accenture case study practice

Hacking the Case Interview

Accenture interviews are comprised of case interviews and behavioral or fit interview questions. If you are interviewing for Accenture’s Strategy group, you will also be given a special type of interview called the Accenture Potentia Interview.

If you have an upcoming Accenture interview, we have you covered. We’ll cover in detail:

The Accenture interview process
What is an Accenture case interview?
What does an Accenture case interview assess?
How to solve Accenture case interviews
The common types of Accenture case interviews
Accenture case interview examples
Accenture case interview tips
How to prepare for Accenture case interviews
How to ace the Accenture Potentia Interview
Accenture behavioral and fit interview questions
Recommended Accenture case interview resources

The Accenture Interview Process

Accenture is a massive professional services firm that provides management consulting, IT consulting, and back office outsourcing. Within management consulting, Accenture is broken down into three groups: Strategy, Operations, and Digital.

Accenture Strategy is the group that is most similar to McKinsey, BCG, and Bain in the type of work that they do. The Operations and Digital group is focused more on implementation rather than on pure strategy.

Depending on the office and group that you are applying for, there will be two to three rounds of interviews. Each round will have anywhere from one to three 1-hour interviews. Your interviews will be a mix of case interviews and behavioral or fit interview questions.

Below is an example of what your interview process could look like:

Accenture first round interview : Two 40-minute interviews. The first 10 minutes will be spent on behavioral or fit interview questions and the remaining 30 minutes will be spent on an Accenture case interview.
Accenture final round interview : Three 1-hour interviews. One interview will be focused on behavioral or fit interview questions. The other two interviews will be focused on Accenture case interviews.

One important thing to note is that if you are applying for a role in Accenture Strategy, one of your interviews will be a special type of interview called the Potentia interview.

You’ll be interviewed by more senior people as you go through the different rounds of interviews. In the first round, you’ll be interviewed by consultants or managers. In the final round, you’ll be interviewed by managing directors and senior managing directors.

We’ll cover all of the different types of interview questions in detail in the next few sections.

What is an Accenture Case Interview

An Accenture case interview, also known as a “case” for short, is a 30 to 60-minute exercise in which you and the interviewer work together to develop a recommendation or answer to a business problem.

These business problems can be anything that real companies face:

How can Amazon increase its profitability?
What can Apple do to increase customer retention?
How should Tesla price its new electric vehicle?
Where should Disney open another Disneyland theme park?

Accenture case interviews simulate what the consulting job will be like by placing you in a hypothetical business situation. Cases simulate real business problems that consulting firms solve for their clients. Many Accenture case interviews are based on actual projects that interviewers have worked on.

While consulting projects typically last between 3 to 9 months, case interviews condense solving the business problem into just 30 to 45 minutes.

Accenture case interviews can cover any industry, including retail, consumer packaged goods, financial services, energy, education, healthcare, government, and technology.

They can also cover a wide range of business situations, including entering a new market, launching a new product, acquiring a company, improving profitability, and growing revenues.

Although Accenture case interviews cover a wide range of industries and business situations, no technical or specialized knowledge is needed.

Unless you are interviewing for a consulting firm that specializes in a particular industry or function, cases are designed to be solved by someone that has general business knowledge.

Nailing your Accenture case interviews is critical to get a job at Accenture. There is no way to get a Accenture job offer without passing your case interviews.

What Does an Accenture Case Interview Assess?

Accenture case interviews assess five different qualities or characteristics: logical and structured thinking, analytical problem solving, business acumen, communication skills, and personality and cultural fit.

1. Logical and structured thinking : Consultants need to be organized and methodical in order to work efficiently.

Can you structure complex problems in a clear, simple way?
Can you take tremendous amounts of information and data and identify the most important points?
Can you use logic and reason to make appropriate conclusions?

2. Analytical problem solving : Consultants work with a tremendous amount of data and information in order to develop recommendations to complex problems.

Can you read and interpret data well?
Can you perform math computations smoothly and accurately?
Can you conduct the right analyses to draw the right conclusions?

3. Business acumen : A strong business instinct helps consultants make the right decisions and develop the right recommendations.

Do you have a basic understanding of fundamental business concepts?
Do your conclusions and recommendations make sense from a business perspective?

4. Communication skills : Consultants need strong communication skills to collaborate with teammates and clients effectively.

Can you communicate in a clear, concise way?
Are you articulate in what you are saying?

5. Personality and cultural fit : Consultants spend a lot of time working closely in small teams. Having a personality and attitude that fits with the team makes the whole team work better together.

Are you coachable and easy to work with?
Are you pleasant to be around?

All of these five qualities can be assessed in just a 30 to 60-minute Accenture case interview. This is what makes case interviews so effective in assessing consulting candidates.

How to Solve Accenture Case Interviews

Accenture case interviews, also known as case study interviews, are candidate-led. This means that you will be expected to drive the case. You will be suggesting what areas to explore, what analyses to do, and what next steps should be.

Accenture cases last between 30 to 45 minutes. They tend to be based on real business situations, often drawn from an actual project that your interviewer worked on.

In Accenture’s case interview workbook , they state that success in their case interviews does not depend on finding the correct answer. Instead, you are assessed on:

How clearly you define the problem
How logically you structure the analysis
How strong your quantitative analysis skills are
How well you communicate your thoughts to the interviewer

In addition to these hard skills, there are also soft skills that you will be assessed on. These are:

Poise : your confidence, ability to perform well under pressure, and how you handle making mistakes
Communication : your listening skills and how articulate you are in presenting your process and conclusions
Flexibility : how well you can adapt your thinking to changing circumstances
Other intangibles : your energy and drive, initiative, time management, decisiveness, and genuine interest in consulting and the firm

Accenture suggests following six different steps to solve an Accenture case interview.

(Source: Accenture Case Interview Workbook)

1. Listen to the case

In this step, the interviewer will give you a description of the case problem. This description can be as short as a few sentences or as long as a full page of detailed information.

During this step, make sure you are taking notes on the most important pieces of information. You should focus on understanding the context, company, and the objective.

2. Clarify the problem

Understanding the business problem and objective is imperative to successfully solving the case. Answering or addressing the wrong business problem is the quickest way to fail a case interview.

Therefore, ask clarifying questions to better understand the business situation and issue. Afterwards, make sure that you confirm or verify the objective of the case with the interviewer. This ensures that you will start the case on the right track.

3. Decompose the problem

Next, you’ll need to break down the problem in an exhaustive and logical way. You can do this by creating an issue tree or framework.

A framework is a tool that helps you structure and break down complex problems into simpler, smaller components. Think of a framework as brainstorming different ideas and organizing them neatly into different categories.

Accenture provides a few examples of frameworks that you can use to get you started thinking about how to solve different types of cases.

(Source: Accenture Case Interview Workbook)

We recommend that you do not just memorize these frameworks and use them in your interviews. Instead, use these frameworks as background knowledge to help you make your own frameworks that are tailored to the specific case that you are solving for.

For a complete guide on how to create tailored and unique frameworks for each case, check out our article on case interview frameworks .

4. State your hypotheses

After decomposing the problem, you should list out potential hypotheses that answer or address the business problem. A hypothesis is an educated guess on the answer based on the data and information that you have so far.

A hypothesis helps guide your analysis and keeps you on track. It ensures that you are spending your time answering the right questions and conducting the right analyses.

5. Test your hypotheses

Once you have a hypothesis, you’ll answer questions or conduct analyses to refine your hypothesis.

Sometimes, your hypothesis will be completely wrong and you’ll need to develop another hypothesis to test. Other times, your hypothesis will be generally right and you’ll need to refine and narrow down your hypothesis further.

This is an iterative process. Your hypothesis should be constantly changing and becoming more refined as you progress through the case. Once you have developed meaningful support for your hypothesis, you will move onto the final step.

6. Summarize your findings

In this step, you’ll present your recommendation and provide the major reasons that support it. It is also good to include potential next steps that you would take if you had more time or data.

Afterwards, the interviewer may tell you what actually happened with the case or project that they worked on. Don’t worry if your methodology or answer does not match what actually happened. Remember, you are not assessed on your answer, but the overall process.

