Nomura Assessment Tests

Nomura Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are an audit junior on a client site. The testing you were given for this week will take two more days than the budget allows, and your manager is at another client until Thursday. The client’s team leaves at 5pm on Friday for a fortnight. You have not worked at this pace before and you are falling behind. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Reduce the sample sizes so that the testing fits the days that are left, and record the work as complete for the areas the programme asked you to test.
   2. Test the areas you can finish properly and leave the rest for after the client's team returns, noting in the file that those areas are outstanding.
   3. Work late every night this week to close the gap yourself, and raise it with your manager on Thursday only if you have not managed to catch up by then.
   4. Message your manager today with what is done, what is left and the two-day gap, and ask what to prioritise while the client's team is still available this week.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Message your manager today with what is done, what is left and the two-day gap, and ask what to prioritise while the client's team is still available this week.

   Least effective: A. Reduce the sample sizes so that the testing fits the days that are left, and record the work as complete for the areas the programme asked you to test.

   A: Records work that was not done as done: the file will say the areas were tested to the required depth, and everybody reading it afterwards will believe that, including the reviewer.

   B: Accepts a fortnight's delay without asking: the client is away for two weeks, and whether the file can wait that long is your manager's call.

   C: Absorbs a shortfall that is not yours to absorb: your manager loses three days in which they could have moved resource or spoken to the client.

   The most effective response is to message your manager today with what is done, what is left and the two-day gap, and ask what to prioritise while the client’s team is still available: a two-day gap is a resourcing decision, they can only make it if they know, and the client’s availability this week is the thing that expires. It beats working late every night to close the gap yourself and raising it on Thursday, because three nights of your own time removes your manager’s chance to fix it properly. It beats testing what you can and noting the rest as outstanding, because a two-week slip may or may not be acceptable, and that is not yours to decide alone. The least effective response is reducing the sample sizes so the testing fits and recording the work as complete: the file asserts testing that did not happen, which the reviewer, the client and anybody relying on the audit will take at face value. That is a false record rather than a bad way of handling pressure. The principle: surface the shortfall to the person who can resource it, while the opportunity is still open.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are a reconciliations clerk. You have been covering two roles for six weeks. Tonight’s break report needs a count of unresolved items and you have lost track of four of them. A careful recount would take ninety minutes you do not have. The report goes to the operations committee. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Report the number you can stand behind, state that four items are uncounted and why, and say plainly that six weeks of double-running is the cause.
   2. Enter a count that you estimate from last week's figure, since it will be close enough and the committee only looks at the direction of travel anyway.
   3. Stay late and do the ninety-minute recount, and say nothing about how long the double-running has gone on.
   4. Submit the report without the count at all, and add it once the recount has been done properly later in the week.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Report the number you can stand behind, state that four items are uncounted and why, and say plainly that six weeks of double-running is the cause.

   Least effective: B. Enter a count that you estimate from last week's figure, since it will be close enough and the committee only looks at the direction of travel anyway.

   B: Records an estimate as a count: the committee reads a measured figure, and the one thing that would tell them the reporting has become unreliable is the thing removed.

   C: Absorbs it again: the number is right this week and the sixth week of covering two roles remains invisible to everybody who could end it.

   D: Removes the number without the reason: the committee sees a gap and has no idea that a six-week resourcing problem sits behind it.

   The most effective response is to report the number you can stand behind, state that four items are uncounted and why, and say plainly that six weeks of double-running is the cause: the committee gets a figure it can trust, an honest statement of what is missing, and the only route to the problem being fixed. It beats submitting the report without the count and adding it later in the week, because a gap with no explanation tells them nothing. It beats staying late for the ninety-minute recount and saying nothing about the double-running, because a seventh week of that being invisible is how this happens again. The least effective response is entering a count estimated from last week’s figure: an estimate is presented as a count, so the report looks exactly as reliable as it did before it stopped being reliable. That is falsifying the measure rather than reporting it incompletely or absorbing the strain. The principle: report what you can stand behind, name what you cannot, and name the cause.

