By Rory Bysouth, published 24 July 2026
The questions every accountant, auditor and tax professional should ask before accepting their next job.
Imagine, for a moment, that you're about to buy a new car.
You'd probably spend weeks researching it.
You'd compare reviews, read expert opinions, watch YouTube videos and perhaps even ask friends for their recommendations. You'd want to know about reliability, running costs, depreciation and whether the manufacturer has a habit of recalling the brakes at inconvenient moments.
If you were buying a house, you'd be even more thorough.
Survey.
Solicitor.
Mortgage adviser.
Searches.
Second viewing.
Third viewing.
Nobody in their right mind would commit hundreds of thousands of pounds after a pleasant forty-five-minute conversation and a decent cup of coffee.
Yet, when it comes to our careers, that's often exactly what we do.
At Sheridan Maine, we speak to thousands of accountants, auditors, tax professionals and finance leaders every year. Some are taking their first step after qualifying. Others are seasoned Financial Controllers, Finance Directors, Heads of Tax and CFOs. Regardless of where they are in their careers, many approach interviews in exactly the same way.
They spend days worrying about whether the employer will like them.
Remarkably few stop to consider whether they should like the employer.
It's an interesting imbalance.
After all, your next employer will almost certainly influence your life far more than your next car ever will.
They'll shape your professional development, introduce you to new mentors, determine how quickly your skills grow, influence your confidence, your earning potential and perhaps even whether Sunday evenings are something to look forward to or quietly dread.
That's quite a lot of responsibility for people you've only met once or twice.
And yet, many candidates still leave interviews having asked just three questions.
"How many days can I work from home?"
"Is there free parking?"
"When are you hoping someone can start?"
Perfectly reasonable questions.
Just not the questions that determine whether the next five years of your career are going to be the best years - or five years you'll wish you could quietly remove from your CV.
Somewhere along the way we've convinced ourselves that interviews are examinations.
The employer asks.
The candidate answers.
Then, almost as an afterthought, comes that familiar sentence.
"Do you have any questions for us?"
This is where things become fascinating.
Candidates who have confidently explained complex group consolidations, IFRS reporting, audit methodologies, tax planning strategies and ERP implementations suddenly become the least curious people in the building.
"No thanks, I think you've covered everything."
Have they?
Really?
Because they may have explained the role.
They may have shown you the office.
They may even have pointed towards the coffee machine with understandable pride.
What they haven't necessarily explained is why they deserve the next chapter of your career.
That might sound provocative.
Good.
It should.
Because recruitment isn't supposed to be a one-way sales pitch.
The best interviews are conversations between two parties deciding whether they can make each other better.
The strongest candidates we've represented over the years understand this instinctively.
They don't arrive desperate for an offer.
They arrive curious.
They want to understand the leadership.
The culture.
The ambitions of the business.
Whether they'll still be learning three years from now.
Whether promotion is genuinely achievable or simply appears on recruitment brochures between photographs of smiling people pointing at laptops.
One of our favourite questions is beautifully simple.
"If I joined your business and performed exceptionally well, where could my career realistically be in five years?"
Watch carefully what happens next.
The very best employers don't hesitate.
Their eyes light up.
They tell you about people who've progressed from Assistant Accountant to Finance Manager.
From Audit Senior to Director.
From Tax Manager to Partner.
They explain how they invest in professional development, mentoring and leadership.
They know exactly what opportunities exist because they've already thought about them.
More importantly, they're proud of them.
Great employers don't fear ambitious questions.
They welcome them.
Why?
Because ambitious people are exactly who they're hoping to recruit.
Average employers often drift back towards the job description.
Poor employers struggle altogether.
That doesn't automatically make them bad organisations.
It simply suggests they may be recruiting for today's vacancy rather than tomorrow's careers.
Here's another question we rather like.
"Why do your best people stay?"
Most employers answer confidently.
The atmosphere is positive.
People enjoy working here.
There's great teamwork.
Supportive managers.
Interesting clients.
Excellent.
Now ask the follow-up.
"And why do your best people leave?"
It's remarkable how often the conversation changes.
Now, before any hiring managers reading this begin wondering whether Sheridan Maine has suddenly declared war on employers, let us reassure you.
Quite the opposite.
The best employers usually answer this question brilliantly.
In fact, we'd argue they're often the most honest.
They'll tell you that talented people sometimes relocate.
Sometimes they're offered equity elsewhere.
Sometimes their aspirations simply outgrow what the business can currently provide.
They're not embarrassed by those answers because they understand an important truth.
No organisation keeps every outstanding employee forever.
Ironically, candidates rarely expect perfection.
They expect honesty.
And honesty builds trust.
We've also noticed something else over the years.
Every employer says remarkably similar things.
"We're like a family."
"We invest in our people."
"We've got a fantastic culture."
"Our people are our greatest asset."
Wonderful.
Now show us.
Tell us about the graduate who became a Partner.
Tell us about the Finance Assistant who's now leading a team.
Tell us about the investment you've made in someone's development.
Tell us what actually happens when somebody performs exceptionally well.
The best employers don't need polished corporate slogans.
They have stories.
Real stories.
Stories that ambitious candidates want to become part of.
Perhaps our favourite question of all is also the simplest.
"Imagine I've received another offer tomorrow. Same salary. Similar benefits. Similar commute. Why should I choose your business instead?"
Then stop talking.
Don't rescue the silence.
Just listen.
The strongest employers rarely struggle.
They know exactly why people join them.
They know exactly why people stay.
They understand what makes them different.
They've thought about it.
That's not because they've rehearsed the answer.
It's because they've built an organisation worth talking about.
If you're an employer reading this, we hope these questions don't feel uncomfortable.
In fact, we'd encourage candidates to ask every single one of them.
Because the very best employers have absolutely nothing to fear.
Quite the opposite.
They should relish the opportunity.
Candidates who ask thoughtful questions are usually the same people who challenge themselves, think commercially, solve problems and remain curious throughout their careers.
Isn't that exactly who you'd like to recruit?
Perhaps that's the biggest misconception in recruitment.
Candidates sometimes worry that asking searching questions makes them appear difficult.
The reality is quite different.
It often makes them appear thoughtful.
Commercial.
Mature.
Invested in building a career rather than simply finding another payslip.
At Sheridan Maine, we've always believed recruitment should be about more than filling vacancies.
It's about helping talented people make informed decisions.
Sometimes that means encouraging employers to think differently about the experience they offer.
Sometimes it means encouraging candidates to remember that interviews were never designed to be interrogations.
They're conversations.
One side is deciding whether you can help grow their business.
The other should be deciding whether that business deserves the next three to five years of your career.
So, the next time someone smiles and asks, "Do you have any questions for us?", don't settle for asking where the biscuits are kept.
Ask the questions that matter.
Because the best employers won't simply answer them.
They'll enjoy answering them.
And if they can't...
Perhaps you've just learned everything you needed to know.
