30 Accounting, Tally & GST e-Filing Interview Questions for Freshers (With Simple Answers)

Most freshers freeze up in accounts, Tally, or GST-filing interviews for one simple reason: they don’t know what interviewers will actually ask. So this guide covers 30 real tally interview questions — split across accounting fundamentals, TallyPrime, and GST/e-filing — with simple, direct answers you can actually use, not textbook definitions you’ll forget under pressure.

• 30 total questions: 5 accounting fundamentals, 15 Tally, 10 GST & e-filing
• Every answer is written in plain, spoken-style English — no jargon dump
• Includes a “how to prepare in your last few days” section and common mistakes to avoid
• Compiled by our Placement Team, drawn from real interview patterns our students report back

In this guide:

• Accounting Fundamentals Interview Questions (Q1–Q5)
• Tally Interview Questions (Q6–Q20)
• GST & E-Filing Interview Questions (Q21–Q30)
• How to Prepare in Your Last Few Days
• Common Mistakes Freshers Make
• Where Our Students Get Placed
• Frequently Asked Questions

---

Accounting Fundamentals Interview Questions

Before any Tally or GST question, interviewers usually check whether you actually understand accounting itself — not just software buttons.

Q1. What is accounting, and why does every business need it?

Accounting is the process of recording, classifying, and summarising a business’s financial transactions, so its owners can see exactly how money is coming in and going out. In short, every business needs it to track profit or loss, pay the right amount of tax, and make informed decisions — without accounting, a business is essentially guessing.

Q2. What is the difference between bookkeeping and accounting?

Bookkeeping is the day-to-day recording of transactions — sales, purchases, payments, receipts. Accounting, however, goes a step further: it turns that data into meaningful reports like the Trial Balance, Profit & Loss Account, and Balance Sheet, and helps interpret what those numbers actually mean for the business.

Q3. What are the Golden Rules of Accounting? Explain with an example.

The three Golden Rules are: Debit what comes in, Credit what goes out (Real accounts); Debit the receiver, Credit the giver (Personal accounts); and Debit all expenses and losses, Credit all incomes and gains (Nominal accounts). For example, if a business buys furniture in cash, it debits “Furniture” because the asset comes in, and credits “Cash” because it goes out.

Q4. What is the difference between capital and revenue expenditure?

Capital expenditure buys or improves a long-term asset — like machinery or a building — and its benefit lasts for years. Revenue expenditure, on the other hand, covers day-to-day running costs — like rent, salaries, or stationery — and its benefit runs out within the same accounting year.

Q5. What is a Trial Balance, and why is it prepared?

A Trial Balance lists the closing balances of all ledger accounts, with debits in one column and credits in another. Accountants prepare it mainly to check that the books are arithmetically correct — so if total debits equal total credits, it’s a good sign that the entries are accurate.

Tally Interview Questions

This is usually the largest part of any accounts-fresher interview, since most Kolkata employers run their books on Tally or TallyPrime day to day.

Q6. What is Tally / TallyPrime, and what is it mainly used for?

Tally (now TallyPrime) is accounting software that businesses use to record financial transactions, manage inventory, run payroll, and stay compliant with GST. In short, it replaces manual bookkeeping with a fast, error-resistant digital system that generates reports instantly.

Q7. What is a Ledger in Tally, and how is it different from a Group?

A Ledger is an individual account — like “Cash,” “Rent,” or a customer’s name — where you record related transactions. A Group, on the other hand, is a collection of similar ledgers — for example, “Sundry Debtors” contains the ledgers of all customers who owe the business money. So, every ledger must belong to a group.

Q8. Name the default (pre-defined) ledgers available in Tally.

Tally comes with two ready-made ledgers: Cash and Profit & Loss Account. Beyond these, the user has to create every other ledger — bank accounts, customers, suppliers, expenses — under the correct group.

Q9. What are the different types of Vouchers in Tally?

Vouchers are the entry forms you use to record transactions in Tally. The main types are Payment, Receipt, Contra, Journal, Sales, Purchase, Debit Note, and Credit Note. As a result, each voucher type corresponds to a specific kind of transaction, keeping the accounting organised and traceable.

Q10. What is the difference between a Payment Voucher and a Contra Voucher?

A Payment Voucher records money going out to a third party — for example, paying a supplier. A Contra Voucher, by contrast, records a transaction between the business’s own cash and bank accounts, like depositing cash into the bank.

