Updated: 6/30/2025

Interviewing is an important step for candidates and hiring managers to find the right match. When done well, an interview is a two-way conversation where both parties can share what they’re looking for and what they can deliver.

If you’re a hiring manager, it’s important to identify the key qualities a candidate needs to succeed in the role, then select interview questions that get at those qualities.

If you’re a job candidate, it’s important to prepare for an interview, so you can convey your thoughts clearly during the real thing. One best practice is to develop a structured approach to answering questions, then practice using common interview questions.

Below is a list of interview questions that were shared with us by treasury professionals in the AFP community.

• Common behavioral interview questions
• Technical Interview questions
• Questions to ask in an interview
• Additional career prep resources

Along with looking at these interview questions, make sure to follow these steps when you’re preparing for an interview.

Are you a finance professional? Take a look at these finance interview questions.

Treasury Interview Questions

Treasury professionals in the AFP community shared, based on their experience, the interview questions they like to ask:

Common Behavioral Interview Questions

General Interview Questions

• Spend five minutes walking me through your résumé.
• Tell me about yourself and why you are well-suited for this role.
• Why do you want to leave your current position?
• What does your typical workday look like?
• What sets you apart from other candidates?
• In your last review, what were three things your manager gave you positive feedback on? What were some items your manager wanted you to work on?
• What motivates you to perform?
• What are you most passionate about in the work you do?
• How do you approach work you don't want to do or find boring?
• Would you prefer to be given an analytical project to perform on your own, or would you prefer to participate in a team project with several contributors? Why?
• Treasury departments typically run lean. How do you manage and prioritize a busy and changing workload?
• Tell me about a time you were asked to take on a responsibility outside your comfort zone. What did you do to get up to speed, and how did you approach learning in that situation?
• Describe your greatest analytical success. What was the deliverable? How did you approach the ask? What was the result? And why did you feel it was a success?
• What enables an analyst to achieve great things, and what, if anything, could derail one from their assigned task?
• What are you looking for in regard to company culture?
• What do you know about our company? Why do you want to work with us?
• Tell me about a piece of business news that occurred in the last week and caught your attention, and explain why.
• Are you currently entertaining any job offers or interviewing elsewhere?

Problem-Solving Interview Questions

• What do you do when you don't know how to do something, and how do you get support?
• Tell me about a time when you had to make an important decision but didn't have all the information.
• Tell me about a new skill/procedure/complex problem you have had to resolve. What were the steps you took, and were you successful?
• Provide an example of a time when you applied your existing knowledge to solve a situation or problem you had never seen before.
• Tell me about a time when you had to think “outside the box” to solve a problem.

People Skills Interview Questions

• Describe your communication style, both written and verbal.
• Describe the ideal person you would like to work with. What characteristics do they have? What characteristics would you hope they do not have?
• Can you tell me about a time you had to work with a difficult colleague or peer? How did you handle the relationship?
• Tell me about a time you faced resistance to a change or decision, whether from a colleague, customer or senior leader. How did you handle it, and what was the outcome?
• Describe a situation where you had to influence senior stakeholders or bring a group around to your perspective. What approach did you take, and what was the result?
• Give an example of a time you had to compromise or meet a colleague halfway on a business decision. How did you ensure a successful outcome?
• Tell me about a time at work when your integrity and honesty were tested.
• How do you handle days when you realize you won't be able to complete everything you planned? How would you communicate that to the people counting on you to deliver?
• Tell me about a time you joined a team and had to accomplish a common goal.
• Think of a recent project where you worked independently. If you had tackled the same challenge as part of a team, how would you have approached it differently?
• Share an example of a time when you had to work closely with colleagues across departments to achieve a common goal. What was your role, and how did you ensure successful cooperation?
• Tell me about a time when you, as a treasury professional, had to train someone else and help them understand the importance of the treasury function.
• Describe your experience negotiating with banks on services or product implementations. What was the outcome, and how did you manage the relationship during the process?

Leadership and Team Management Interview Questions

• Describe a couple of instances where, in your life, you either volunteered or felt compelled to take the lead. Why did you do so? Tell me about the experience from beginning to end, regardless of whether it was successful or not.
• What is your leadership style, and how do you like to manage teams, whether informal or formal?
• Tell me about your most difficult managerial experience. What made it difficult for you?
• What is the worst team experience you've had? What made it a bad experience, and what, if anything, did you do about it? What did you learn from this experience?
• Provide an example of a time when you or your team had to make a strategic decision. What was the outcome?
• What is your approach to managing poor performance (or underperformance) in your team?
• Which non-treasury teams do you see as key partners, and how would you ensure your team collaborates effectively with them to support the broader corporate goals?
• What do you consider to be effective staff development opportunities that can be offered to the team?
• Tell me about two employee development successes you feel most proud of. What role did you play in each instance?
• In your most recent role, how did you interact with senior stakeholders or influence strategic decisions in treasury? What level of autonomy or decision-making authority did you have?
• Walk me through a time you led a change in treasury or finance. How did you gain buy-in from others and manage collaboration through the transition?
• Tell me about a complex treasury initiative you've led, such as a liquidity risk analysis, funding strategy or process change. What role did you play, and what made it both challenging and rewarding?
• In pursuit of treasury excellence, what would you choose as metrics of success for your team? List at least five.

