National Audit Office Assessment Tests

National Audit Office Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a risk assistant. Three weeks ago your team leader ruled that a colleague’s risk rating should be overridden by yours. Since then he has declined to attend the weekly session you both run, sending apologies each time. The session is thinner without him and nobody has said anything. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Stop inviting him to the session altogether so that you do not have to deal with him each week, and leave your team leader to notice the change herself.
   2. Carry on sending the invitation and never mention the absences, on the basis that he will come back when he is ready to.
   3. Ask him directly for ten minutes, say the session needs him and that you would rather clear the air about the rating than keep working around it.
   4. Tell your team leader that he has missed three sessions since the ruling, and ask her to require him to attend.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Ask him directly for ten minutes, say the session needs him and that you would rather clear the air about the rating than keep working around it.

   Least effective: A. Stop inviting him to the session altogether so that you do not have to deal with him each week, and leave your team leader to notice the change herself.

   A: Answers a withdrawal with a withdrawal: the invitation is removed so the awkwardness goes away, and a working relationship the team needs is quietly ended.

   B: Waits out a pattern three weeks old: nothing about the situation is changing on its own and the session keeps degrading.

   D: Escalates before speaking to him: he has not been asked, and being ordered back by the person who ruled against him makes it worse.

   The most effective response is to ask him directly for ten minutes, say the session needs him and that you would rather clear the air about the rating: it is direct, it separates the ruling from the working relationship, and it is the only response that gives him a way back without losing face. It beats carrying on sending the invitation and never mentioning the absences, because three weeks of apologies is a pattern, not a mood. It beats telling your team leader he has missed three sessions and asking her to require attendance, because an instruction from the person who ruled against him hardens it. The least effective response is dropping him from the session so you do not have to deal with him each week: it ends the working relationship to avoid the discomfort and hides the whole thing from the person who could help. That is answering payback with payback rather than under-reacting or over-escalating. The principle: ask him directly, and keep the door you control wide open.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are a branch adviser. A customer at the next desk raises his voice at a new colleague, saying she has “wasted an hour” of his time. Other customers are looking. Your colleague has gone quiet and is close to tears. The customer’s underlying problem is one you know how to fix. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Wait to see whether your colleague can manage it herself, and step in only if the customer's voice gets louder than it already is.
   2. Tell the customer in front of the others that speaking to staff like that is unacceptable, and that his behaviour is the reason his problem is still unresolved.
   3. Step across, offer to take the customer's problem yourself so your colleague can step away, and deal with him calmly at your own desk.
   4. Take your colleague aside straight away to check she is all right, and leave the customer at the desk until somebody else becomes free.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Step across, offer to take the customer's problem yourself so your colleague can step away, and deal with him calmly at your own desk.

   Least effective: B. Tell the customer in front of the others that speaking to staff like that is unacceptable, and that his behaviour is the reason his problem is still unresolved.

   A: Leaves a new colleague to absorb it: she has already gone quiet, and the test of whether she can cope is being run in front of a full branch.

   B: Makes it about the person in public: the branch now has two people raising their voices, the customer's problem is untouched, and your colleague is still at the centre of it.

   D: Solves half of it: she is looked after, and an angry customer is left unattended in a branch where everybody is watching.

   The most effective response is to step across, offer to take the customer’s problem yourself so your colleague can step away, and deal with him calmly at your own desk: it removes her from the exchange, gives him the one thing that will actually calm him, and moves it away from the audience. It beats waiting to see whether she can manage it herself, because she has already stopped coping and the branch is watching. It beats taking her aside to check she is all right and leaving him at the desk, because an abandoned angry customer gets louder, not quieter. The least effective response is telling him in front of the others that his behaviour is why his problem is unresolved: it answers a scene with a scene, the problem is no closer to being fixed, and she is left standing in the middle of a public argument about herself. That is personalising it rather than misjudging the timing. The principle: take the problem off them both, then deal with the behaviour privately.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a compliance analyst. A case has sat unallocated in the team queue for six days. Three of you can see it and none of you has picked it up. Cases are supposed to be started within five days. Your own queue is manageable this week. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Leave it where it is on the basis that somebody else will get to it, since three of you can see it and none of the others has flagged it as a problem either.
   2. Message the team asking who is going to take it, and pick it up yourself only if nobody else has claimed it by the end of the day.
   3. Take the case yourself today and tell the team you have done so, and suggest a rule for who picks up unallocated cases in future.
   4. Report the six-day delay to your team leader so that the breach of the five-day rule is recorded and somebody senior allocates the case properly.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Take the case yourself today and tell the team you have done so, and suggest a rule for who picks up unallocated cases in future.