Q11. How do you create a new Company in TallyPrime?

From the Gateway of Tally, go to Create Company (or press Alt+K > Create), then enter the company name, address, financial year start date, and currency. Once you save it, TallyPrime opens that company, and you can start creating ledgers and recording vouchers under it.

Q12. What is a Cost Centre in Tally, and when would you use one?

A Cost Centre lets you track income or expenses against a specific department, project, or branch, without creating separate ledgers for each. For instance, it’s useful for knowing exactly how much the business spent on the “Marketing” department.

Q13. How do you record a Purchase entry with GST in TallyPrime?

Open a Purchase Voucher, select the supplier’s ledger, choose the stock item or purchase ledger, and enter the quantity and rate. Once you enable GST, Tally automatically calculates CGST, SGST, or IGST based on the party’s state and the item’s tax rate, and shows the final invoice value.

Q14. What is a Bank Reconciliation Statement (BRS), and how is it done in Tally?

A BRS compares the cash-book balance for a bank account with the balance the bank’s own statement shows, so you can spot mismatches — like cheques not yet cleared. In Tally, you do this through the Banking menu’s Bank Reconciliation option, ticking off transactions that have actually cleared.

Q15. Where do you view the Balance Sheet in Tally?

The Balance Sheet is available directly from the Gateway of Tally under the Reports menu. In fact, it’s one of the reports Tally generates automatically the moment you enter vouchers correctly — so no separate preparation is needed.

Q16. What is Tally Vault, and why is it used?

Tally Vault is a security feature that encrypts a company’s data using a password, making the underlying data file unreadable without that password. That’s why businesses use it — to protect sensitive financial data from unauthorised access.

Q17. How do you back up and restore company data in Tally?

Both are available from the Gateway of Tally under Data Management. Backup copies the company data to a folder or drive you choose, while Restore brings a previously backed-up company back into Tally — useful when moving to a new system or recovering from data loss.

Q18. What is the difference between a Sales Order and a Sales Voucher?

A Sales Order records that a customer has placed an order, without affecting the books of accounts — it’s just a commitment to sell in future. A Sales Voucher, however, records the actual sale once the business delivers and invoices the goods or services, and this is what impacts the accounts.

Q19. What are Inventory Vouchers in Tally? Give a few examples.

Inventory Vouchers record the movement of stock without necessarily affecting accounting ledgers directly. For example, these include Stock Journal (stock transfers between godowns), Physical Stock (recording actual stock counts), and Delivery Note / Receipt Note (goods you send or receive before the final invoice).

Q20. How can you view the Profit & Loss Account in Tally?

It’s available directly from the Gateway of Tally under the Reports menu. As soon as you enter vouchers correctly under the right ledgers, Tally updates the Profit & Loss Account in real time, so no manual preparation is required.

GST & E-Filing Interview Questions

GST knowledge is what separates a candidate who “knows Tally” from one who’s genuinely job-ready — most accounts roles today expect at least working familiarity with filing.

Q21. What is GST, and how many types of GST are there in India?

GST (Goods and Services Tax) is a single indirect tax that replaced older taxes like VAT, Service Tax, and Excise Duty. In total, there are four types: CGST and SGST for sales within a state, IGST for sales between states, and UTGST for Union Territories.

Q22. What is Input Tax Credit (ITC) in GST?

ITC lets a business reduce the GST it owes on sales by the GST it already paid on purchases. For example, if a business collects ₹10,000 GST on sales but paid ₹6,000 GST on purchases, it only needs to pay ₹4,000 to the government, because it claims the rest as credit.

Q23. What is the difference between GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B?

GSTR-1 reports the details of all outward supplies (sales) a business makes. GSTR-3B, by contrast, is a summary return showing total sales, purchases, ITC claimed, and the final tax payable — it’s the return through which a business actually pays GST.

Q24. What is the GST registration threshold limit for a business?

For most states, a business supplying goods must register for GST once its annual turnover crosses ₹40 lakh, and ₹20 lakh for services. However, these limits are lower for a few special category states, so it’s worth mentioning in an interview that the exact figure can vary by state and type of supply.

Q25. What is Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM) under GST?

Normally the seller collects GST and pays it to the government. Under RCM, however, that responsibility shifts to the buyer, who pays GST directly instead. This usually applies to specific notified goods or services, or when buying from an unregistered supplier.