Learn case interviews in 30 minutes

We've compiled all of the different steps of solving an Accenture case interview into a more easily digestible 30-minute video. We highly recommend watching the video below in its entirety.

The Common Types of Accenture Case Interviews

Accenture states that there are three types of cases you may see in your interviews:

The “Great Unknown”
The “Parade of Facts”
The “Back of the Envelope”

The “Great Unknown” and “Back of the Envelope” are the most common types of cases.

The “Great Unknown” Case

For this type of case, very little information will be provided to you on the case background. For “Great Unknown” cases, you’ll be tested on your ability to probe for details, which requires having a structured framework.

Examples of cases:

Your client is a leading manufacturer of prefabricated kitchen furnishings. They have been steadily losing market share over the past two years. You have been hired to help them understand why this is happening and what they can do to improve their market standing.
A major furniture retailer has experienced declining profits for four quarters, but has experienced a 25% growth in sales and has opened many new stores during this time. Why are profits declining?
A fast food company is thinking about putting a franchise in an airport. Should they do this?
A bread division of a large food company is facing increasing competition in the market. Should they exit the market?
A car company is interested in developing a new car. What marketing related issues should it consider before making the investment?
What factors influence the revenue potential of a new pharmaceutical product?
Citibank is considering purchasing another credit card company, which would give them access to 100,000 new card holders. What is the estimated value of this acquisition?
A commercial bank is re-evaluating the number of branches it operates and whether they should increase the number of branches or close some down. How should they make this decision?
A large conglomerate company is facing declining profits in its railroad company division and is considering shutting it down. Is this the right course of action? What are potential alternatives?
New York City has hired you to determine what optimal route or what destination taxi drivers should go to when they do not have a customer.

The “Parade of Facts” Case

For this type of case, a significant amount of details on the case background will be provided to you, some of them unnecessary. For “Parade of Facts” cases, you’ll be tested on the ability to synthesize and identify key issues.

Example of a case:

Your client is a food company that wants to develop a freshly prepared meal business
There is a trend among customers towards fresher foods with no artificial preservatives or coloring
Consumers are currently purchasing $5B of frozen meals and there is a trend towards more upscale products
A fresh meal plate combines a protein, vegetable, and starch and is delicately arranged in a sealed plastic dome package
Nitrogen gas flushing is used to extend shelf life
Product is currently in limited consumer testing at $5.50 to $8.50 per meal
Shelf life of product is 14 days
Product will spoil in 21 days, potentially causing food poisoning
Client wants to know if they can make money in this business
Client wants to know if the market is big and how will they keep competition out
Client wants a consultant to assist in building a business case for them

The “Back of the Envelope” Case

This type of case asks a market sizing or estimation question. Very little information will be provided, but a clear question will be asked.

“Back of the Envelope” cases primarily test your analytic abilities. It requires a structured, logical thought process and competency in working with numbers and making calculations.

Examples of cases:

Estimate the total number of dry cleaners in Philadelphia
How much money could Continental Airlines save by giving customers half a can instead of a whole can of Sprite?
What is the estimated value of a taxi medallion in New York City?
Discuss what is wrong with the following statistic: The Volvo is the safest car on the road because a recent study has shown that Volvos have the fewest number of accident deaths per mile driven
Estimate the change in the price of oil in the year 2000 from today’s price. Will it increase or will it decrease?
Estimate the number of attendees for a free concert for U2 in Central Park in New York City

Accenture Case Interview Examples

We've compiled additional examples of Accenture case interviews below. These case interviews were actual cases given in previous Accenture interviews.

Example #1 : A consumer electronics company is looking to introduce a new smartwatch to the market. How should they launch this new product?

Example #2 : A global logistics company wants to streamline its supply chain operations. How can they lower their costs?

Example #3 : A pharmaceutical company is considering discontinuing a particular drug from its portfolio. Evaluate the reasons behind the decision and assess the financial implications.

Example #4 : A non-profit organization focusing on wildlife conservation is facing funding challenges. Recommend initiatives to enhance long-term sustainability of fundraising.

Example #5 : A financial services firm is considering adopting blockchain technology for its operations. What are some considerations that they should think through?

Example #6 : A leading e-commerce platform wants to enhance its customer experience. How can they improve customer satisfaction and loyalty?

Example #7 : A software company that currently serves small and medium-sized businesses wants to expand into the enterprise market. Should they enter this new market?

For more practice, check out our article on 23 MBA consulting casebooks with 700+ free practice cases .

Accenture Case Interview Tips

Below are six of the most useful Accenture case interview tips for acing your case interviews.

Tip #1: Take your time and don’t rush into speaking

Structure your ideas and thinking before you start talking. If needed, talk through the problem out loud so that the interviewer can follow your thought process.

Tip #2: Be flexible

There may be times when the case will take a different direction than anticipated. You may also need to completely change your approach or hypothesis. It is important that you are open-minded and adaptable throughout the case.

Tip #3: Use visual aids

To make your communication even more clear and easy to follow, use visual aids to your advantage. When presenting your framework, turn your paper around so that it faces the interviewer. When outlining a process, use a whiteboard if there is one available.

Tip #4: Be 80/20

The 80/20 principle states that 80% of the results comes from 20% of your effort. You will not have the time to answer every single question in a case interview. Therefore, take an inventory of all of the information that you have and focus on diving deeper into the areas that will have the greatest impact.

Tip #5: Pay attention to cues from the interviewer

Remember that case interviewers are meant to be collaborative. You should listen closely to what the interviewer has to say. They may provide you with hints to help you out. They may also give you feedback on your approach or structure to help steer you in the right direction. Don’t dismiss what interviewers have to say.

Tip #6: Showcase your individuality

A case interview is an opportunity to showcase your personality and experiences. If you have unique insights based on your previous work experiences, make sure that you bring it up. This can help separate your answer from other candidates.

How to Prepare for Accenture Case Interviews

There are seven steps to preparing for Accenture case interviews.

1. Understand what a case interview is

The first step in preparing for Accenture case interviews is to understand exactly what case interviews are.

When you are familiar with what case interviews are, it is important to know what a great Accenture case interview performance looks like.

Knowing what a great Accenture case interview performance looks like will facilitate how quickly you learn case interview strategies in the next step.

Before continuing onto the next step, you should be familiar with:

The overall objective of a case interview
The structure and flow of a case interview
The types of questions you could get asked
What a great case interview performance looks like

2. Learn the right strategies

Now that you have sufficient background knowledge, the next step in preparing for Accenture case interviews is to learn the right strategies to build good case interview habits.

It is much more effective to learn the right case strategies the first time than to learn poor strategies and try to correct them later.

The quickest, most efficient way to learn these strategies is to go through our Comprehensive Case Interview Course .

If you prefer reading case interview prep books instead, the three I recommend are:

The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook
Case Interview Secrets

Hacking the Case Interview provides strategies on exactly what to do and what to say in every step of the case interview. It is a concise and straight to the point guide. I recommend this book as the first book to read for beginners.

Case Interview Secrets teaches core concepts such as the issue tree , drill-down analysis, and a hypothesis driven approach. It illustrates these concepts through stories and anecdotes. If you have read Hacking the Case Interview, I recommend also reading this book to get perspectives from a second author. Check out our full review of Case Interview Secrets .

Case in Point provides a ton of specific and complex frameworks. However, you likely won’t be using many of these in an actual case interview because many of them are overly complex and specific. If you have time, it may be useful to skim through this book. Check out our full review of Case in Point .

At the bare minimum, read either the first or second book. If you have the time, read the first two books so that you can get strategies from two different authors.

Make sure to spend sufficient time learning the right strategies before starting to practice cases. It is ineffective to practice cases if you have no idea what strategies to practice and refine.

Before moving onto the next step, you should at least have strategies for the following parts of a case interview:

Developing unique and tailored frameworks
Solving quantitative problems
Answering qualitative questions
Delivering a recommendation

3. Practice 3-5 cases by yourself

Once you have learned the right strategies, the next step in Accenture case interview prep is to practice.

When practicing case interviews, it is usually better to practice with a case interview partner than to practice by yourself . Casing with a partner better simulates the real case interview experience.

However, when you are just starting to practice, I recommend doing the first 3 – 5 cases by yourself.