Common Technical Interview Questions

• What is your definition of success for the treasury department?
• What is your 30/60/90 plan for this position if hired?
• What technologies have you used, and how have they made you more efficient?
• Have you implemented or upgraded a TMS/ERP? Describe the role you played in the process.
• What risks do you see inherent in the industry that you would address if hired?
• What is your personal perspective on risk management?
• How do you approach safeguarding the company's assets?
• Can you explain the fraud services you typically see on an accounts payable bank account, payroll? What about accounts receivable accounts or treasury accounts?
• Describe your experience with cash management and liquidity planning.
• Describe how a cash pool helps with cash management and liquidity management.
• Describe your involvement in debt management activities, including negotiating credit agreements or managing credit facilities.
• Are you familiar with the cash conversion cycle? If so, please define it. How would you approach analyzing it?
• How could your treasury department optimize its cash conversion cycle? For each bucket (AR, inventory and AP), what could potentially lead to better results?
• Describe your experience with FX and interest-rate risk management.
• What is your experience with netting?
• What is your experience with unclaimed property?
• What is your experience with intercompany processing?
• What is FBAR?
• What is a controlled disbursement account?
• Explain the concept of free cash flow and how to calculate it using the direct method.
• Cash forecasting:
• How do you approach building a cash forecast, and what factors guide your methodology?
• Walk me through your process for developing a short-term forecast, daily to monthly. What inputs and assumptions do you rely on?
• How does your approach shift when forecasting for the mid to long term, such as six months to a year out?
• What variance do you consider acceptable in your forecast, and how do you respond when actuals fall outside that range?
• Wires:
• How do you execute a payment with FFC instructions in the bank portal?
• What is the difference between an ACH and a wire transfer?
• In which scenario would you use an ABA vs. a SWIFT BIC code or IBAN?
• Company segregation:
• If someone asked you to transfer funds from Company A to Company B, what would you do?
• Company A has a shortfall, while Company B has excess cash. How would you handle that?
• Let's say the list of open items has an unidentified item, meaning there is no one assigned to it for posting. How would you handle that?
• Tell me how you would solve the following scenario: A TPA issued a check, but the claimant reported non-receipt. As a result, they issued another check but didn't stop the first check until after they had cashed it, prompting both checks to be cashed.
• How would you handle a payment issue if I am not in the office?
• We have three projects for the treasury department. Projects A, B and C. We're looking to automate manual processes in Project A. How would you recommend we do this?
• For Project B, we're looking to reduce fraud, increase days payable outstanding and increase throughput of payments. What would you recommend?
• For Project C, we're looking to lower overall costs, increase interest income and lower interest expense. What would you recommend?
• Explain a prudent process when adding or removing users from bank platforms.
• How would you go about understanding and figuring out a new country and banking in that country?
• Have you worked with restricted countries?
• How do you stay updated with changes in market trends?

Questions for Candidates to Ask in an Interview

At the end of every interview, candidates are always given the opportunity to ask the interviewer some questions. Make sure to prepare your questions to ask the interviewer ahead of time. Choose questions according to what’s important to you and any additional information you need to determine if the role will be a good fit.

To help get you started, here are questions suggested by treasury professionals in the AFP community:

Behavioral Questions

• How do you communicate and deliver information?
• How do you approach a situation when I ask for help, and how will you remove obstacles to help me succeed in a task or project?
• Why did you accept your job, and why do you stay?
• What challenges have you faced that you did not necessarily expect?
• What training do you offer, and how will you help me grow my experience?
• How do you motivate, engage and inspire employees?
• What makes someone a valuable employee in this company?
• Do you feel valued in this company, and how does the company demonstrate this?
• My career goals are [insert here]; if I am chosen, how will you help me reach my goals?
• Is there anything in my experience or education that would give you confidence or concern about my success in this role?

Technical Questions

• What systems do you use? How do you train employees on these systems? Is the training internal or external?
• What is your approach to automation and resource allocation for enabling efficiency in the treasury department?
• How does the company manage liquidity — domestically and globally?
• What is the company’s approach to hedging risk?
• How does treasury impact EPS in this role?
• How does the company approach ESG, and what value does it place on it? 
• What is your approach to both internal and external stakeholder management, and can you talk about how the treasury department interacts to ensure a successful partnership?

Additional Career Prep Resources

Get more tips to help you move from candidate to new hire.