3. Question 3 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.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a customer service adviser. A colleague tells you she gave a customer the wrong charges figure last week, that the customer accepted it, and that she has decided not to raise it because “it worked out fine”. She asks you not to mention it. The team logs pricing errors weekly. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Agree to keep it between the two of you and leave the weekly log alone, since the customer accepted the figure and no harm has come of it in the end.
   2. Tell her the log exists for exactly this and that you would rather she entered it herself, and say plainly that you will raise it if she does not.
   3. Say nothing to her about it at all and enter the error in the weekly log yourself later on, since the log needs to be accurate whatever she has decided to do about it.
   4. Tell your team leader today what she has told you, without giving her the chance to enter it in the log herself first.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Tell her the log exists for exactly this and that you would rather she entered it herself, and say plainly that you will raise it if she does not.

   Least effective: A. Agree to keep it between the two of you and leave the weekly log alone, since the customer accepted the figure and no harm has come of it in the end.

   A: Joins a decision to hide it: the log's only purpose is counting errors like this one, and two people have now agreed it will not be counted.

   C: Logs it behind her: she asked you directly, and finding her own error in the log without warning is worse for both of you.

   D: Escalates before asking: she may well log it if asked plainly, and going straight up makes an error into a conduct question.

   The most effective response is to tell her the log exists for exactly this, that you would rather she entered it herself, and that you will raise it if she does not: it gives her the chance to put it right, is completely clear about what happens if she does not, and protects the log either way. It beats entering the error in the weekly log yourself without saying anything to her, because logging it silently is the same ambush with extra steps. It beats telling your team leader today what she has told you, because she has not yet been asked. The least effective response is agreeing to keep it between you and leave the log alone: the weekly log is deliberately left wrong by two people who both know it, so a pricing error that happened is recorded as one that did not. That is agreeing to conceal it rather than raising it clumsily. The principle: give them the chance, and say what you will do if they decline it.

5. Question 5 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.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a financial crime analyst. A colleague on your team has forty alerts outstanding against a five-day limit, and some are now eight days old. They have said twice that they are on top of it. Your own queue is clear. The weekly figures your team leader sees do not show individual backlogs. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Offer to take a share of the older alerts today, and say that if the backlog is still there at the end of the week you will both need to raise it with your team leader.
   2. Send a note over to your team leader asking them to look at your colleague's queue, and offer none of your own spare capacity while somebody senior decides what to do.
   3. Work through a few of the oldest alerts yourself and mention it to your colleague afterwards, so the backlog comes down without an awkward conversation about it now.
   4. Take them at their word that they are on top of it and leave the alerts with them, since it is their own queue to manage and they have now said twice that it is under control.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Offer to take a share of the older alerts today, and say that if the backlog is still there at the end of the week you will both need to raise it with your team leader.

   Least effective: B. Send a note over to your team leader asking them to look at your colleague's queue, and offer none of your own spare capacity while somebody senior decides what to do.

   B: Hands the colleague to their manager instead of helping: your queue is clear, the alerts are eight days old today, and the first they know of it is a conversation with their team leader.

   C: Helps quietly and leaves the cause: the queue comes down this week, the reason it built up is never discussed, and it builds up again next month.

   D: Accepts a reassurance the facts contradict: forty alerts against a five-day limit, some eight days old, is not a queue under control.