There are three reasons for this:

You can get the hang of the case interview structure and format much more quickly working by yourself rather than having to wait to schedule a time with a partner
There are many aspects of case interviews that you can practice without a partner, such as structuring a framework and solving quantitative problems. You can get much more practice working through these parts by yourself
You may have difficulty finding a case interview partner if you are a complete beginner. Without having done any cases, you likely won’t know how to properly give a case or provide good feedback

4. Practice 5-10 cases with a partner

The next step in preparing for Accenture case interviews is to case with a partner.

Casing with a partner is the best way to simulate a real case interview. There are many aspects of case interviews that you won’t be able to improve on unless you practice live with a partner.

When practicing cases with a partner, ensure you are spending enough time after cases to deliver feedback.

For a case that takes around 30 – 40 minutes, spend at least 15 – 20 minutes for feedback. Much of your learning and improvement will come from these feedback sessions.

Do not move onto the next step until you have done at least 5 – 10 cases and are beginning to feel comfortable with case interviews.

5. Practice with a former or current consultant

At this point, I highly recommend asking former or current consultants to give you a practice case. This will significantly help you prepare for case interviews.

Doing a mock case with a former or current consultant is highly advantageous because they know exactly how to run cases and give feedback. You’ll receive incredibly helpful feedback that your previous case partners likely missed.

If you feel that you are plateauing with your case partner, that is a sign you should do a mock case interview with a former or current consultant.

You can find former or current consultants among:

People you met during the consulting recruiting process
Your broader LinkedIn network

I would not ask a consultant that is involved with the consulting recruiting process for a case too prematurely. Although these practice cases are not evaluative, some firms will actually make note of how well you perform during the practice case.

At this point, you will have accumulated a long list of improvement areas from all of the different people you have cased with.

6. Work on your improvement areas

In this step of preparing for Accenture case interviews, you will work on strengthening and fine-tuning your improvement areas. Examples of common improvement areas include:

Creating a more complete and mutually exclusive framework
Performing math calculations quicker or more smoothly
Providing more structure to your qualitative answers
Leading the case more proactively
Delivering a more succinct recommendation

Try to focus on improving one thing at a time. This is much more effective than trying to improve everything at once.

For some areas, such as math, it will be better to work independently. For other areas, such as learning to proactively lead the case, it will be better to work with a case partner.

If you are looking for more cases, look at the resources listed in step four. If you are looking for specific drills or practice problems for a particular part of a case interview, check out The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook .

Do not move onto the next step until you have finished working on all of your improvement areas.

7. Stay sharp

If you have progressed this far, congratulations! You have almost finished preparing for Accenture case interviews.

Once you feel that you have no more improvement areas to work on, the key is to not burn yourself out by doing too many unnecessary cases.

While each case that you do makes you slightly better, there is a point when doing too many cases can create case fatigue right before your interview. Case fatigue can negatively impact your interview performance.

On the other hand, you also don’t want to go weeks without having done a case. You may end up forgetting strategies or become rusty and slow.

Once you have achieved case mastery, I recommend doing no more than 2 cases per week in the weeks leading up to your interview. This ensures that you remain sharp for case interviews, but don’t have case fatigue.

How to Ace the Accenture Potentia Interview

The Accenture Potentia interview is a 1-hour interview given to candidates that are applying for a role in Accenture Strategy. Here is the structure of the Accenture Potentia Interview:

You’ll be given a short paragraph of text about a business topic with a problem statement. Topics are diverse and may not be work-related. Examples of topics include blood diamonds in Africa or intellectual property on the Internet
You’ll have 5 minutes to prepare and think through the problem statement
You’ll have a 45 to 60-minute conversation with the interviewer in which you’ll present your thoughts and the interviewer will ask follow-up questions

The purpose of the Potentia interview is to challenge your strategic thinking. There is no right or wrong answer. There are also no calculations or math involved.

Instead, the interviewer is assessing you on the structure and organization of your answer and your creativity.

Tips for the Accenture Potentia Interview:

Use a framework or structure for your answer : Remember that you are being assessed on how you structure and organize your answer. Therefore, instead of listing random ideas that come to mind, develop a framework to structure your ideas.
Brainstorm as many ideas as you can : Use your framework to help you brainstorm effectively. Your framework should have three to five different areas. Meticulously think through each area and try to generate at least three ideas in each.
Have a mix of practical and ambitious ideas : You are being assessed on creativity, so make sure you include ideas that are ambitious and impactful. However, you also want to show sound business judgment, so you will need to include ideas that are practical and easier to implement. You should have a mix of these two types of ideas.
Bring in ideas that you learned from your prior work experience : One way to demonstrate creativity is to take ideas or solutions in one industry and apply them to another. Therefore, if there is an opportunity to leverage learnings from your prior work experience, you should definitely bring it up.
Make it a conversation : Remember that the Accenture Potentia interview is meant to be a two-way conversation. Make sure you are listening to the feedback or questions that the interviewer has and responding accordingly.

Accenture Behavioral and Fit Interview Questions

In addition to case interviews, you will likely be asked a few behavioral or fit interview questions. There are ten questions that are most commonly asked.

1. Why are you interested in working at Accenture?

How to answer: Have at least three reasons why you’re interested in working at Accenture. You could mention that you loved the people that you have met from Accenture so far. You can talk about Accenture’s massive global presence and expertise in nearly any industry or function. You can speak to how Accenture provides strategy and implementation, so you can see the impact of your work.

2. Why do you want to work in consulting?

How to answer: Again, have three reasons why you’re interested in consulting. You could mention the fast career growth opportunity, the opportunity to develop soft and hard skills, or the level of impact that you can make by working with large companies on their most challenging issues.

3. Walk me through your resume.

How to answer: Provide a concise summary of your work experience, starting with the most recent. Focus on emphasizing your most impressive and unique accomplishments. At the end, tie your experiences to why you are interested in consulting.

4. What is your proudest achievement?

How to answer: Choose your most impressive, unique, or memorable accomplishment. Structure your answer by providing information on the situation, the task, the actions you took, and the results of your work.

5. What is something that you are proud of that is not on your resume?

How to answer: This is a great opportunity to highlight an accomplishment that is not related to your professional work experience. Perhaps there is a non-profit that you volunteer at, a side project or business that you work on, or a hobby that you have won awards or recognition for. Choose something that is impressive and interesting.

6. Tell me about a time when you led a team.

How to answer: If possible, choose a time when you directly managed a person or a team. For this question and the following questions, make sure that you structure your answer. Structure your answer by providing information on the situation, the task, the actions you took, and the results of your work. This is known as the STAR method and is commonly used to answer behavioral or fit interview questions.

7. Give an example of a time when you faced conflict or a disagreement.

How to answer: When answering this question, focus on emphasizing the steps you took to resolve the conflict or disagreement. Speak to the interpersonal skills you had to use in order to mediate the situation. Interviewers want to know that you are a great mediator and that you can handle conflict in a constructive way.

8. Tell me about a time when you had to persuade someone.

How to answer: Choose a time when you were able to change someone’s mind. Focus on emphasizing the steps that you took to persuade that person and what impact and results this had. Interviewers want to know that you are a great communicator and a good people person.

9. Describe a time when you failed.

How to answer: Choose a time when you failed to meet a deadline or did not meet expectations. Focus on emphasizing what you learned from the experience and how you used that experience to deliver even better results in the next opportunity that you got. Interviewers want to see that you don’t get discouraged from failure and that you treat those experiences as learning opportunities.

10. What questions do you have for me?

How to answer: This is a great opportunity to get to know the interviewer on a more personal level. Ask them questions about their experience in consulting or their career. Express genuine interest in what they have to show and ask follow-up questions. The more you can get the interviewer talking about themself, the more likely they will have a positive impression of you.

For a step-by-step guide on how to best answer all of these questions and more, check out our complete guide on consulting behavioral interview questions .