   Least effective: A. Leave it where it is on the basis that somebody else will get to it, since three of you can see it and none of the others has flagged it as a problem either.

   A: Assumes somebody else has it: everybody in the team is reasoning exactly the same way, which is why a case with a five-day rule has sat for six.

   B: Waits for a volunteer: it adds another day to a case already over its limit, when your own queue is manageable and you could simply start it.

   D: Escalates instead of acting: the case is still not started, and the simplest fix was available to you the whole time.

   The most effective response is to take the case yourself today, tell the team you have done so, and suggest a rule for who picks up unallocated cases: it starts the case today, makes the pick-up visible so nobody duplicates it, and proposes the thing that stops it recurring. It beats messaging the team to ask who is going to take it and picking it up only if nobody claims it, because another day on an overdue case buys only a conversation. It beats reporting the six-day delay to your team leader so the breach is recorded, because a report does not start the work. The least effective response is leaving it on the basis that somebody else will get to it: the case stays unstarted on exactly the shared reasoning that produced the six days. That is avoidance rather than a slow or indirect way of fixing it. The principle: if you can see it and you have room, it is yours.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a compliance analyst. Checking a sample of new accounts, you find one opened without the second approval the process requires. The approver is a senior manager who was away that week. The account is small and the customer looks entirely ordinary. Your team logs process exceptions weekly. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Take it to the head of compliance today as a control failure, so that a missing approval on a new account is looked at by somebody senior straight away.
   2. Log the exception this week with the facts you have, and tell the senior manager you have done so and why, so the gap is on the record and they hear it from you first.
   3. Leave it alone on the grounds that the account is small, the customer is ordinary and the manager was away, so nothing about it is likely to be worth anybody's time.
   4. Log the exception this week, and say nothing to the senior manager, since the log itself will reach them through the weekly report in the usual way.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Log the exception this week with the facts you have, and tell the senior manager you have done so and why, so the gap is on the record and they hear it from you first.

   Least effective: C. Leave it alone on the grounds that the account is small, the customer is ordinary and the manager was away, so nothing about it is likely to be worth anybody's time.

   A: Escalates prematurely: a single missed approval during an absence is what the weekly log is for, and going over two heads spends credit you will want for something larger.

   C: Declines to check or record: the exception log exists precisely so that single instances can be counted, and an unlogged one cannot be counted by anybody later.

   D: Avoids the difficult conversation: the manager first learns of it from a report, which makes a routine exception feel like something done behind their back.

   The most effective response is to log the exception this week with the facts you have, and tell the senior manager you have done so and why: the log is the route the firm has chosen for exactly this, and telling them yourself keeps a routine entry from reading as an ambush. It beats logging it and saying nothing on the basis that the weekly report will carry it, because a manager who reads about their own exception in a report reacts to how they heard it rather than to what happened. It beats taking it to the head of compliance as a control failure, because a one-off during an absence is not yet that, and treating it as one costs you the hearing next time. The least effective response is leaving it alone because the account is small and the manager was away: the one record that would show whether this is a pattern is never created, and the judgement that it does not matter is made by the person least placed to make it. That is avoidance rather than a misjudged route. The principle: put it on the record by the ordinary route, and tell the person it is about.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a client services associate. A client asks whether their account will be open by the end of next week, because they want to move money in before a deadline of their own. The checks sit with another team, whose queue you cannot see. The client has been waiting three weeks already and is plainly losing patience. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell the client that the checks team handles the timing and give them the address to write to, so they can ask about the date from the people who actually hold the queue themselves.
   2. Reassure the client that the account will certainly be open by the end of next week, because three weeks is already longer than these checks usually take to finish.
   3. Tell the client you cannot commit to a date yet, explain that you are asking the checks team today, and agree a time tomorrow when you will come back to them either way.
   4. Tell the client you will let them know as soon as there is news, and chase the checks team when you next have a reason to be in touch with them.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell the client you cannot commit to a date yet, explain that you are asking the checks team today, and agree a time tomorrow when you will come back to them either way.