   The most effective response is to offer to take a share of the older alerts today, and say that if the backlog is still there at the end of the week you will both need to raise it: the alerts have a limit already breached, you have capacity, and naming the escalation point makes the offer honest rather than a favour. It beats working through a few of the oldest yourself and mentioning it afterwards, because silently clearing somebody’s queue fixes this week and nothing else. It beats taking them at their word and leaving the alerts with them, because the numbers contradict the reassurance. The least effective response is asking your team leader to look at your colleague’s queue while offering none of your own capacity: help that costs you nothing is withheld, the alerts are no closer to being worked, and a colleague who has twice said they are managing hears about it from above. That is passing a colleague on rather than a slower way of helping. The principle: offer the help you can actually give, and be open about when it stops being enough.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are an audit junior. The client’s financial controller has asked you for a summary of the queries raised so far, which will take an hour. Your manager has asked for a section of testing by tonight, which will take the rest of the day. The controller is going on leave tomorrow for two weeks. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Do the summary first because the controller is leaving, and tell your manager tonight if the testing has not been finished as a result of it.
   2. Ask the controller to send her questions by email so you can answer them from wherever you are while she is away on leave for the fortnight.
   3. Get on with the testing and leave the controller's summary until she is back in a fortnight, since your manager's work is the priority and nobody has said otherwise about the summary.
   4. Tell your manager that the controller leaves tomorrow and ask whether to spend the hour on her summary before she goes, since the testing can absorb an hour and the controller cannot.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell your manager that the controller leaves tomorrow and ask whether to spend the hour on her summary before she goes, since the testing can absorb an hour and the controller cannot.

   Least effective: C. Get on with the testing and leave the controller's summary until she is back in a fortnight, since your manager's work is the priority and nobody has said otherwise about the summary.

   A: Reorders your manager's work without asking: she may have a reason the testing cannot move that you do not know about.

   B: Solves the wrong problem: she asked for a summary of queries raised, not for a channel, and she wants it before she goes.

   C: Declines to raise a two-week window: the controller's leave is the fact your manager does not have, and the choice is made by not making it.

   The most effective response is to tell your manager that the controller leaves tomorrow and ask whether to spend the hour on her summary before she goes: your manager owns the ordering, the leave is the fact that makes the hour urgent, and asking takes a minute. It beats doing the summary first and telling your manager tonight if the testing slipped, because reordering her work without asking is her call to make. It beats asking the controller to send her questions by email while she is away, because a mailbox is not the summary she asked for. The least effective response is getting on with the testing and leaving the summary until she is back in a fortnight: a two-week window closes tomorrow and the person who could decide is never told it exists. That is avoiding the question rather than answering it wrongly. The principle: when a window is about to close, the person who owns the priorities needs to know today.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a relationship support assistant. You disagreed with a colleague about how a client’s paperwork should be split, and your manager decided in their favour. Since then the colleague has been short with you. You have been sending them a weekly summary that nobody asked you to produce, and which their Monday call depends on. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Keep sending the summary and say nothing about the disagreement, on the basis that the atmosphere will settle by itself once a few weeks have passed.
   2. Tell your manager that the colleague has been short with you since the decision, and ask them to have a word about how it is affecting the work.
   3. Stop sending the weekly summary now that the paperwork has been decided their way, and let them work out for themselves what their Monday call is missing.
   4. Keep sending the summary, and find a quiet moment to say that the paperwork decision is settled as far as you are concerned and you would rather not have it sitting between you.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Keep sending the summary, and find a quiet moment to say that the paperwork decision is settled as far as you are concerned and you would rather not have it sitting between you.

   Least effective: C. Stop sending the weekly summary now that the paperwork has been decided their way, and let them work out for themselves what their Monday call is missing.

   A: Avoids the difficult conversation: the work continues and the colleague is left guessing whether you are still aggrieved.

   B: Escalates before speaking to the person: a two-minute conversation has not been tried, and involving the manager who just decided it raises the stakes considerably.

   C: Withdraws help after losing an argument: the summary was never owed, which is exactly what makes stopping it now read as payback rather than as a change of workload.