Recommended Accenture Interview Resources

Here are the resources we recommend to land an Accenture consulting offer:

For help landing consulting interviews

Resume Review & Editing : Transform your resume into one that will get you multiple consulting interviews

For help passing case interviews

Comprehensive Case Interview Course (our #1 recommendation): The only resource you need. Whether you have no business background, rusty math skills, or are short on time, this step-by-step course will transform you into a top 1% caser that lands multiple consulting offers.
Case Interview Coaching : Personalized, one-on-one coaching with a former Bain interviewer.
Hacking the Case Interview Book (available on Amazon): Perfect for beginners that are short on time. Transform yourself from a stressed-out case interview newbie to a confident intermediate in under a week. Some readers finish this book in a day and can already tackle tough cases.
The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook (available on Amazon): Perfect for intermediates struggling with frameworks, case math, or generating business insights. No need to find a case partner – these drills, practice problems, and full-length cases can all be done by yourself.

For help passing consulting behavioral & fit interviews

Behavioral & Fit Interview Course : Be prepared for 98% of behavioral and fit questions in just a few hours. We'll teach you exactly how to draft answers that will impress your interviewer.
Resume Review & Editing : Transform your resume into one that will get you multiple interviews

Land Multiple Consulting Offers

Complete, step-by-step case interview course. 30,000+ happy customers.

The Accenture Case Interview: A Comprehensive Guide for 2024

Updated May, 2024

Former Accenture

Accenture Consulting’s Recruitment Process

Mco’s 5 tips on how to ace the accenture case interview, the accenture potentia interview.

Fit / Behavioral Interview

Case Interview: A Step-by-Step Guide

Consulting’s Recruitment Process

Does it feel like there’s so much to try to understand about tackling Accenture case interviews? Are you unsure where to even start?

Don’t worry, we’ve been there. No, seriously, we actually have been there . And we made it through to the other side, job offer in hand.

Which makes us perfectly placed to walk you through it, step-by-step, in our comprehensive guide.

In this article, we’ll discuss:

What the Accenture recruitment process looks like,
The Accenture Potentia interview,
The Accenture case interview – a step-by-step guide,
MCO’s 5 tips on acing the Accenture case interview, and
The Accenture Consulting fit/behavioral interview.

Let’s get started!

The Accenture recruitment process is similar to that of other consulting firms. Since 2021, more and more of the process is being conducted virtually. There are 4 main elements which we’ll cover here:

The Online Application
The Digital Assessment
The Phone Interview
Assessment Day

Nail the case & fit interview with strategies from former MBB Interviewers that have helped 89.6% of our clients pass the case interview.

Accenture’s Online Application

The first stage is to submit an online application form. Make sure this is tailored to the service and location you’re interested in applying to. You can use Accenture’s job descriptions to make sure you cover the main elements recruiters are looking for.

Need more help? Read our comprehensive guide to preparing your consulting resume .

The Accenture Digital Assessment

Depending on the role, the next stage after your application’s been accepted is an online assessment. This is an opportunity for the recruiting team to test your numeracy, logic, and decision-making skills and to identify areas of natural strength.

You can find out all you need to know about the Accenture Digital Assessment in our article.

Phone Interview

The phone interview is your first chance to really connect with the recruiting team. They’ll be looking to understand your motivation for joining Accenture Consulting and how your skills match what they’re looking for.

This is your opportunity to show how enthusiastic you are about Accenture, so referencing something unique to the company that’s sparked your interest — how its values align with yours, how it supports advances in technology, or your interest in the company’s corporate social responsibility work — is a smart move.

Accenture Assessment Day

For graduate hires, the final stage is an assessment day. This may be in-person, though many offices now hold virtual assessment days.

During the assessment day, there will be both group and individual elements including leadership activities, case study discussions, and 1:1 interviews. The 1:1 interviews will include both a behavioral/fit interview and a case interview.

Experienced hires won’t have an assessment day. Instead, they’ll have either a virtual or face-to-face case and fit interview.

Worried about how to tackle a virtual case interview ? We’ve got 7 top tips to help you ace them.

Accenture is a big firm. As well as management consultancy, they also provide IT consultancy and outsourcing services for business support operations.

The management consultancy part of the business is divided into 3 parts: Accenture Strategy, Digital, and Operations. Accenture Strategy is the arm of the company that competes against top consulting firms such as Bain, BCG, and McKinsey.

If you’re applying for a role within Accenture Strategy, you’ll complete a unique interview called the Potentia interview.

How Is the Accenture Potentia Interview Different from a Regular Case Interview?

Don’t be thrown by the name. At its heart, the Potentia interview is a case interview. The main difference is that it focuses more on assessing the creative thinking of Accenture Strategy candidates.

We’ll be taking you through the nuts and bolts of a case interview below so, for now, here are a few tips to approach this unique Accenture interview.

Our Top Tips For the Potentia Interview

The Potentia interview is a 1-hour long interview about a broad business topic. You’ll be given a short piece of text providing some context to the topic and a problem statement.

Topics are diverse, such as the mining of blood diamonds in Africa or who owns the intellectual property of the internet.

You have 5 minutes to read through the information and prepare your thoughts. After that, there’s a 45-60 minute conversation with the interviewer where you present your thoughts and answer their follow-up questions. There’s no math required during the Potentia interview.

Here are our top tips:

Use a framework to organize your thoughts . While the interviewer is assessing your creativity, how you present your thoughts should be logical and structured. Outline your core ideas and then expand on the key strengths and weaknesses of each.
Don’t try and ‘solve’ the problem . These are complex real-life topics that don’t have an easy solution. Focus on presenting innovative ideas that could create real benefit. But, don’t forget good business sense. Evaluate your ideas for practicality, risk, and ease of implementation.
Adapt your experience . If you have previous work experience that gives you insight into how to approach the problem, use it! Adapting something that’s worked in one context for use in another shows flexibility and a creative mindset.

The Accenture Case Interview: A Step-by-Step Guide

Let’s now look at the Accenture case interview in detail – what types of case you might face, how to approach them, and a real-life work example.

Types of Cases

There are 3 types of cases you might face during your Accenture case interviews. These are called:

The “Great Unknown”
The “Parade of Facts”
The “Back of an Envelope”

Each of the types has different attributes, as shown below. Of the 3 types, the “Great Unknown” and the “Back of the Envelope” are more common than the “Parade of Facts”.

Whichever case you face, make sure you fully understand all the facts and what you are being asked to do before trying to “solve” it.

How to Approach the Case Interview

1) make sure you understand the question.

Fully understanding the question asked is the 1st step in our tried-and-tested method of approaching case interviews.

You don’t want to spend 45 minutes crafting a great answer to the wrong question. Take a moment to consider the problem statement and then repeat it back to the interviewer in your own words to make sure you’ve got it nailed down.

2) Take Time to Think Things Through

Once you understand the problem, it’s helpful to break it down into smaller parts to help you uncover the issues that might be driving it. An issue tree is a helpful tool to identify the root cause of problems.

Once you’re clear on what the problem is, take a moment to figure out what approach you’re going to take to “solve” it and what clarification questions you want to ask the interviewer.

At this stage, you might want to think about familiar frameworks you’ve studied during your case study preparation and how they can help frame your thoughts.

For more information on some classic business frameworks, see Case Interview Frameworks .

3) Ask Insightful Questions

At this point, you should be clear on the problem and have figured out your approach to “solving” it. Share this with the interviewer so they can follow your thought process and ask any clarification questions that you need.

Asking pertinent questions and probing for more information should then allow you to form one or more hypotheses of what could solve the problem.

Testing your hypotheses against what you know about the client and by using a relevant business framework will allow you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each, until you finalize your preferred recommendation.

4) Summarize Your Findings

In this final stage, you’ll summarize your findings and present recommendations to the client.

Make sure you provide a clear and direct answer to the problem statement and outline any next steps you recommend the client takes.

Highlight any risks associated with your recommendations and options for mitigating them.

The Accenture Case Interview: A Worked Example

Let’s go through an example “Great Unknown” case to see how this all fits together.

As is typical in a “Great Unknown” case, there’s not much information given so asking great questions is key to cracking this case.

Issue Tree

After considering the problem statement, remember to reflect back to the interviewer what you understand to be the problem, in your own words.

Next, create an issue tree to break the problem down and into component parts.

Using an issue tree helps you to quickly identify several things the client needs to consider when evaluating how to distribute the vaccine including the following issues: infrastructure, staffing, procedures and training, communications and technology, funding, and procurement.

This is also the time to ask clarification questions and probe for more information where there are gaps in your current understanding of the problem.

