Nationwide Assessment Tests

Nationwide Online Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are an accounts assistant. A supplier payment run has to be approved by 3pm or the supplier will not be paid until Monday, and they have said they will hold a delivery until they are. It is 2:15pm. A colleague asks you to reformat last month’s expenses spreadsheet, which is wanted for a meeting next week. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Start on the expenses spreadsheet and leave the payment run alone until it is done, on the grounds that somebody more senior would have said something if the 3pm deadline really mattered today.
   2. Ask a colleague to take the payment run so that you can make a proper start on the expenses spreadsheet while the request is still fresh in your mind.
   3. Get the payment run approved before 3pm, then tell your colleague you will reformat the expenses spreadsheet afterwards and give them a time when it will be with them.
   4. Work on the expenses spreadsheet and the payment run in turn through the afternoon, giving each of them a few minutes at a time, so that your colleague sees progress and the payment is not left untouched.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Get the payment run approved before 3pm, then tell your colleague you will reformat the expenses spreadsheet afterwards and give them a time when it will be with them.

   Least effective: A. Start on the expenses spreadsheet and leave the payment run alone until it is done, on the grounds that somebody more senior would have said something if the 3pm deadline really mattered today.

   A: Assumes the deadline away: nobody has been asked and nothing has been checked, so a delivery is put at risk on the strength of a silence that means nothing at all.

   B: Hands off the urgent job: the deadline stays yours, and the harder task goes to somebody who has not been following it, to protect work that is not wanted until next week.

   D: Splits effort so nothing finishes: the payment run needs a clear run at it before 3pm, and alternating is the one approach that risks missing a deadline nothing else in the day competes with.

   The most effective response is to get the payment run approved before 3pm, then tell your colleague you will reformat the expenses spreadsheet afterwards and give them a time: 3pm is the only fixed point in the day, the spreadsheet is wanted next week, and a word means they are not left wondering. It beats working on both in turn through the afternoon, because dividing the next forty-five minutes is exactly how the payment run misses 3pm. It beats asking a colleague to take the payment run so you can start the spreadsheet, because moving the urgent work to somebody unfamiliar with it buys time on a task nothing is waiting for. The least effective response is starting on the expenses spreadsheet and leaving the payment run on the assumption that somebody would have said if 3pm mattered: it puts a delivery at risk on a premise nobody was asked to confirm. That is avoidance rather than a defensible ordering of work. The principle: protect the deadline the outside world is holding you to, and tell the person whose work waits.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are an audit junior. Your manager needs the cash section closed by 6pm. Two of the twelve bank confirmations have not arrived and the banks will not answer until tomorrow. The file template requires each confirmation to be marked received before the section can be signed. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Mark the two outstanding confirmations as received so the section can be closed at 6pm, and update the file properly tomorrow when they actually arrive.
   2. Close the section at 6pm leaving the two confirmations blank, so that nothing untrue is recorded and the gap is visible to whoever looks at it next.
   3. Tell your manager at once that two confirmations are outstanding until tomorrow, and ask whether to close the section with those two flagged or hold it.
   4. Keep telephoning the two banks past 6pm until somebody answers, and tell your manager the section is on track in the meantime.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell your manager at once that two confirmations are outstanding until tomorrow, and ask whether to close the section with those two flagged or hold it.

   Least effective: A. Mark the two outstanding confirmations as received so the section can be closed at 6pm, and update the file properly tomorrow when they actually arrive.

   A: Records evidence as received that has not been received: the file says twelve confirmations are in hand, and the reviewer, the manager and the client all read it that way.

   B: Signs a section that is not complete: nothing false is written down, and the section is still declared closed with two items outstanding.

   D: Reports a position you cannot support: the banks will not answer until tomorrow, so "on track" is a hope offered as a status.