   Least effective: B. Reassure the client that the account will certainly be open by the end of next week, because three weeks is already longer than these checks usually take to finish.

   A: Sends the client to chase your own firm: the relationship is yours, and a client three weeks in should not have to find the right internal door.

   B: Gives a certainty you cannot back: the queue belongs to another team and you cannot see it, so the client makes a decision about their own deadline on the strength of a guess.

   D: Leaves the client with no fixed point: "as soon as there is news" gives somebody planning around a deadline nothing they can actually plan with.

   The most effective response is to tell the client you cannot commit to a date yet, explain that you are asking the checks team today, and agree a time tomorrow when you will come back either way: it is honest about what you do not know, it does the one thing that can produce an answer, and it gives them a fixed time to expect contact. It beats telling them the checks team handles timing and giving them an address to write to, because a client should not be routed around your own firm after three weeks. It beats saying you will let them know as soon as there is news, because an open-ended promise is no use to somebody working to a date. The least effective response is reassuring them the account will certainly be open by the end of next week: it converts a queue you cannot see into a commitment they will act on, and when it slips they will have moved money against it. That is a false assurance rather than a weak way of handling the ask. The principle: never sell certainty you do not own, and replace it with a time you will come back.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a management accounts assistant. Every month you rekey the same figures between two systems, which takes half a day and causes errors. You could write a small spreadsheet tool that does it automatically. Tools that move data between these systems have to be registered and reviewed by the systems team first. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Build a prototype, show your manager the half-day saving, and ask them to put it to the systems team for registration before anybody uses it for real.
   2. Ask the systems team to build the tool themselves, since they own the registration process and will know how it should be done.
   3. Carry on rekeying each month and raise the idea at the next systems team forum in three months, when there is a proper slot for suggestions like this one.
   4. Build the tool and start using it for this month's close, and register it with the systems team afterwards once it has proved that it works properly.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Build a prototype, show your manager the half-day saving, and ask them to put it to the systems team for registration before anybody uses it for real.

   Least effective: D. Build the tool and start using it for this month's close, and register it with the systems team afterwards once it has proved that it works properly.

   B: Hands away the part you are best placed to do: you know the process and the failure modes, and their queue is long.

   C: Delays the decision for a quarter: three more months of half-days and known errors, to wait for a meeting.

   D: Builds a workaround around a control: a month's reported figures come out of an unreviewed tool, and registration afterwards cannot undo that they already have.

   The most effective response is to build a prototype, show your manager the half-day saving, and ask him to put it to the systems team for registration before anybody uses it for real: the prototype makes the case concrete, he owns the priority, and registration happens before anything real depends on it. It beats carrying on rekeying and raising the idea at the systems forum in three months, because three months of known errors is a real cost. It beats asking the systems team to build the tool themselves, because handing it to a long queue loses the knowledge that makes it work. The least effective response is building the tool, using it for this month’s close, and registering it afterwards: a month’s figures are produced by a tool that the review exists to look at before it is trusted. That is going around a stated control rather than moving too slowly or too fast. The principle: build it, show it, and get it approved before anything real runs on it.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a financial crime analyst. A colleague has closed eleven alerts in one afternoon with the same one-line reason. Some of those alerts look to you as though they needed more work. He is well regarded and closed them within policy. Your team leader reviews a sample of closures monthly. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Reopen the eleven alerts yourself and work them properly, without raising it with him or your team leader at all.
   2. Say nothing and let the monthly sample review pick it up, since that is exactly what the sampling process exists to catch.
   3. Ask him first what the one-line reason covers, and if the answer does not satisfy you, put the eleven closures to your team leader as something to look at.
   4. Tell your team leader the eleven closures were properly reasoned and consistent with policy, so that nothing has to be reopened and your colleague is not put under suspicion.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Ask him first what the one-line reason covers, and if the answer does not satisfy you, put the eleven closures to your team leader as something to look at.