Building A Hypothesis for How to Quickly and Efficiently Vaccinate the Philadelphia Population

Depending on the information given, now is the time to narrow the focus and create a hypothesis.

Once you have a strong hypothesis of where the vaccine should be distributed, you still need to address the other infrastructure needs for the vaccination center as well as the other components of your framework. Go through them one-by-one.

Presenting Your Recommendation

Now you’ve considered all the facts, built, and tested your hypothesis. At this stage you should summarize your findings, noting any assumptions you’ve made.

Conclude your presentation by offering clear recommendations to the client directly addressing the problem statement. Note any risks associated with your recommendation.

Here are our top 5 tips to help you feel confident tackling the case interview:

Tip 1: Think before you dive into the case

Depending on the type of case, there can be a lot of information to manage. Make sure you’ve got it all clear in your head before you begin to tackle the case.

Equally, don’t be thrown if there’s not a lot of information. Take a moment to think through how you’ll approach the problem from beginning to end.

Tip 2: Ask questions

Don’t be afraid to probe for more information where you’ve identified there are gaps. And do clarify anything you don’t understand, such as acronyms or terms you’re not familiar with.

Tip 3: Share your thoughts

It’s no good to listen to the problem statement, scribble frantically on some paper for 45 minutes and then present the “answer.” Interviewers want to understand your thought process, how you handle information, and what assumptions you’ve made. Share your framework for approaching the case with your interviewer and walk them through each step as you address it.

Tip 4: Pay attention to cues

Sharing your thoughts gives the interviewer an opportunity to guide the conversation. Make sure you follow any feedback they offer on your approach and listen closely for any hints about where to go next.

Be aware, however, that some partners like to stress-test final round candidates to ensure they can defend their answers. If you think you’re right, stick to your recommendation.

Tip 5: Be yourself

No one else shares your story. The case interview is an opportunity to show creative thinking and offer insights based on your individual experiences. Your unique perspective is important and helps separate you from other candidates.

For even more tips on acing case interviews, check out 7 Tips To Help You Land A Consulting Offer .

Accenture Fit / Behavioral Interview

This Accenture interview concentrates on 2 types of questions: fit questions and personal experience questions.

2) Why Do You Want to Work in Consulting?

3) tell me something about you that’s not on your resume., typical personal experience questions and how to approach them.

Tell me about a time you disagreed with someone and how you managed that.
Tell me about a time when you led a team through a challenging situation.
Tell me about a time when you persuaded someone to change their mind.
Tell me about a time when you overcome something you personally found difficult.

Using the A STAR(E) Framework

The A STAR(E) framework covers the following points:

Answer. Give a clear 1-sentence answer to the question.
Situation. When and where did the story happen? Who was involved?
Tension. What was the problem, conflict, or challenge you faced?
Action. What did you do to solve the problem?
Result. What happened as a result of the action you took?
Effect. What effect did this have on you? What did you learn?

The (E) is in parentheses because this won’t be relevant to every story.

For a detailed guide to tackling the Fit/Behavioral Interview, see our article on Consulting Behavioral Interviews .

In this article, we’ve covered:

What makes up the Accenture recruitment process,
What the Accenture Potentia interview is,
Our step-by-step approach to tackling an Accenture case interview,
Our top tips for success in your Accenture case interviews, and
What’s covered during the Accenture behavioral interview.

Still have questions?

If you have more questions about Accenture case interviews, leave them in the comments below. One of My Consulting Offer’s case coaches will answer them.

Other people prepping for the Accenture case interview found the following pages helpful:

Top IT Consulting Firms
Our Ultimate Guide to Case Interview Prep
How to answer the “Why Accenture?” question
How to answer Market Sizing questions

Help with Consulting Interview Prep

Thanks for turning to My Consulting Offer for advice on consulting interview prep. My Consulting Offer has helped almost 89.6% of the people we’ve worked with to get a job in management consulting . We want you to be successful in your consulting interviews too. For example, here is how Ruhani was able to get her offer from Accenture.

Accenture case interview (questions, process, prep)

Accenture interviews are pretty challenging compared to regular interviews at large corporations. The questions are difficult and the interview format is specific to Accenture.

But the good news is that, with the right preparation, it can actually become relatively straightforward to succeed at an Accenture interview. We've put together this ultimate guide to maximise your chances of success.

Here's an overview of what we'll cover.

Accenture overview
Accenture interview process
Accenture case interviews
Accenture Potentia interview
Accenture Fit / PEI interviews
How to prepare

Click here to practise 1-on-1 with Accenture ex-interviewers

1. accenture overview.

Accenture is a consulting giant, with more than 500,000 employees across 120 countries. It can roughly be broken into three parts; management consulting, IT consulting, and what is often called 'Back office', which includes accounting services, sales, customer support, etc.

This interview guide is for candidates applying for management consulting roles at Accenture (if you're applying for another tech role, such as software engineering, we recommend you use the prep articles on our engineering blog ).

Management consulting is further divided into three groups:

1) Accenture Strategy (focused on strategy,competes with McKinsey , BCG , etc) 2) Operations (focused on implementation of business initiatives) 3) Digital (focused on implementation of digital business initiatives)

Next, let's outline the different stages of your interview process with Accenture.

2. Accenture interview process

The exact Accenture interview process will depend on which of the management consulting areas you're applying for, but generally there are three of four stages:

Resume and cover letter screening
First round of interviews
Second round of interviews
Accenture Potentia (Strategy roles only)

2.1 Resume and cover letter screening

First, recruiters will look at your resume and assess if your experience matches the open position. This is the most competitive step in the process—we’ve found that 90% of candidates don’t make it past this stage.

You can use this free resume guide and this free cover letter guide to help tailor your application to the position you’re targeting.

And if you’re looking for expert feedback, you can also get input from our team of ex-MBB recruiters and interviewers , who will cover what achievements to focus on (or ignore), how to fine tune your bullet points, and more.

2.2 Interview rounds

After sending your resume and cover letter you should prepare yourself for two to three rounds of interviews with Accenture Consultants, Managers and Managing Directors (equivalent to partner).

As a general rule of thumb, your interviewers will be more and more senior as you progress through the different rounds. Your last interview will generally be with a Senior Managing Director (equivalent to Senior Partner) who will make a final decision on whether the firm should give you an offer or not.

During each round you can expect between one and three interviews which are usually a mix of fit / behavioural questions (e.g. Why consulting? ) as well as case interview questions.

If you are applying for Accenture Strategy, one of your interviews will be a 1-hour assessment called the Potentia Interview. We'll go into more detail on that in section 4 below.

3. Accenture case interviews

Accenture uses candidate-led case interviews similar to BCG and Bain . As the candidate, this means that you should be prepared to lead the conversation and suggest next steps for how to analyse and solve the case.

Accenture divides its case interviews into three types.

1. "The Great Unknown" questions

Don't be confused by the name, these are your typical case interview questions used by all consulting companies. You'll receive one or two sentences with a case problem. You'll need to ask the right questions to establish further facts and construct a solution.

Example: " The client, a leading manufacturer of prefabricated kitchen furnishings, has been steadily losing market share over the last two years. The senior executive team would like you to help them understand why and what they can do to improve their market standing ."

To prepare for these types of questions, use our case case interview prep guide.

2. "Parade of facts" questions

These case problems are a little bit different to the usual ones.. You will be given a deluge of facts in the case description, and one of your key tasks is determining which facts are relevant to the client’s business problem.

Accenture doesn't use these questions as often as the others, but you'll still need to prepare properly.

2. "Back of the envelope" questions.

These are typical market sizing questions, such as "Estimate the total number of dry cleaners in Philadelphia."

Accenture uses these a lot and you should be well prepared. Use our market sizing questions guide to learn how best to answer these, and then use our market sizing questions article to practise with.

4. Accenture Potentia interview

As we mentioned above, if you're an Accenture Strategy candidate, you'll face a 1-hour "Potentia" interview. You will be given a short paragraph of text about a broad business topic (e.g. how to manage intellectual property in the age of Chat GPT). You will then have 5 minutes to analyse the text and the question it raises.

After this, you will need to present your initial thoughts to your interviewer and they will then follow up with a series of questions. The whole interview will last 45-60 minutes and should feel like a conversation. Its main objective is to test your creativity and it therefore won't involve any calculations.