   The most effective response is to tell your manager at once that two confirmations are outstanding until tomorrow, and ask whether to close the section with those flagged or hold it: the constraint is real and external, she owns whether to close or hold, and both options are still open at 6pm. It beats closing the section at 6pm leaving the two blank, because closing with known gaps is a decision above your level even when nothing false is written. It beats telephoning the two banks past 6pm while reporting the section on track, because that is a status nobody can rely on. The least effective response is marking the two outstanding confirmations as received: the file asserts evidence was received when it was not, and everybody downstream reads that as fact. That is a false record rather than a badly judged close or an optimistic update. The principle: never let the record say something the work does not.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are an accounts assistant. Your manager asks for the month’s travel spend for a call in ten minutes. You can see £41,000 posted, and you know two large invoices have not been entered yet which will add somewhere between £6,000 and £9,000. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell her the month's travel spend is about £50,000, without setting out what is posted and what is still an estimate of the invoices to come.
   2. Tell her you cannot give a reliable figure until the two outstanding invoices have been entered, and offer to send the number through once the posting has all been completed later in the week.
   3. Tell her that £41,000 is posted so far and that two further invoices worth roughly £6,000 to £9,000 are still to come, so the month as a whole will land somewhere near £50,000.
   4. Present the month's travel spend as settled at £41,000, since that is what the system shows right now and the two outstanding invoices can be picked up in next month's figures instead.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell her that £41,000 is posted so far and that two further invoices worth roughly £6,000 to £9,000 are still to come, so the month as a whole will land somewhere near £50,000.

   Least effective: D. Present the month's travel spend as settled at £41,000, since that is what the system shows right now and the two outstanding invoices can be picked up in next month's figures instead.

   A: Presents an estimate as a figure: the number is close, and she cannot tell which part of it is measured and which part is not.

   B: Withholds a usable answer: she has a call in ten minutes and a range would serve her perfectly well.

   D: States a partial figure as the answer: she quotes £41,000 on the call, and the number she has given will move by up to £9,000 once the invoices land.

   The most effective response is to tell her that £41,000 is posted so far and two further invoices worth roughly £6,000 to £9,000 are still to come, so the month lands near £50,000: it gives her something to say on the call, separates what is posted from what is estimated, and lands on a usable total. It beats saying you cannot give a reliable figure until the outstanding invoices are entered, because a range in ten minutes is far better than a precise number next week. It beats telling her the spend is about £50,000 without setting out what is posted and what is estimated, because she cannot defend that without knowing which part is a guess. The least effective response is presenting the month as settled at £41,000: a figure that will move by up to £9,000 is handed over as the month’s spend, and she repeats it. That is asserting something as settled when it is not. The principle: give the range and say which part is measured.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a reconciliations clerk. Four breaks need clearing before the 2pm cut-off and each takes about an hour. It is 10am. Three desks have each told you theirs is the priority. Your supervisor is uncontactable this morning. One of the four affects a client payment; the other three affect internal reporting only. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Work the four breaks in the order the desks contacted you, and tell all three desks plainly that arrival order is the rule you are applying today.
   2. Clear the client payment break first, then wait for your supervisor to become contactable before deciding the order of the remaining three breaks.
   3. Clear the client payment break first, tell all three desks the order you are working in and why, and say which break will not make the cut-off.
   4. Send the three internal breaks over to another team without telling them which one is urgent, and treat all four as no longer yours to worry about.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Clear the client payment break first, tell all three desks the order you are working in and why, and say which break will not make the cut-off.

   Least effective: D. Send the three internal breaks over to another team without telling them which one is urgent, and treat all four as no longer yours to worry about.

   A: Treats order of arrival as priority: it is at least transparent, and a client payment is not more or less urgent for having been raised second.

   B: Stops after the easy call: the hard part is the other three, and waiting spends the morning that could have cleared two of them.

   D: Moves the work rather than the decision: another team has no context on three breaks, the ordering problem is untouched, and three desks still do not know where they stand.

   The most effective response is to clear the client payment break first, tell all three desks the order you are working in and why, and say which break will not make the cut-off: the client payment is the only one with an outside party behind it, and telling the desks the order and the casualty makes it a decision rather than a queue. It beats working the four in the order the desks contacted you and telling them arrival order is the rule, because arrival order has nothing to do with consequence. It beats clearing the client payment and waiting for your supervisor before deciding the rest, because waiting burns the hours that would have cleared two more. The least effective response is sending the three internal breaks to another team without saying which is urgent: they go to people who cannot judge them, nobody is told anything, and the decision that had to be made is simply not made. That is passing it on rather than sequencing it wrongly. The principle: rank by consequence, then tell the people who lose.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a purchase ledger clerk. A colleague asks you to sign the second approval on eleven invoices, saying he has checked them all and is late for a train. The second approval exists so that a different person checks the amounts. You have not looked at any of them. Checking properly takes forty minutes. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Refuse and tell him to find somebody else in the team to approve them before he leaves, since the second check is not something you are willing to rush through.
   2. Sign the four smallest invoices now and check the rest properly this evening, so at least part of the batch moves before he leaves.
   3. Sign the eleven invoices off on his word that he has already checked them, since he is reliable, he is late, and the amounts will almost certainly be right.
   4. Tell him you will check them properly this evening and approve them then, so the invoices move tomorrow morning with the second check actually done.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell him you will check them properly this evening and approve them then, so the invoices move tomorrow morning with the second check actually done.