   Least effective: D. Tell your team leader the eleven closures were properly reasoned and consistent with policy, so that nothing has to be reopened and your colleague is not put under suspicion.

   A: Redoes a colleague's work in silence: he learns nothing, the duplication is invisible, and nobody decides whether the closures were wrong.

   B: Leaves it to a sample: eleven closures in an afternoon may well not be sampled at all, and the specific thing you noticed is not what sampling looks for.

   D: Vouches for work you have not verified: your team leader relies on it when choosing the monthly sample, and the one signal that something needed another look is removed by the person who saw it.

   The most effective response is to ask him first what the one-line reason covers, and if the answer does not satisfy you, put the eleven closures to your team leader: he may have a perfectly good answer, asking costs nothing and is recoverable, and the route onward is clear if the answer is thin. It beats saying nothing and letting the monthly sample review pick it up, because a monthly sample is unlikely to land on these eleven. It beats reopening the alerts yourself and working them properly, because quietly redoing them decides nothing and duplicates everything. The least effective response is telling your team leader the closures were properly reasoned and consistent with policy: she is told they were sound by the one person who thought otherwise, so the sample is chosen on a false picture. That is asserting something you have not checked rather than under-reacting. The principle: ask the person, then take a real doubt to the person who samples.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are an assurance trainee. A confirmation from the client’s bank is three weeks late and the file cannot close without it. Firm policy is that only the engagement manager contacts third parties. She is on holiday until Monday and the file is due Wednesday. You have the bank contact’s details. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Telephone the bank contact yourself today to chase the confirmation, since the manager is away and one telephone call is all that stands between the file and closing on time.
   2. Ask the engagement manager's cover today whether she will chase the bank, and set out that the file is due Wednesday and the confirmation is three weeks late.
   3. Ask the client to chase their own bank for the confirmation, since they hold the relationship and it would reach the bank far faster coming from them than from you.
   4. Wait for the engagement manager to come back on Monday and ask her to chase the bank then, which still leaves two clear days before the file is due on Wednesday.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Ask the engagement manager's cover today whether she will chase the bank, and set out that the file is due Wednesday and the confirmation is three weeks late.

   Least effective: A. Telephone the bank contact yourself today to chase the confirmation, since the manager is away and one telephone call is all that stands between the file and closing on time.

   A: Contacts a third party the policy reserves to somebody else: an unauthorised approach on an audit confirmation puts the evidence itself in question, whoever ends up receiving it.

   C: Routes the evidence through the client: a confirmation the client has chased is exactly the independence that a direct request from the audit team exists to protect.

   D: Spends three of the five remaining days: a bank that has taken three weeks is unlikely to answer inside two.