As we have previously mentioned, creativity questions are frequent in case interviews . This type of question can be a little tricky to answer. The most common mistake candidates make with creativity questions (and the Potentia Interview) is to brainstorm ideas in an unstructured way. Jumping from one idea to another without any overarching structure makes it really hard for your interviewer to follow your thoughts.

Instead, we suggest that you use the following two-step approach to impress your interviewer:

Use a framework. At the beginning of your Potentia Interview, you should lay out a high-level framework to structure the different types of ideas you have to answer the question you are asked.
Brainstorm within each branch. Once you have established a framework, you can then brainstorm ideas within each branch of your framework. As a rule of thumb, you should aim to generate 2 to 5 ideas per branch.

Using a framework and brainstorming within branches will go a long way in ensuring you do well at your Potentia Interview. But, it’s also helpful to think about how your interviewer will assess your answers. In short, they will look at two criteria:

Range of thought. You interviewer wants you to demonstrate that you can generate a broad range of ideas. You can achieve this by both going wide in your framework (e.g. having 4 or 5 branches). But also by going deep in each branch (e.g. having 4 or 5 ideas per branch).
Practicality. Your interviewer will also assess how practical your ideas are. In practice, that means you should aim to have a mix of ambitious long-term ideas but also shorter-term ones which you feel can be implemented relatively easily.

5. Accenture Fit / PEI interviews

You can expect to face typical fit or "personal experience" questions at the end or beginning of each Accenture case interview:

6. How to prepare for your Accenture case interviews

Now you've seen the different types of questions in the Accenture interview process, let's look at the steps you need to take to make sure you ace your Accenture interview.

6.1 Learn the case interview essentials

For your case interviews, Accenture provide a very useful case workbook which you should definitely read though as part of your preparation.

However, while the workbook is a great starting point, you'll need to use much more detailed prep materials. For example, it lists 5 key frameworks that you'll need to be very familiar with, but we recommend you learn seven and combine them to create your own.

A great starting point for your case interview prep is our case interview prep guide . You can also watch the example video below. Although the video is labeled for BCG and Bain, the interviews you will come across at Accenture will be similar.

6.2 Become really confident at maths

You don't have to have a perfect GPA or GMAT score to succeed at case interview maths. However, during your Accenture interviews, you will be expected to quickly perform accurate mental maths.

In order to do this, it’s essential to know the formulas for common metrics, like return on investment or breakeven point. And it’s also helpful to know a few maths shortcuts to help you solve problems more quickly. To learn more about these topics, check out our free guide to case interview maths .

In our experience, the most successful applicants start their interview preparation by practising maths skills, so make sure you prioritise this step.

6.3 Research the company

Accenture interviewers want to hire candidates who are deeply motivated to work for their firm. Make sure you're up to date in the latest developments in the area of the company you're applying to join. Here are some useful links to get you started:

Accenture Strategy page
Accenture YouTube channel
Accenture Insights blog

In addition, do some networking so that you can show you've made the effort to reach out to current staff.

6.4 Practise with peers

Once you're in command of the subject matter, you'll want to start practising cases. But by yourself, you can’t simulate thinking on your feet or the pressure of performing in front of a stranger. Plus, there are no unexpected follow-up questions and no feedback.

If you have friends or peers who can do mock interviews with you, that's an option worth trying. It’s free, but be warned, you may come up against the following problems:

It’s hard to know if the feedback you get is accurate
They’re unlikely to have insider knowledge of interviews at your target company
On peer platforms, people often waste your time by not showing up

For those reasons, many candidates skip peer mock interviews and go straight to mock interviews with an expert.

6.5 Practise with experienced case interviewers

In our experience, practising real interviews with experts who can give you company-specific feedback makes a huge difference.

Find a consulting interview coach so you can:

Test yourself under real interview conditions
Get accurate feedback from a real expert
Build your confidence
Get company-specific insights
Learn how to tell the right stories, better.
Save time by focusing your preparation

Landing a job at a top consulting company often results in a $50,000 per year or more increase in total compensation. In our experience, three or four coaching sessions worth ~$500 make a significant difference in your ability to land the job. That’s an ROI of 100x!

Secrets to a successful case-study interview

January 9, 2023

Prepping for (and maybe fretting) the case-study interview?

While this kind of interview may appear intimidating, consider this: The interviewer really wants you to do well.

So, shake off the nerves, relax and have fun.

Tips for standing out in the case-study interview:

Take your time; don't rush it. Talk through the problem. If you can't make sense of it, take a moment and allow yourself some time to process what you've been missing. If you get stuck, get creative. Don't let yourself get bogged down; rely on your ingenuity.
Ask questions. You can always ask your interviewer to define an acronym or to repeat or confirm details. If the interviewer asks, “How do we achieve success?”, don’t be afraid to ask, “What does ‘success’ mean to you? Is it turning a profit? Raising the company’s profile?” When you work on a client project, you need to ask questions to figure out what the problems might be, and the same applies here. The interviewer is your biggest asset in the room. They have the information you need to “solve the case” successfully. Use them wisely!
Be flexible. The focus of a case-study interview may vary. So, be prepared to participate in whatever discussion the interviewer has in mind. They may spend the first half of the interview asking about your previous experience, or they may dive right into the case study at the start. The bottom line: Be flexible, and be ready to discuss the work you do and how you do it.
Use visual aids. Don’t be afraid to use pen and paper, sketch out your thoughts, and talk through the problem at hand if it helps you get your ideas across. What matters most is demonstrating that you can solve problems.
Focus on impact. Inventory the information you have, and then dive in where you can have the most impact. Don’t forget to discuss your thought process and explain your assumptions.
Tell a story. Your experience has helped you progress in your career and education; use that experience. For example, in a business case study, you could bring your experience as a traveler to a case about a hypothetical airline. Your individuality is important. Your unique insights will serve you well when you’re interviewing.
Pay attention to cues. If the interviewer says something, it probably means something. Don’t dismiss seemingly extraneous details. For example, the interviewer might say, “The case is about a retailer who wants to increase the value of a company it purchased, and the owner loved the brand when growing up.” The purpose of that detail is to indicate that turning around and selling the asset is not an option for making it profitable, because the owner is attached to it.

Preparing for the job you want can take time, but it’s a worthwhile investment—especially when you receive an offer.

Your ideas, ingenuity and determination make a difference.

Find your fit with Accenture.

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Interview Prep

Accenture - Case Interview Workbook

case interview

By Tom Spencer

Find their other files

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About This File

Produced by Accenture in 2006, this case interview workbook contains the following information:

1. What is the Case Interview?

2. The Case Interview Process

3. "Soft" Evaluation Criteria

4. Types of Case Interviews

5. Sample Frameworks and Applications

6. Practice Cases

To stay in the loop, please following us on LinkedIn here .

What's New in Version 12/14/2021 05:26 AM See changelog

Released December 14, 2021

No changelog available for this version.

12/14/2021 05:26 AM
04/18/2014 01:52 PM April 18, 2014
03/25/2014 03:27 PM March 25, 2014

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35 Case Interviews Examples from MBB / Big Four Firms

Studying case interview examples is one of the first steps in preparing for the management consulting recruitment process. If you don’t want to spend hours searching the web, this article presents a comprehensive and convenient list for you – with 35 example cases, 16 case books, along with a case video accompanied by detailed feedback on tips and techniques.

A clear understanding of “what is a case interview” is essential for effective use of these examples. I suggest reading our Case Interview 101 guide, if you haven’t done so.

McKinsey case interview examples

Mckinsey practice cases.

Diconsa Case
Electro-Light Case
GlobaPharm Case
National Education Case

What should I know about McKinsey Case interviews?

At McKinsey, case interviews often follow the interviewer-led format , where the interviewer asks you multiple questions for you to answer with short pitches.

How do you nail these cases? Since the questions can be grouped into predictable types, an efficient approach is to master each question type. However, do that after you’ve mastered the case interview fundamentals!

For a detailed guide on interviewer-led cases, check out our article on McKinsey Case Interview .

BCG & Bain case interview examples

Bcg practice cases.