   The most effective response is to keep sending the summary, and find a quiet moment to say the paperwork decision is settled as far as you are concerned and you would rather not have it sitting between you: it protects work somebody relies on, separates the decision from the relationship, and says the one thing that lets them drop it too. It beats keeping the summary going and saying nothing about the disagreement, because silence leaves them guessing and the atmosphere is what is actually in the way. It beats telling your manager they have been short with you since the decision, because the manager is the last resort, not the first, and has just ruled on this. The least effective response is stopping the weekly summary now the paperwork has been decided their way: a Monday call quietly loses what it depends on, the person affected is left to discover it, and a settled disagreement is reopened as a grievance. That is retaliation rather than a poor way of moving on. The principle: a decision that went against you does not license withdrawing what other people depend on.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are an onboarding analyst. A colleague in sales asks you to confirm to his prospect that their account can be live by the end of the month, which would win the deal. Accounts like this usually take six weeks and the checks are not yours. It is the eighteenth. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell him six weeks is typical, that you cannot commit to month end, and offer to ask the checks team today whether this one could be prioritised.
   2. Promise him the account will be live by month end, since he needs it to win the deal and there is a reasonable chance the checks come back quickly this time.
   3. Tell him the timing is nothing to do with you at all, and that he will have to ask the checks team himself if he wants a firm date for the prospect.
   4. Tell him you will find out and come back to him, without saying anything now about how long these accounts normally take.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell him six weeks is typical, that you cannot commit to month end, and offer to ask the checks team today whether this one could be prioritised.

   Least effective: B. Promise him the account will be live by month end, since he needs it to win the deal and there is a reasonable chance the checks come back quickly this time.

   B: Gives a promise about somebody else's process: the prospect signs on it, and when six weeks turns out to be six weeks the firm has broken a commitment it never made.

   C: Passes a colleague away from help you could give: you know the typical timescale and could ask, and he is left starting from nothing.

   D: Withholds the useful part: he is talking to the prospect today, and the six-week norm is the thing that would stop him promising anything.

   The most effective response is to tell him six weeks is typical, that you cannot commit to month end, and offer to ask the checks team today whether this one could be prioritised: it gives him the fact that matters now, refuses the commitment that is not yours, and offers the one action that might help. It beats telling him the timing is nothing to do with you and he must ask the checks team himself, because you hold information he needs and can ask a question he cannot. It beats saying you will find out and come back without giving him the usual timescale, because he may promise month end today while waiting. The least effective response is promising the account will be live by month end: a firm date is given for a process run by another team, and a prospect signs a deal on it. That is a commitment you cannot back rather than an unhelpful answer. The principle: give the norm, refuse the promise, and offer the ask.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are an audit junior. Your manager asked you on Monday to finish the revenue testing by Wednesday. On Tuesday she mentions in passing that it would be “really useful” to have a summary of the client’s new contracts. The summary would take a day. The revenue testing is half done. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Finish the revenue testing by Wednesday as agreed, and say nothing at all about the contracts summary unless and until she raises it with you again.
    2. Ask her which she wants first, saying plainly that the contracts summary would take a day and would put Wednesday's revenue testing at risk.
    3. Start the contracts summary straight away without saying anything about Wednesday, since it was the most recent thing she asked for and it is plainly what is on her mind.
    4. Work on the contracts summary in the evenings so that both the testing and the summary are delivered by Wednesday without anything having to change.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: B. Ask her which she wants first, saying plainly that the contracts summary would take a day and would put Wednesday's revenue testing at risk.

    Least effective: C. Start the contracts summary straight away without saying anything about Wednesday, since it was the most recent thing she asked for and it is plainly what is on her mind.

    A: Ignores the second request: an offhand remark from your manager is still a request, and leaving it unanswered means she does not know it is not happening.

    C: Drops a committed deadline in silence: she is expecting revenue testing on Wednesday and has no idea it has stopped, so she cannot re-plan anything.

    D: Solves a scheduling problem with your own time: it works once, and it hides from your manager that she asked for two days of work in one.

    The most effective response is to ask her which she wants first, saying plainly that the contracts summary would take a day and would put Wednesday’s revenue testing at risk: only she can rank her own two requests, and she cannot do it without the fact that one costs a day. It beats finishing the revenue testing as agreed and saying nothing about the summary unless she raises it, because a manager’s passing request still needs an answer. It beats working on the summary in the evenings so both are delivered, because absorbing it privately conceals that the ask was not possible. The least effective response is starting the contracts summary straight away without saying anything about Wednesday: the committed deadline is abandoned for the newer request and she discovers on Wednesday that the testing is where it was on Tuesday. That is a silent switch rather than a debatable ordering. The principle: when two asks collide, hand the choice back with the cost attached.