Sample shortlist: Accountant

The brief they were screened against

Role: Accountant · Band: $1,000–1,700/mo

Must-haves: month-end close and management accounts for a small business, explains why margin moved rather than restating it, accruals and prepayments, a CPA-ready year-end pack

Nice to have: cash-flow forecasting, QuickBooks Online or Xero, inventory or e-commerce businesses, US GAAP familiarity

Scored by the same rubric the production screener runs on real applicants (bookkeeper, claude-sonnet-4-6), on 2026-09-23. Nothing below was edited afterwards — including where it went against a candidate. The rubric and weights are published.

Lerato M.

SCREEN 88/100

South Africa · asking $1,450

Screening notes

The work sample is the standout: it leads with dollars not percentages ($6,300 gross profit drop, $3,600 vs $9,900 net), isolates three causes that sum exactly to seven points, distinguishes one-off from recurring costs, quantifies the forward outlook at 40.5% with arithmetic shown, and closes with a specific decision and a hard deadline (10th of the month) — that is genuinely board-ready commentary for a $1.2M business and was not scaffolded by the question. The scenario answer adds unprompted structure (cheapest-check-first triage, cut-off both ways, channel and discount-code split) and the freight-booked-as-overhead catch from real experience is a precise, named finding with a 4-point margin impact and a 6% repricing outcome — details the form did not supply. The CA(SA) plus four years sole-charge on a Shopify/wholesale e-commerce brand with Xero, A2X, Cin7, Float, and Fathom maps almost perfectly to every must-have and nice-to-have in the brief; the only genuine gap is that QBO depth is self-described as shallower than Xero, which matters if the client is QBO-primary. At $1,450 she sits at the top of band but the scope — management accounts, commentary, forecasting, inventory — justifies it; the concern is whether a CA(SA) at this quality retains the role once she benchmarks local options, so retention risk is worth one interview question. Verdict: present to client.

Experience

7 years: a three-year training contract at a Johannesburg audit firm, where I qualified as a CA(SA), then four years as the only management accountant for a US-owned tea and coffee brand doing about $1.2M a year on Shopify and wholesale to around 40 grocery stores. I closed by working day 6 and wrote the commentary the owner actually read. My most useful find was inbound freight booked as an overhead instead of into stock cost, which made gross margin look about 4 points better than it was and hid that wholesale barely broke even; we repriced wholesale by 6% the next quarter. My training was IFRS; I've kept US GAAP books for four years and leave tax questions to the owner's CPA.

Scenario answer

First, the call. The client got to this before my commentary did, so I don't say 'let me look into it'. I tell them what I already know (sales held, and cost of sales took five more cents of every dollar) and that they'll have the cause, in dollars, by 3pm their time. Then the investigation, cheapest check first: 1. Is last month the odd one? In my experience a five-point swing on flat sales is as often a timing error as a real cost. I check cut-off both ways: supplier bills dated last month but posted this month, last month's accruals reversed with no invoice behind them, and whether the stock count was taken on a different day of the month. 2. Cost of sales line by line, as a percentage of sales, for both months: product cost, inbound freight and duty, packaging, fulfilment, merchant fees, stock adjustments. A write-off or count adjustment lands all at once, so I read that line first. 3. Unit cost on the ten products that make up most of sales. I compare this month's landed cost per unit with the last three purchases. That's where a supplier price rise or an expensive shipment shows up. 4. Mix and discounts, even though revenue was flat. Flat revenue can hide more wholesale at a lower margin, or more units sold on a discount code. I split sales and gross margin by channel and by discount code. 5. Only then the smaller stuff: returns, damaged stock, freight credits that never arrived. The commentary leads with the money, not the percentage: what the drop cost in gross profit, how much of it is one-off and how much will repeat, and the decision the owner has to make, if there is one. If I can only explain part of it, I say which part is still open and when I'll close it. I'd rather send 'three points explained, two under review' than a tidy story that's wrong next month. And one change after this: a margin check on day 3 of the close, so next time the owner hears it from me first.