BCG – Written Case – Chateau Boomerang

Bain practice cases

Bain – Coffee Shop Co.
Bain – Fashion Co.
Bain – Mock Interview – Associate Consultant
Bain – Mock Interview – Consultant

What should I know about BCG & Bain case interviews?

Unlike McKinsey, BCG and Bain case interviews typically follow the candidate-led format – which is the opposite of interviewer-led, with the candidate driving the case progress by actively breaking down problems in their own way.

The key to acing candidate-led cases is to master the case interview fundamental concepts as well as the frameworks.

Some BCG and Bain offices also utilize written case interviews – you have to go through a pile of data slides, select the most relevant ones to answer a set of interviewer questions, then deliver those answers in a presentation.

For a detailed guide on candidate-led cases, check out our article on BCG & Bain Case Interview .

Deloitte case interview examples

Deloitte practice cases.

Undergrad Cases

Human Capital – Technology Institute
Human Capital – Agency V
Strategy – Federal Benefits Provider
Strategy – Extreme Athletes
Technology – Green Apron
Technology – Big Bucks Bank
Technology – Top Engine
Technology – Finance Agency

Advanced Cases

Human Capital – Civil Cargo Bureau
Human Capital – Capital Airlines
Strategy – Club Co
Strategy – Health Agency
Technology – Waste Management
Technology – Bank of Zurich
Technology – Galaxy Fitness

What should I know about Deloitte case interviews?

Case interviews at Deloitte also lean towards the candidate-led format like BCG and Bain.

The Deloitte consultant recruitment process also features group case interviews , which not only test analytical skills but also place a great deal on interpersonal handling.

Accenture case interview examples

Accenture divides its cases into three types with very cool-sounding names.

Sorted in descending order of popularity, they are:

These are similar to candidate-led cases at Bain and BCG. albeit shorter – the key is to develop a suitable framework and ask the right questions to extract data from the interviewer.

These are similar to the market-sizing and guesstimate questions asked in interviewer-led cases – demonstrate your calculations in structured, clear-cut, logical steps and you’ll nail the case.

These cases have you sort through a deluge of data to draw solutions; however, this type of case is rare.

Capital One case interview examples

Capital One is the odd one on this list – it is a bank-holding company. Nonetheless, this being one of the biggest banks in America, it’s interesting to see how its cases differ from the consulting ones.

Having gone through Capital One’s guide to its cases, I can’t help but notice the less-MECE structure of the sample answers. Additionally, there seems to be a greater focus on the numbers.

Nonetheless, having a solid knowledge of the basics of case interviews will not hurt you – if anything, your presentation will be much more in-depth, comprehensive, and understandable!

See Capital One Business Analyst Case Interview for an example case and answers.

Other firms case interview examples

Besides the leading ones, we have some examples from other major consulting firms as well.

Oliver Wyman – Wumbleworld
Oliver Wyman – Aqualine
LEK – Cinema
LEK – Market Sizing
Kearney – Promotional Planning
OC&C – Imported Spirits
OC&C – Leisure Clubs

Consulting clubs case books

In addition to official cases, here are a few case books you can use as learning materials.

Do keep in mind: don’t base your study on frameworks and individual case types, but master the fundamentals so you can tackle any kind of case.

Wharton Consulting Club Case Book
Tuck Consulting Club Case Book
MIT Sloan Consulting Club Case Book
LBS Consulting Club Case Book
Kellogg Consulting Club Case Book
INSEAD Consulting Club Case Book
Harvard Consulting Club Case Book
ESADE Consulting Club Case Book
Darden Consulting Club Case Book
Berkeley Consulting Club Case Book
Notre-Dame Consulting Club Case Book
Illinois Consulting Club Case Book
Columbia Consulting Club Case Book
Duke Consulting Club Case Book
Ross Consulting Club Case Book
Kearney Case Book

Case interview example – Case video

The limitation of most official case interview examples is that they are either too short and vague, or in text format, or both.

To solve that problem for you, we’ve extracted a 30-minute-long, feedback-rich case sample from our Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program .

This is a candidate-led, profitability case on an internet music broadcasting company called Pandora.

In 30 minutes, this candidate demonstrates the exact kind of shortcoming that most candidates suffer during real case interviews – they come in with sharp business senses, then hurt their own chances with inadequate techniques.

Here are seven notable areas where the candidate (and you) can improve:

Thanking Throughout the case, as especially in the opening, he should have shown more appreciation for the time the interviewer spent with him.

Structured opening The candidate’s opening of the case feels unstructured. He could have improved it by not mixing the playback and clarification parts. You can learn to nail the case in a 3-minute start through this video on How to Open Any Case Perfectly .

Explicitness A lot of the candidate’s thought process remains in his head; in a case interview, it’s better to be as explicit as possible – draw your issue tree out and point to it as you speak; state your hypothesis when you move into a branch; when you receive data, acknowledge it out loud.

Avoiding silence The silence in his case performance is too long, including his timeout and various gaps in his speech; either ask for timeout (and keep it as short as possible) or think out loud to fill those gaps.

Proactivity The candidate relies too much on the interviewer (e.g: asking for data when it can easily be calculated); you don’t want to appear lazy before your interviewer, so avoid this.

Avoiding repeating mistakes Making one mistake twice is a big no-no in consulting interviews; one key part of the consulting skill set is the ability to learn, and repeating your mistakes (especially if the interviewer has pointed it out) makes you look like someone who doesn’t learn.

Note-taking Given the mistakes this candidate makes, he’s probably not taking his notes well. I can show you how to get it right if you watch this video on Case Interview Note-Taking .

Nonetheless, there are three good points you can learn from the candidate:

The candidate sums up what he’s covered and announces his upcoming approach at the start and at key points in the case – this is a very good habit that gives you a sense of direction and shows that you’re an organized person.

The candidate performs a “reality check” on whether his actions match the issue tree; in a case interview it’s easy to lose track of what you’re doing, so remember to do this every once in a while.

The candidate prompts the interviewer to give out more data than he asked for; if anything, this actually matches a habit of real consultants, and if you’re lucky, your interviewer may actually give out important pieces you haven’t thought of.

These are only part of the “ninja tips” taught In our Case Interview E2E Secrets Program – besides the math and business intuition for long-term development, a key feature is the instant-result tips and techniques for case interviews.

Once you’ve mastered them, you can nail any case they throw at you!

For more “quality” practice, let’s have a mock case interview with former consultants from McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Oliver Wyman, Strategy& and many other consulting firms. They will help you identify your problem areas and give you actionable feedback, making your preparation much easier and faster.

Hi! This is Kim and welcome to another performance in the Tips & Techniques part of our amazing End-to-end program. You are about to hear a really interesting performance.

There is a common Myth that Profitability cases are easier. Well, for beginners, that’s may make sense, but I would argue that Profitability cases can be really tricky and candidates without good foundation will make about the same level of mistakes regardless of type of cases given.

The profitability case we are about to watch will show that. It’s a very unconventional

Profitability. It started out like a typical one but getting more and more tricky toward the end.

The candidate is fairly good in term of business intuition, but the Tips & Techniques aspect needs a lot of fine tune! Now let’s go ahead and get started!

It’s actually a little better to playback the case information and ask clarifications. The candidate does not distinguish between the two and do both at a same time. Also, the candidate was asking these clarifications in an unorganized and unstructured fashion. This is not something terrible, but could have been better, especially when this is the very first part of the case, where the crucial first impression is being formed.

My pitch would sound like this:

“That’s a very interesting problem and I am happy to get the chance to solve it. First of all let me tell you my understanding of the case context and key objectives. Then I would like to ask a few clarifying questions regarding a few terminology and concepts. Both of these are to make sure that I will be solving the right problem.

So here is my understanding of the case: The client is ABC. Here are some DEF facts about the situation we just talked about. And the key case question is XYZ.

Does that correctly and adequately summarize the case?”

Once the interviewer confirms, I would move to the clarification part as follows: “Now I would like to ask a few clarification questions. There are three of them: No 1, … No 2, … and No 3, …”

You may see above pitch as obvious but that’s a perfect example of how you should open any cases. Every details matters. We will point out those details in just a second. But before we do that, it’s actually very helpful if you can go back, listen carefully to the above pitch, and try to point out the great components yourselves. Only after that, go back to this point and learn it all together.

