These are the synthetic interviewer notes used to prepare this example.
Recruiter / TA Partner
The candidate confirmed that they are based close enough to attend the Madrid office and said three days per week should be workable. When I asked for an explicit confirmation, they wanted to understand whether the same days are fixed each week; we did not return to a final yes or no before the screen ended. I recorded that dependency rather than treating availability as confirmed.
They described working in English with group colleagues and external auditors and said they have used an older ERP, but not SAP S/4HANA. I noted those points for the specialist interviews rather than going into detail on the screen. They were interested in the international scope and asked about the maturity of the close process.
Finance Director / Hiring Manager
The candidate described owning monthly close across four entities. They maintained the close calendar, followed intercompany reconciliation, reviewed consolidation adjustments, investigated variances, and delivered the group reporting pack. A useful example involved a recurring elimination error: they traced it to inconsistent local coding, corrected the current consolidation, and agreed a recurring check before the next close. They were clear about which entries came from local teams and which review remained theirs.
We also discussed systems and transformation. They had used an older ERP rather than SAP S/4HANA and described only broad participation in one process-improvement initiative; I did not get a concrete account of what they changed or what outcome followed. With the upcoming programme, I would not want to progress someone without direct S/4HANA experience.
Technical Accounting Panel
The candidate reviewed the fictitious month-end pack and correctly identified that the accounting event affected treatment and disclosures. They asked for one missing fact and said external technical advice might be needed. Their issue log was orderly, but the written reasoning did not identify the specific IFRS area, set out the relevant facts in enough detail, or show how those facts led to the proposed treatment. We could follow the answer, but another qualified reviewer could not reproduce the judgment from the record alone.
The controls section was stronger on preparing supporting schedules than on managing the audit process. In discussion they said they had prepared audit support, but could not explain how they tracked open requests or resolved a disputed item. I wrote that their accounting treatment was correct; that is my specialist conclusion, while the recorded artifact itself contains only partial reasoning support.
Finance Systems & Stakeholder Panel
The spreadsheet was readable and the candidate could trace the main consolidation figure back to the source tabs. They pointed out one limitation in their check and did not claim the workbook was fully controlled. Their ERP description remained high level: they had extracted reports from an older platform, but we did not establish workflow configuration, control design, or advanced analysis.
The English briefing to the finance audience was understandable. For the non-finance version, they translated a reporting discrepancy into an operational consequence and agreed a corrective action with the stakeholder. The explanation was concise and avoided unnecessary accounting language. We did not assess Spanish in this session. There was also some discussion about why the candidate prefers international roles.
Bilingual Finance Interviewer
We asked about Spanish GAAP exposure and then moved to the short Spanish stakeholder exercise. The candidate had not worked directly under Spanish GAAP and was clear about that rather than stretching their adjacent IFRS experience.
They began the stakeholder explanation in Spanish and could convey that a reconciliation item required operational input, but the answer was brief and they switched to English when asked how they would confirm the requested action and deadline. We ran out of time before a second example. They also mentioned that they enjoy learning languages.
Finance Partner
The candidate described informally helping two local accountants during close, mainly by reviewing reconciliations and answering questions. They did not have line-management authority. The example suggested willingness to support colleagues, but I did not get enough detail on how work was coordinated, how feedback was adapted, or whether quality or timeliness improved. I would want a more specific example before drawing a conclusion about coaching or small-team coordination.
At the end I wrote that the candidate was not sufficiently strategic for the role. I would want another interviewer to probe that if we discussed the candidate again.