"Why Audit?" "Why This Firm?" Model Answers to Finance Motivation Questions

A strong answer to "Why audit?" names something specific about the work that you've seen or done and explains why it suits you. A strong answer to "Why this firm?" gives one or two reasons that wouldn't be true of its competitors, backed by something you've read or someone you've spoken to. Interviewers use the why audit interview question, and its partner "Why this firm?", to test two things: whether you understand the job, and whether you've made a real choice. Below is what each motivation question assesses, model answers for graduates, career changers and experienced candidates, and a method for building a firm-specific answer from public sources.

Key takeaways

• Motivation questions test whether you understand the job and whether you made a real choice, and firms such as KPMG and Deloitte score them explicitly.
• A strong 'why audit' answer names a specific task you have seen or done and why it suits you.
• Build 'why this firm' from three sources: the firm's careers pages, regulator inspection results and conversations with its people.
• If your answer would still be true with a competitor's name swapped in, it is not specific enough.

What motivation questions are testing

Firms say plainly that they score motivation. KPMG's video interview is designed to understand "your motivation to join your chosen programme" (KPMG UK). BDO's video interview assesses "awareness of the business stream you applied to" (BDO UK). Deloitte's final stage includes a "skills and motivation interview" (Deloitte UK), and PwC's final interview is where you "tell us more about why you are interested in joining PwC" (PwC UK). Our guide to what Big Four and bank graduate schemes ask shows where these questions come up at each stage.

Behind the question, the interviewer is checking:

• Accuracy: do you know what an auditor (or tax adviser, or analyst) actually does in year one?
• Evidence: is your reason based on something you did, saw or read, or just on prestige?
• Commitment: will you stay through three years of exams and busy seasons?
• Fit: does your reason match this firm, this office and this service line?

How to answer the why audit interview question: model answers

Audit is checking whether a company's financial statements give a true and fair view, by testing the numbers against evidence. Year one is mostly testing: agreeing balances to documents, sending confirmations, documenting what you did. A good answer shows you know that and still want it.

Graduate with an accounting degree (Example answer, written by us. Replace the details with your own.)

"I've enjoyed financial accounting more than any other module, especially the parts on revenue and provisions, where the judgement is. Audit is where I'd use that every day, but on real companies. On my insight week, I shadowed a team testing a client's revenue cut-off, and I liked that the work was about evidence rather than opinion. I also want breadth early. In a few years of audit I'd see more businesses than in a decade in one company's finance team."

Graduate from a non-accounting degree

"I studied history, and the part I was best at was working from primary sources: checking whether a claim was supported by the documents. When I learned what audit involves, it sounded like the same skill applied to businesses. I've since started teaching myself the basics of double entry, and the ACA appeals because it would give me a qualification and that breadth of client experience at the same time."

Experienced candidate moving from industry into audit

"I've spent three years in a company finance team and dealt with the auditors every year-end. I found I was more interested in their questions than in preparing our responses. I want to see how different businesses handle the same accounting issues, and audit is the only role that gives me that. I've also found I'm good at the part of my job where I review others' reconciliations, which is close to what a senior does on an audit."

Why these work: each names a specific task and a reason it suits the candidate. None says "audit is the backbone of the economy". If you're coming from outside finance, our guide to a career change into finance covers how to frame the move.

"Why audit over tax?" and the reverse

Interviewers ask this to check you chose your service line deliberately. Show that you looked at both.

"Why audit rather than tax?" (Example answer, written by us.)

"I looked at both. Tax appealed because it's technical, but the tax work I saw on my insight day was more about applying rules to specific transactions. Audit looks at the whole set of financial statements, and I want to understand businesses end to end before I specialise. If I specialise later, I'd like it to be because audit showed me where I'm strongest."

"Why tax rather than audit?"

"I want to become an expert in one technical area, and tax rewards depth. On my placement, I helped a manager with a VAT query and enjoyed reading the legislation to find the answer. Audit would give me breadth, but I'd rather build depth early and get breadth from the range of clients a tax team advises."

Never criticise the other service line. You may meet partners from both.

How to build a "Why this firm?" answer from research

Generic praise fails this question. "You're a global firm with great training" is true of every Big Four firm. Build your answer from three types of source, and use one fact from each.

The regulator reports are the most under-used source. The FRC's July 2026 review now puts every large firm's results in one document. It found Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC achieved positive outcomes on 89% or more of the audits it inspected, for the second year running. In Ireland, IAASA found 88% of the audit files it inspected in 2025 were of a good standard, up from 81% in 2024. You don't need to quote these figures in an interview. Reading your firm's section gives you something specific to ask about and shows you understand what audit quality means.