   Least effective: C. Sign the eleven invoices off on his word that he has already checked them, since he is reliable, he is late, and the amounts will almost certainly be right.

   A: Moves the same pressure to a colleague: whoever he finds in the next ten minutes is being asked to do exactly what you have just declined.

   B: Applies the control by value: the amount on an invoice is not what makes a second check meaningful, and four of them are now approved unchecked.

   C: Certifies a check that was not carried out: your name says a second person looked at the amounts, and the control the firm relies on is now a signature with nothing behind it.

   The most effective response is to tell him you will check them properly this evening and approve them then: the check gets genuinely done, the delay is one night, and nobody is asked to put their name to something they have not looked at. It beats signing the four smallest now and checking the rest this evening, because the value of an invoice has nothing to do with whether a second check is real. It beats refusing and telling him to find somebody else to approve them before he leaves, because refusing without a route just relocates the pressure. The least effective response is signing all eleven on his word that he has already checked them: eleven approvals are recorded as second-checked when nobody has checked them, so the control is gone and the record says otherwise. That is certifying something untrue rather than applying the rule inconsistently. The principle: your signature is a statement of fact about what you did.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a compliance analyst. A department head asks you whether his team’s new process “has been approved”. Your review is half done and the parts you have seen are fine, but two sections are untouched. He wants to start using the process on Monday and is pressing for an answer today. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell him exactly which parts you have reviewed and which you have not, say when the remaining two will be done, and be clear that it is not approved yet.
   2. Tell him to raise it with your manager, since a question about whether something is approved should come from somebody more senior than you.
   3. Tell him the review is not finished and that you cannot say anything further about it until it is, without giving him any sort of date for the remaining two sections.
   4. Tell him it is fine to go ahead on Monday, since everything you have looked at so far has been perfectly in order and the rest is very unlikely to differ.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell him exactly which parts you have reviewed and which you have not, say when the remaining two will be done, and be clear that it is not approved yet.

   Least effective: D. Tell him it is fine to go ahead on Monday, since everything you have looked at so far has been perfectly in order and the rest is very unlikely to differ.

   B: Passes a question you can answer: you know exactly what has and has not been reviewed, and he now waits for a diary slot.

   C: Withholds the timing: he is planning a Monday start and a date is the one thing that would let him plan around it.

   D: Gives an approval you have not reached: he starts a process on Monday believing it is signed off, and two unreviewed sections carry his name and yours.

   The most effective response is to tell him exactly which parts you have reviewed and which you have not, say when the remaining two will be done, and be clear it is not approved yet: it is precise about what is done, honest about the status, and gives him a date he can plan against. It beats telling him the review is not finished and that you cannot say more, because a refusal without a date leaves him no better off. It beats telling him to raise it with your manager, because you hold the facts and she would only repeat them. The least effective response is telling him it is fine to go ahead on Monday: an approval is given for two sections nobody has read, and a department starts using the process on the strength of it. That is asserting something untrue rather than being unhelpfully vague. The principle: report the status precisely and give a date, never round it up to yes.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a client services associate. A client emails asking why a charge on her statement is £45 rather than the £30 she expected. Charges are calculated by another team, but the tariff is on a page you can see, and it takes two minutes to read. She has asked twice already. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Read the tariff, reply today explaining exactly how the £45 is made up, and offer to raise it with the charges team if the breakdown still looks wrong to her.
   2. Reply asking her to send you last month's statement as well, so that you can compare the two before saying anything about how the charge was calculated.
   3. Send her email over to the charges team without reading the tariff yourself, and close the query on your side so that it no longer shows on your own list.
   4. Reply with a general explanation of how monthly charges can vary, and offer to look up the exact breakdown for her if she still wants it after that.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Read the tariff, reply today explaining exactly how the £45 is made up, and offer to raise it with the charges team if the breakdown still looks wrong to her.

   Least effective: C. Send her email over to the charges team without reading the tariff yourself, and close the query on your side so that it no longer shows on your own list.

   B: Asks the customer for work you do not need: the tariff explains this month's figure on its own, and she is given a task instead of an answer.

   C: Passes the question on for a second time: she has asked twice, the answer is two minutes away on a page in front of you, and she is handed to a team she has no relationship with.

   D: Answers a specific question with a general one: she asked how £45 was arrived at, and she has to ask a third time to get it.