Alright, let’s break down the perfect opening.

First of all, you hear me say: “That’s a very interesting problem and I am happy to get a chance to solve it”. This seems trivial but very beneficial in multiple ways:

1. I bought myself a couple of seconds to calm down and get focused. 2. By nature, we as human unconsciously like those who give us compliments. Nothing better than opening the case with a modest compliment to the interviewer.

And (c) I showed my great attitude towards the case, which the interviewer would assume is the same for real future consulting business problems.

You should do that in your interviews too. Say it and accompany it with the best smile you can give. It shows that you are not afraid of any problems. In fact, you love them and you are always ready for them.

Secondly, I did what I refer to as the “map habit”, which is to always say what you are about to do and then do it. Just like somebody in the car showing the drivers the route before cruising on the road. The driver would love it. This is where I said: “Let me tell you my understanding of the case context and key objectives. Then ABC…”.

Third, right at the beginning of the case, I try to be crystal clear and easy to follow. I don’t let the interviewer confused between playing the case vs. asking clarification questions. I distinguish between the two really carefully. This habit probably doesn’t change the outcome of how the case goes that much, but it certainly significantly changes the impression the interviewer has of me.

Fourth, in playing back the case, each person would have a different way to re-phrase. But there are three buckets to always include:

1. Who is the client 2. The facts regarding the client and the situation and (c) The key question and the objective of the case.

Fifth, after playing the case context and objectives, I pause for a second and ALIGN with the interviewer: “Does it correctly and adequately summarize the case?”. This is a habit that every consulting manager loves for young consultants to do. Nobody wants first-year folks to spend weeks of passion and hard-work building an excel model that the team can’t use. This habit is extensively taught at McKinsey, Bain and BCG, so therefore interviewers would love somebody that exhibits this habit often in case interview.

Lastly, when asking clarification questions, you hear me number them very carefully to create the strong impression that I am very organized and structured. I said I have three clarifying questions. Then I number them as I go through each. No.1, No.2, and No.3.

Sometimes, during interviews it’s hard to know exactly how many items you are going to get. One way is to take timeout often to carefully plan your pitch. If this is not possible in certain situations, you may skip telling how many items you have; but you should definitely still number your question: No.1, No.2; and so on.

Just a moment ago, the candidate actually exhibited a good habit. After going through his clarification questions, the candidate ended by asking the “is there anything else” question. In this case, I actually give out an important piece of data.

Though this is not very common as not every interviewer is that generous in giving out data. But this is a habit management consultants have to have every day when talking to experts, clients, or key stakeholders. The key is to get the most data and insights out of every interview and this is the type of open-ended question every consultant asks several times a day.

To show of this habit in a case interview is very good!

There are three things I would like you to pay attention to:

First, it took the candidate up to 72 seconds to “gather his thoughts”. This is a little too long in a case interview. I intentionally leave the 72 seconds of silence in the recording so you get an idea of how long that is in real situations. But it’s worth-noting here is not only that. While in some very complicated and weird cases, it’s ok to take that long to really think and gather ideas. In this case, the approach as proposed by the candidate is very simple. For this very approach, I think no more than 15 to 20 seconds should be used.

No.2, with that said, I have told I really like the fact that this candidate exhibits the “map” habit. Before going straight to the approach he draws the overall approach first.

No.3. You also see here that the candidate tried to align the approach with me by asking my thoughts on it. As I just said on the previous comment, this is a great habit to have. Not only does it help reduce chance of going into the wrong direction in case interviews, but it also creates a good impression. Consulting interviewers love people doing it often!

Here we see a not-really-bad response that for sure could be much better. The candidate was going into the first branch of the analysis which is Revenue. I would fix this in 3 aspects:

First, even though we just talked about the overall approach, it’s still better to briefly set up the issue tree first then clearly note that you are going into one branch.

Second, this is not a must, but I always try to make my hypothesis as explicitly clear as possible. Here the candidate just implicitly made a hypothesis that the problem is on the revenue side. The best way to show our hypothesis-driven mindset is to explicitly say it.

Third, you hear this a ton of times in our End-to-End program but I am going to repeat it again and again. It is better to show the habit of aligning here too. Don’t just go into revenue, before doing that, give the interviewer a chance to agree or to actually guide you to Cost.

So, summarizing the above insights, my pitch would sound something like this:

“So as we just discussed, a profit problem is either caused by revenue or by cost. Unless you would like to go into cost first, let’s hypothesize that the problem is on revenue side. I would like to look deeper into Revenue. Do we have any data on the revenue?”

And while saying this, you should literally draw an issue tree and point to each as you speak.

There is an interesting case interview tip I want to point out here. Notice how the candidate responds after receiving two data points from me. He went straight into the next question without at least acknowledging the data received and also without briefly analyzing it.

I am glad that the candidate makes this mistakes… well, not glad for him but for the greater audience of this program. I would like to introduce to you the perfect habit of what you should react and do every time you have any piece of data during case interviews. So three things you need to do:

Step 1: Say … that’s an interesting piece of data. This helps the interviewer acknowledge that you have received and understand the data. This also buys you a little time. And furthermore, it’s always a good thing to give out modest compliments to the interviewer.

Step 2: Describe the data, how it looks, is there any special noteworthy trend? In this case, we should point out that revenue actually grew by more than 50%.

Also notice here that I immediately quantified the difference in specific quantitative measurement (in this case, percentage). Saying revenue went up is good, but it’s great to be able to say revenue went up by more than 50%.

Step 3: Link the trend identified back to the original case question and the hypothesis you have. Does it prove, disprove, or open up new investigation to really test the hypothesis? In this case, this data piece actually opened up new investigating areas to test the hypothesis that the bottleneck is within revenue.

My sample pitch for this step 3 would sound like this: “It’s interesting that revenue went up quite a bit. However, to be able to fully reject our hypothesis on the revenue, I would like to compare our revenue to that of the competitors as well.”

Then only at this point, after going through 3 steps above, I ask for the competitors’ revenue like the candidate did.

Notice here that I ended up asking the same question the candidate did. This shows that the candidate does have a good intuition and thought process. It’s just that he did all of these implicitly on his head.

In consulting case interview, it’s always good to do everything as explicitly as possible. Not only is it easier to follow but it helps show your great thought process.

… the rest of the transcript is available in our End To End Case Interview

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Scoring in the McKinsey PSG/Digital Assessment

The scoring mechanism in the McKinsey Digital Assessment

Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program

Elevate your case interview skills with a well-rounded preparation package

Preparing for case interviews is a hard task when you only have 1 week, so the first part you need to learn during this time is fundamentals of case interview

Case interview in consulting is difficult with the passing rate is around 10%. This is because big consulting firms keep an extremely high recruitment standard

A case interview is where candidates is asked to solve a business problem. They are used by consulting firms to evaluate problem-solving skill & soft skills

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PDF Case Interview Workbook
A case study interview is quite similar to a consulting situation. First, you will be given a description of a case problem by the interviewer. This description may be as short as one sentence or as long as a page of detailed information. Once given the case description, you willneed to understand the problem by asking the
Accenture Case Interview: Everything You Need to Know
Accenture case interviews, also known as case study interviews, are candidate-led. This means that you will be expected to drive the case. You will be suggesting what areas to explore, what analyses to do, and what next steps should be. ... For more practice, check out our article on 23 MBA consulting casebooks with 700+ free practice cases ...
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The Accenture case interview - a step-by-step guide, MCO's 5 tips on acing the Accenture case interview, and; ... During the assessment day, there will be both group and individual elements including leadership activities, case study discussions, and 1:1 interviews. The 1:1 interviews will include both a behavioral/fit interview and a case ...
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Accenture
Produced by Accenture in 2006, this case interview workbook contains the following information: 1. What is the Case Interview? 2. The Case Interview Process 3. "Soft" Evaluation Criteria 4. Types of Case Interviews 5. Sample Frameworks and Applications 6. Practice Cases To stay in the loop, pleas...
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Accenture case interview examples. ... Do keep in mind: don't base your study on frameworks and individual case types, but master the fundamentals so you can tackle any kind of case. ... For more "quality" practice, let's have a mock case interview with former consultants from McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Oliver Wyman, Strategy& and many other ...