Then combine the research into a three-part answer:

1. One fact about the firm you couldn't say about its competitors.
2. One link to you: an experience, a sector interest or a conversation.
3. One point about the role or office: why this team, here.

"Why this firm?" Model answers

Big Four firm (Example answer, written by us. Swap in facts you've confirmed yourself.)

"Three reasons. First, I spoke to two trainees from your Manchester office at a campus event, and both said they'd been given client-facing work in their first busy season, which is what I want. Second, the office has a strong manufacturing client base, and my placement was in a manufacturer's finance team, so I'd start with some context. Third, I read the firm's section of the FRC's latest audit quality review. The results had held up for two years, and I'd rather train somewhere quality is measured and maintained."

Mid-tier firm

"I want to work on smaller clients where a trainee sees the whole audit, not one section of it. When I read about your process, the behaviours you assess, especially 'Harnessing Business Thinking', matched how I'd want to be judged. And at the open evening, the audit manager I spoke to described trainees leading the stock count on owner-managed clients in their first year. That's the responsibility I'm looking for."

(Change the behaviour to the one your firm publishes. That example is from BDO's published list. The same behaviours tend to come up again in the group exercise and case study at an assessment centre.)

Investment bank

"I want to work in a team where analysts are close to the decision, and the people I've met from your industrials team described exactly that. I've followed the sector since my dissertation on a listed engineering company, and I'd want to build on it. Your process told me something too: meeting several people at the superday suggests the team cares about who joins it." (Goldman Sachs, for example, says it typically runs two to five superday interviews.)

"Why this office?" (Example answer, written by us.)

"I'd like to train in Dublin because I want to stay in Ireland after qualifying, and the work I'm most interested in is here. When I spoke to people from your Dublin audit team at the careers fair, several of them worked on funds and financial services clients, and that's the sector my degree project was on. I'd rather build experience where I plan to build a career, and where I already have a reason to understand the clients."

Swap the city and the sector for your own. The point is the same in London, Belfast, Cork or New York: give a reason linked to the office's clients or your own plans, not just "it's a great city".

Mistakes that weaken motivation answers

• Prestige or pay. "It's the best firm" or "the salary is good" says nothing about you.
• Reciting the website. Interviewers know their own website. Use a fact, then add what it means to you.
• Claims you can't back up. If you say you've followed a client's results, expect a follow-up question about them.
• Borrowed answers. PwC says it checks applications for "highly similar responses" and AI-assisted support. A model answer copied word for word is easy to spot. Use the structure here and your own details.
• Ignoring the office. "Why London?" or "Why Dublin?" is part of "why this firm". Have one reason ready.

Practise until it sounds like you

Write your "why audit" and "why this firm" answers in under 120 words each, then say them aloud. Cut anything you couldn't explain if asked "what do you mean by that?" Prepare the stories behind them with our STAR interview examples for finance, and prepare for technical follow-ups too, using our Big Four audit interview questions with model answers.

Your motivation answer should also match your CV. If it says you enjoyed year-end on placement, your CV should show what you did there. Check those lines with the free CV line checker, then practise the full answer with interview practice, which includes a "why this role" question written for the job you've applied for.

The core test for any motivation answer: would it still be true if you swapped in a competitor's name? If yes, add one more specific reason.

Frequently asked questions

How do I answer 'Why audit?' in an interview?

Name something specific about audit work you've seen or done, such as testing evidence or seeing many businesses, and explain why it suits you. Show you know year one is mostly testing and documentation, and link it to your degree, placement or past job. Avoid prestige, salary or vague claims that audit is important to the economy.

How do you answer 'Why audit over tax?'

Show you looked at both. Explain what attracts you to audit, such as seeing whole sets of financial statements across many businesses, and why that matters to you now, without criticising tax. A good answer refers to something concrete, like an insight day or a module, and leaves room to specialise later.

How do I answer 'Why do you want to work for this firm?'

Give one fact about the firm you couldn't say about its competitors, one link to your own experience or interests, and one reason for this office or team. Good sources are the firm's careers pages, regulator inspection reports such as the FRC's or IAASA's, and conversations with its trainees at events.

Why do you want to work in audit and assurance?

Focus on the work: checking whether financial statements are supported by evidence, using judgement on areas like provisions and revenue, and seeing many different businesses early in your career. Add the qualification you'd gain and a specific experience that made you interested. Keep it under two minutes and be ready for follow-up questions.