   The most effective response is to read the tariff, reply today explaining exactly how the £45 is made up, and offer to raise it with the charges team if the breakdown still looks wrong: the answer is two minutes away, she has asked twice, and the offer keeps the door open without promising an outcome. It beats replying with a general explanation of how monthly charges can vary, because that does not explain £45. It beats asking her to send last month’s statement for comparison, because nothing in it is needed to read this month’s tariff. The least effective response is sending her email to the charges team unread and closing the query on your side: the question she has now asked three times moves to another team, and she waits again for something you could have answered today. That is handing it on rather than answering it poorly. The principle: if the answer is within reach, reach for it.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a financial crime analyst. You have sixty alerts and two days. Forty are simple and can be closed in minutes; twenty are complex and would take the whole two days. Your team is measured on alerts closed. Two of the complex ones involve the same customer and the same pattern. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Close the forty simple alerts and record the twenty complex ones as checked and closed with no further action, so the week's closure count comes out where it should be.
   2. Close the forty simple alerts and leave the twenty complex ones sitting in the queue for next week, since that is the most alerts closed in the two days available to you.
   3. Work the two related complex alerts first and tell your team leader that the closure count will be low this week and exactly why it will be.
   4. Work steadily through all sixty in the order they arrived, so that nothing is left untouched and no alert is treated as more important than another.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Work the two related complex alerts first and tell your team leader that the closure count will be low this week and exactly why it will be.

   Least effective: A. Close the forty simple alerts and record the twenty complex ones as checked and closed with no further action, so the week's closure count comes out where it should be.

   A: Records twenty alerts as reviewed when they were not: the closure count looks right, and twenty alerts including a repeated pattern are marked as examined by somebody who never looked.

   B: Optimises the measure rather than the risk: the two related alerts are the most likely to matter and they wait another week.

   D: Treats arrival order as priority: a repeated pattern across one customer is not more or less urgent for when it happened to appear.

   The most effective response is to work the two related complex alerts first and tell your team leader the closure count will be low this week and exactly why: two alerts on the same customer and the same pattern is the thing most likely to matter, and warning her turns a bad number into a decision she can defend. It beats closing the forty simple alerts and leaving the twenty complex ones for next week, because the measure is not the risk. It beats working steadily through all sixty in arrival order, because arrival order carries no information. The least effective response is closing the forty and recording the twenty complex ones as checked with no further action: twenty alerts are recorded as reviewed by somebody who did not review them. That is falsifying the closures rather than ranking them badly. The principle: work the risk, and tell the person who owns the measure what it will cost.

9. Question 9 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.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a payments assistant. A large client payment has failed and the client’s finance director needs to know within the hour. The approved route is through their relationship manager, who is on a flight. You have the finance director’s mobile number on a file you are not supposed to use for contact details. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Call the relationship manager's team now for another contact route, and tell your manager the clock so somebody with authority can decide how to reach the client.
    2. Take the finance director's mobile number from the file and telephone him directly, since he needs to know within the hour and the number is right there in front of you.
    3. Ask a colleague to telephone the client's main switchboard and try to reach the finance director without saying what it is about.
    4. Email the relationship manager and wait for her to land, since she is the approved route and the client is hers to contact.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: A. Call the relationship manager's team now for another contact route, and tell your manager the clock so somebody with authority can decide how to reach the client.

    Least effective: B. Take the finance director's mobile number from the file and telephone him directly, since he needs to know within the hour and the number is right there in front of you.

    B: Uses a record for a purpose it is not permitted for: the restriction exists whatever the reason, and urgency is exactly the circumstance it was written to cover.

    C: Sends somebody to make a call they cannot explain: a vague approach from an unnamed colleague will not reach him inside an hour.

    D: Follows the route past the deadline: an hour is the whole window and a flight is longer than that.

    The most effective response is to call the relationship manager’s team now for another contact route, and tell your manager the clock so somebody with authority can decide how to reach the client: her team almost certainly has another route, and your manager can authorise whatever is needed if it does not. It beats emailing the relationship manager and waiting for her to land, because the flight is longer than the hour. It beats asking a colleague to ring the client’s switchboard without saying what it is about, because a call nobody can explain will not get through. The least effective response is taking the finance director’s mobile number from the file and telephoning him directly: contact details are used from a source you are specifically not permitted to use for that, on your own judgement that the circumstances justify it. That is breaching a stated restriction rather than being too slow or too indirect. The principle: when the approved route will not make the deadline, get authority for another one.