Work sample

SEPTEMBER MANAGEMENT COMMENTARY Sales were $90,000, level with August, but gross margin fell from 43% to 36%. On the same sales that is $6,300 less gross profit ($32,400 instead of $38,700), and it is the whole reason net profit came in at $3,600 rather than $9,900. Overheads were $28,800, in line with plan, so nothing below gross profit needs your attention this month. Three things in cost of sales explain all seven points. First, air freight on the late restock of our two best-selling blends, which sold through within the month: $2,700 more than sea freight would have cost (3.0 points). We chose it to avoid a three-week stockout, and it won't repeat unless the next shipment is late too. Second, the main supplier's new price list from 1 September: unit costs on our five best-sellers rose about 8%, adding $2,250 (2.5 points). This one repeats every month. Third, the quarter-end stock count found $1,350 of damaged stock, written off to cost of sales (1.5 points). That is more than the last three counts combined, so before I accept it I've asked the 3PL for their damage log. If it happened in their warehouse, it's a claim against them, not our cost. For October, if sales hold at $90,000, gross margin should come back to about 40.5%: the supplier increase stays, the freight and the write-off don't. On current overheads that is a net profit of about $7,650. The decision I need from you is whether to pass the supplier increase on. Those five products bring in about $45,000 a month, so a 5% price rise on them covers the $2,250 if volumes hold. I'd like to settle it before the October price list goes to the wholesale accounts on the 10th.

Patricia V.

SCREEN 88/100

Philippines · asking $1,600

Screening notes

The work sample is the standout: candidate constructs a full P&L bridge ($6,300 gross profit variance, correctly broken into 4.0+2.0+1.0 margin points), supplies a forward forecast with a specific decision request and deadline, and explicitly clears timing effects before attributing real cost — all detail the question did not supply and that a typical bookkeeper would not produce unprompted. The scenario answer demonstrates genuine close-process thinking: the three-payday payroll trap, accrual-reversal-without-invoice, and supplier price vs. price-book divergence are practitioner-level observations, not textbook recitations. Experience is highly specific — eight named client types, a measurable audit-review reduction (11h to 4h), cash-basis-to-accrual remediation with schedule rebuild, and correct tool stack (QBO Plus/Advanced classes/job costing, Karbon, Bill.com, Dext) — satisfying the experience-specificity criterion without adjective padding. Two concerns: (1) salary ask of $1,600 is 7–14% above the posted band ceiling of $1,500, which at this quality level is probably negotiable but must be confirmed; (2) the candidate volunteers limited inventory/e-commerce depth, which is a nice-to-have gap but not a must-have miss for this brief. Verdict: advance to hiring-manager interview; the work sample alone justifies it, and the salary overage is the only real friction.

Experience

9 years. Licensed CPA in the Philippines: 3 years in audit at a Manila firm, then 6 years at an outsourcing company that runs the monthly close for small-business clients of US CPA firms. I own the close for eight clients (two HVAC and plumbing companies, a physiotherapy group, a staffing agency and four marketing agencies) and build their year-end packs for the 1120-S and 1065 returns. At the staffing client I rebuilt the prepaid and accrual schedules on books that had been cash-basis in all but name, and the CPA firm's review time on that file went from about 11 hours to 4.

Scenario answer

My clients are service businesses, so I'll answer the way I'd work one of those. My inventory experience is one client with a small parts stock, and I'd be slower on a product business. On the call I say what I know and when they'll have the rest: revenue held, the drop is in cost of sales, and I'll send the cause in dollars by 9am tomorrow. I don't guess a reason on the phone. The first guess is the one the owner remembers. The investigation, in order: 1. Rule out timing before looking for a real cost. Three checks. Was it a three-payday month? With biweekly payroll, two months a year have three paydays, and if wages are booked when paid instead of accrued by days worked, direct labour jumps by half for no real reason. Were supplier bills for last month's jobs posted this month? And did any accrual reverse without the real invoice arriving? 2. Direct labour, split into regular hours, overtime and subcontractors. Revenue can hold while the cost of delivering it moves: two technicians out means the same jobs get done by subcontractors at a higher rate. 3. Materials against what we charged. If the supplier's prices went up and our price book didn't, margin leaks on every job. 4. Job-level margin. I run project profitability for the month and read the five worst jobs. Callbacks, jobs quoted too low and warranty work usually sit there. 5. Revenue quality, even though the total held: discounts, credit notes, and jobs billed this month for work done last month. For the commentary, I split the drop into timing and real cost first, then real cost by cause, with dollars and points for each, which ones repeat, and what we're doing about them. If a timing error is mine, I post the correction before the commentary goes out rather than explaining it in a footnote. The owner reads the margin line, not the footnote.

