Big data comprises large datasets that are analyzed to identify patterns, determine trends, and make associations. This is done through computational analysis to extract insights from human interactions and behaviours. Big data is characterized by the three Vs:

• Volume: The sheer amount of data.
• Velocity: The speed at which data is generated and processed.
• Variety: The different types of data (structured, semi-structured, unstructured).

Q39. How do C and C++ differ from each other?

Answer: C and C++ are both programming languages, but they have some key differences:

• Paradigm: C is a procedural programming language, while C++ supports both procedural and object-oriented programming paradigms.
• Standard Library: C++ has a richer standard library compared to C.
• Features: C++ includes features like classes, inheritance, polymorphism, templates, and exception handling, which are not available in C.
• Memory Management: C++ provides more advanced memory management features like constructors, destructors, and smart pointers.

Q40. What is meant by “normalization” in the context of databases?

Answer: Normalization is the process of organizing data in a database to reduce redundancy and improve data integrity. It involves dividing a database into two or more tables and defining relationships between the tables. The main goals of normalization are to eliminate redundant data and ensure data dependencies make sense to reduce the chances of anomalies during data operations.

Conclusion

Preparing for PwC interview questions involves understanding the types of questions you might face, from HR inquiries to technical challenges tailored to your experience level. By familiarizing yourself with these questions and practising your responses, you can walk into your interview with confidence. Remember, PwC values not just technical proficiency but also cultural fit and soft skills. If you’re curious about other lucrative career opportunities, check out our blog on the highest-paying jobs in India.

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