Q26. What is an e-Way Bill, and when is it required?

An e-Way Bill is an electronic document you generate on the government’s e-Way Bill portal before moving goods worth more than ₹50,000. It records the goods, supplier, recipient, and transporter details, which helps track goods in transit.

Q27. What is e-Invoicing under GST, and which businesses need it?

e-Invoicing means reporting B2B invoices electronically to the government’s Invoice Registration Portal (IRP), which validates them and issues a unique Invoice Reference Number (IRN) with a QR code. It’s mandatory above a turnover threshold the government sets — and that threshold has come down over the years to cover more businesses.

Q28. How do you record a GST-compliant Sales Invoice in Tally?

In TallyPrime, create a Sales Voucher, then select the customer’s ledger and the item or service you’re selling. From there, Tally automatically applies the correct GST rate — CGST+SGST or IGST — based on the customer’s state code and the item’s GST classification, generating a tax invoice ready to file in returns.

Q29. What is the Composition Scheme under GST, and who can opt for it?

The Composition Scheme lets small businesses (typically turnover up to ₹1.5 crore) pay GST at a low, fixed rate on turnover instead of the regular rate structure, with simpler quarterly returns. In exchange, though, they can’t claim Input Tax Credit or charge GST separately on invoices.

Q30. What happens if GST returns are filed late?

Late filing attracts a late fee for every day of delay, plus interest on any unpaid tax. On top of that, repeated late filing can affect a business’s GST compliance rating and its ability to claim Input Tax Credit smoothly — so interviewers often check whether you understand why timely filing matters, not just the definitions.

How to Prepare in Your Last Few Days

• Say the answers out loud — reading silently feels like knowing; speaking exposes the gaps.
• Open TallyPrime and actually redo a purchase entry, a sales entry, and a BRS, rather than only reading about them.
• Know your own coursework — be ready to explain which level (Tally Essentials or Tally Professional) you completed and what it covered.
• Keep GST rate slabs (5%, 12%, 18%, 28%) and the basic return forms (GSTR-1, GSTR-3B) fresh in memory.
• Practice one full example end-to-end — like “how I’d record a GST sales invoice” — instead of only rehearsing definitions.

Common Mistakes Freshers Make

• Memorising definitions word-for-word without understanding what they mean in practice
• Not being able to explain how a concept actually looks inside Tally
• Treating GST as “the advanced part” and under-preparing for it
• Answering correctly but hesitantly — confidence matters almost as much as accuracy
• Guessing instead of asking the interviewer to repeat or clarify an unclear question

Where Our Students Get Placed

We didn’t pull these questions from a generic list — instead, they reflect the kind of interviews our own students go through. As an authorised Tally Education partner, Tally Education, Bangalore issues our Tally Essentials and Tally Professional certificates directly, and because of that partnership, our placement team has helped students step into accounts and GST roles at companies including PwC, Deloitte, Bandhan Bank, Reliance Smart Bazaar, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finance, Motilal Oswal, RJV Advisors, and CA firms across Kolkata. You can see our recently placed students here.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much Tally and GST knowledge is required for a fresher accounts role?

Most fresher roles expect solid basics — ledgers, vouchers, GST invoicing, and simple return filing — rather than advanced compliance work. That’s exactly what a structured Tally course covers.

How long should I revise before an interview?

A focused 3–5 days is usually enough if you’re revising, not learning from scratch — go through this list once fully, then spend the final day only on the questions you hesitated on.

Is Tally Essentials enough, or do I need Tally Professional too?

Tally Essentials covers the accounting, GST, and reporting basics most fresher roles ask about. Tally Professional, however, adds advanced GST, TDS, and payroll — worth it if you’re targeting accounts executive or compliance-heavy roles rather than pure data-entry positions.

Do interviewers expect me to know the latest e-invoicing or e-way bill rules?

At fresher level, they usually check whether you know what these are and when they apply — not the exact current thresholds, which change periodically. Knowing the concept clearly is what matters most.

What if I don’t know the answer to a question in the interview?

Say so honestly, and explain how you’d find out — interviewers generally respect that far more than a confident wrong guess.

Does the institute provide placement support after the course?

Yes — we continue placement support after the course, through our Tally Job Portal access and direct connections with hiring companies. See our recently placed students for real outcomes.