   The most effective response is to ask the engagement manager’s cover today whether she will chase the bank, setting out that the file is due Wednesday and the confirmation is three weeks late: a cover exists precisely for a week like this, the request is squarely within her authority, and it costs a message. It beats waiting for the engagement manager on Monday and asking her to chase then, because that leaves two days for a bank that has taken three weeks. It beats asking the client to chase their own bank, because a confirmation the client has chased is no longer independent of the client. The least effective response is telephoning the bank contact yourself: a third party is contacted by somebody the policy does not permit to contact them, which is the one thing that can make the confirmation worthless. That is breaching the policy rather than applying it too slowly. The principle: the cover exists so the rule and the deadline do not have to fight.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a branch adviser. The colleague who does the weekly cash reconciliation has left and nobody has been trained to replace her. It is due Friday. You have watched her do it a few times and there is a written procedure. Your branch manager is aware the role is vacant. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Attempt the reconciliation on Friday from the written procedure, and ask your branch manager to look over it afterwards rather than before you start on it.
   2. Tell your branch manager that the reconciliation cannot be done this week because the trained person has left, and leave it until somebody is trained.
   3. Tell your branch manager you will attempt it from the written procedure this Friday, and ask her to check it with you the first time so nothing is missed.
   4. Refer the reconciliation on to the area operations team and take it off the branch's list, without sending them the branch records they would need to do it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell your branch manager you will attempt it from the written procedure this Friday, and ask her to check it with you the first time so nothing is missed.

   Least effective: D. Refer the reconciliation on to the area operations team and take it off the branch's list, without sending them the branch records they would need to do it.

   A: Puts the check after the work: a first attempt at a cash control is reviewed once it is already done rather than while it can still be steered.

   B: Treats a written procedure as no procedure: the document exists precisely so somebody else can pick it up.

   D: Passes a branch task to a team that does not do it: nobody there has the branch's records, and Friday arrives with the reconciliation no closer to being done.

   The most effective response is to tell your branch manager you will attempt it from the written procedure this Friday, and ask her to check it with you the first time: the procedure exists, you have seen it done, and asking for a check on the first attempt is what makes trying it safe. It beats attempting it from the procedure and asking her to look it over afterwards, because an unchecked first cash reconciliation is the one most likely to be wrong. It beats telling her it cannot be done this week because the trained person has left, because a written procedure is what allows the work to continue. The least effective response is referring it to the area operations team without sending them the branch records: the task goes to people who neither own it nor hold what they would need, and Friday still arrives. That is offloading it rather than attempting it unsafely or declining it. The principle: pick it up from the procedure, and ask to be checked the first time.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a customer service adviser. You and a colleague set up a daily handover at 2pm and run it together. She disagreed with you sharply in front of the team on Monday and it has been awkward since. Nobody else attends, and the afternoon shift works from what comes out of it. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Stop turning up to the handover so that you do not have to face her every afternoon, and leave the afternoon shift to work out for themselves that it has stopped.
    2. Keep going to the handover and say nothing at all about Monday, on the basis that these things fade if nobody picks at them.
    3. Ask your team leader to take the daily handover over from the two of you entirely, without explaining to her that Monday is the reason you would rather not be running it.
    4. Keep going to the handover, and tell her plainly that Monday is finished as far as you are concerned so that it does not sit between you every afternoon.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: D. Keep going to the handover, and tell her plainly that Monday is finished as far as you are concerned so that it does not sit between you every afternoon.

    Least effective: A. Stop turning up to the handover so that you do not have to face her every afternoon, and leave the afternoon shift to work out for themselves that it has stopped.

    A: Withdraws from a shared commitment to avoid somebody: the afternoon shift loses the handover it works from, and the people who pay for Monday are the ones who were not in the room.

    B: Waits out an atmosphere: the handover keeps running and both of you keep having it in a silence neither can break.

    C: Hands off a working arrangement without the reason: your team leader inherits it not knowing why, and the disagreement is still there underneath.

    The most effective response is to keep going to the handover and tell her plainly that Monday is finished as far as you are concerned: the handover matters to a shift that was not part of the argument, and saying it is closed is the smallest thing that lets both of you carry on. It beats keeping going and saying nothing at all about Monday, because an unspoken disagreement makes every handover harder. It beats asking your team leader to take the handover over without explaining why, because handing it upward without the reason solves nothing and loses the arrangement. The least effective response is stopping turning up to the handover so you do not have to face her: a commitment you set up yourself is dropped to avoid somebody, and the afternoon shift finds out by missing it. That is withdrawal as payback rather than an awkward or evasive response. The principle: never let the people outside the argument pay for it.