Josh, Author at Finance Interview Coach

Published On - August 26, 2022

Josh Behaviorals and Fit, Corporate Banking / Commercial Banking / Private Debt, Corporate Development, Finance & Accounting, Investment Banking, Private Equity

What is your greatest strength?

This is a personal question and you should generally just be honest about your greatest strength, but make sure the wording is right. Passion, attitude, leadership, intellectual curiosity, work ethic, resilient; the list goes on. Don’t say something that makes you seem cocky, like intelligence (ev...

Published On - August 24, 2022

Josh Behaviorals and Fit, Investment Banking

Why this bank / firm?

To master the “why this firm” question, it’s best to speak to somebody in the firm to ask what they like about the firm, and what the people in the team are like. It’s very hard to tell the true culture or strengths of a specific group in a specific bank. You should split your […]...

Published On - August 18, 2022

Josh Behaviorals and Fit, Investment Banking

Why investment banking?

There are generally three approaches to this question. You can list a number of reasons (e.g. 3) and explain each reason. This approach is the most easy and logical. However, you can also tella story about how you became interested in investment banking, and mention a few concrete reasons during the...

Published On - April 5, 2022

Josh Corporate Banking / Commercial Banking / Private Debt, Corporate Development, Financial Modeling, FP&A, Investment Banking, Private Equity

If Company A is 30% equity, 70% debt currently, but will have a capital structure of 50% equity, 50% debt in year 5, which capital structure do you use for your DCF?

The 50/50% capital structure would be used. When calculating WACC, we assume the optimal target capital structure, which is the capital structure the company will have in the long term and the optimal capital structure for a company in that industry....

Published On - April 4, 2022

Josh Corporate Banking / Commercial Banking / Private Debt, Corporate Development, Financial Modeling, FP&A, Investment Banking, Private Equity

What are some key debt metrics, and why are they important?

The leverage multiple, debt / EBITDA, is a common metric comparing debt and EBITDA. EBITDA is a proxy for cash flow that can be used to pay back the debt. It’s also a measure of the core profitability of the business that remains neutral in terms of capital structure, tax jurisdiction, and account...

Published On - April 4, 2022

Josh Corporate Development, Investment Banking, Private Equity, Real Estate

What type of multiples would you use for a company in real estate?

P / FFO Per ShareP / AFFO Per ShareP / NAV Per Share FFO = Funds from Operations, which adds D&A and subtracts capital gainsAFFO = FFO + capital expenditures + rent increasesInterest is core to business, so debt is consideredNAV = Net Asset Value (Assets – Liabilities) -> Note that this is a d...

Published On - April 4, 2022

Josh Corporate Banking / Commercial Banking / Private Debt, Corporate Development, Financial Modeling, FP&A, Investment Banking, Private Equity

Do private equity companies add more value to portfolio companies through financial engineering or operational improvements?

Operational improvements adds more value as the impact is far more permanent than temporarily playing around with the capital structure. Strategic shifts or operational improvements may last a lifetime, while capital structure changes and financial engineering will only affect the company until the ...

Published On - March 20, 2022

Josh Corporate Banking / Commercial Banking / Private Debt, Corporate Development, Financial Modeling, FP&A, Investment Banking, Private Equity

Would a company with a capital lease have a higher or lower EV / EBITDA multiple compared to an operating lease?

This depends if the ratio between the capital lease and the lease payment is higher or lower than the EV / EBITDA of the company. A capital lease is like buying the asset with debt. You pay interest and principal repayments. These payments are below EBITDA, meaning they are not treated as operating ...

Published On - March 18, 2022

Josh Corporate Banking / Commercial Banking / Private Debt, Corporate Development, Financial Modeling, FP&A, Investment Banking, Private Equity

How can a PE firm incentivize management to stay and perform?

A PE firm can incentivize management to stay by getting management to put up some equity for the acquisition, also known as management rollover. Usually, management will anywhere from 5-20% of the company to ensure they have “skin in the game.” Another common method to incentivize management is ...

Published On - March 12, 2022

Josh Corporate Banking / Commercial Banking / Private Debt, Corporate Development, Investment Banking, Private Equity

What is debt sizing in project finance? (1 min)

Debt sizing is used in project finance (infrastructure) to figure out how much debt can be raised to support an infrastructure project each month / year. As dictated by the debt term sheet, there is usually a maximum leverage ratio (eg maximum of 70% debt and 30% equity) and a minimum debt service c...