Work sample

OCTOBER MANAGEMENT COMMENTARY Revenue was $90,000, the same as September, but gross margin dropped from 43% to 36%. Gross profit was $32,400 against the $38,700 we'd have made at September's margin: $6,300 less. Overheads were steady at $28,800, so net profit was $3,600; without the margin drop it would have been $9,900. I checked first whether this was a timing effect, and it isn't. October had three biweekly paydays, but wages are accrued by days worked, and the $1,150 of parts delivered in October but invoiced on 3 November is accrued into October, so both months are on the same basis. The seven points come from three places. Subcontractors: with two technicians out for most of the month, six installs went to outside crews, costing $3,600 more than our own technicians would have (4.0 points). Parts: the supply house raised prices on water heaters and copper fittings from 1 October, but our flat-rate price book still uses the old costs, so we absorbed $1,800 (2.0 points). Callbacks: two unbilled warranty visits, against none in September, cost $900 in labour and parts (1.0 point). Both were on installs by the same technician, which I've passed to the service manager. For November, the subcontractor cost ends when both technicians are back next week, and the two callbacks were one-offs, so margin should recover to about 41% even with the price book unchanged: about $8,100 of net profit on the same revenue and overheads. The remaining 2 points are the price book. The 14 flat-rate tasks that use those parts bill about $22,500 a month, so raising them by 8% recovers the $1,800 at October's volumes. That's the one decision I need from you, ideally by Friday, when the new price book goes out to the technicians' tablets.

Fernanda R.

SCREEN 72/100

Mexico · asking $1,200

Screening notes

Strongest concrete evidence: 6 years at a Mexican accounting firm doing real monthly closes for SMBs plus 1.5 years of QuickBooks Online work for a US furniture importer (inventory-adjacent, directly relevant to brief) demonstrates genuine close-process exposure, not just claimed familiarity; tool list (CONTPAQi, QBO, Excel pivot tables, SAT portal) is specific and credible. Work sample correctly computes the margin arithmetic, structures a comparison table reference, and ends with a commercial recommendation — functional but thin: it flags 'we are reviewing supplier invoices' rather than having already confirmed a cause, and the commentary reads as a template with placeholders rather than a real month's narrative with named line items or freight/SKU-level detail. Scenario judgment is methodical (income statement comparison → CoGS drill-down → misclassification check → supplier invoice confirmation) and shows the right instincts, but stops at the obvious first layer — no mention of inventory valuation method (FIFO/average cost), timing of purchases landing in the wrong period, or currency impact, which would be expected from someone who regularly closes a furniture importer. Biggest concern: US GAAP knowledge is self-described as in-progress ('currently studying'), accruals and prepayments are not mentioned anywhere in the submission despite being a must-have in the brief, and the English, while clear and professional, is functional rather than fluent — adequate for async…

Experience

6 years as an accountant at an accounting firm in Guadalajara, preparing monthly financial statements, bank reconciliations and tax declarations for small and medium businesses, mostly Mexican companies. For the last year and a half I have also worked for a US client, a small furniture importer, doing their monthly close in QuickBooks Online. I am a Contadora Pública with strong knowledge of accounting principles, and I am very responsible and organised with deadlines. I am currently studying US GAAP.

Scenario answer

When the gross margin is 5 points lower and the revenue is the same, it means the cost of sales increased. I would tell the client that I am reviewing the information and that I will send the explanation together with the management accounts. To investigate, I would first compare the income statement of this month with the previous month to see which accounts changed. Then I would review the cost of sales account in detail, looking at the purchases and the inventory movements, to find higher costs or unusual transactions. I would also check that all the sales were recorded correctly and that no expenses were classified in cost of sales by mistake, because an error in the classification can change the margin. If I find the reason, for example that a supplier increased prices, I would confirm it with the supplier invoices and include it in the commentary. In the commentary I would explain that the gross margin decreased because of the increase in the cost of sales, show the comparison with the previous month in a table, and recommend that the client review prices with suppliers or increase sale prices. I think it is important that the client understands the numbers so they can make good decisions.

Work sample

MANAGEMENT COMMENTARY Revenue for the month was $90,000, the same level as the previous month. Gross margin was 36%, compared with 43% in the previous month, a decrease of 7 percentage points. Gross profit was $32,400 and cost of sales was $57,600, which is 64% of revenue compared with 57% in the previous month. The decrease in gross margin is because the cost of sales increased while revenue stayed the same. This can be due to higher prices from suppliers, higher freight costs or a change in the products sold. We are reviewing the supplier invoices to confirm the main causes. Operating expenses were $28,800 and net profit was $3,600, which is 4% of revenue. We recommend reviewing the purchase prices with the main suppliers and analysing if it is necessary to adjust the sale prices to recover the margin in the next months. We will continue monitoring the cost of sales and inform you of any important changes.

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The brief they were screened against

Lerato M.

Screening notes

Experience

Scenario answer

Work sample

Patricia V.

Screening notes

Experience

Scenario answer

Work sample

Fernanda R.

Screening notes

Experience

Scenario answer

Work sample

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