Corporate finance and FP&A interview card of the day
9 November 2026 · Financial Statements and Accounting for Finance Teams
The interviewer asks
How much of that 27.0 adjusted EBITDA actually became cash?
Say your answer out loud first, then open the model answer.
Show the model answer
Take off capital expenditure of 9.0, which leaves 18.0, or 66.7% of EBITDA. Then take off the working capital build of 2.5 and lease payments of 4.0, which leaves 11.5. That is 42.6% of adjusted EBITDA, ignoring tax and interest. The gap between 27.0 and 11.5 is why EBITDA alone should not drive a decision.
What the interviewer listens for
Deducts capex, working capital and leases
Quotes 11.5, or 42.6 percent
Explains why EBITDA alone misleads
Financial Statements and Accounting for Finance Teams · INT.FS.1.c: Calculate EBITDA and an adjusted EBITDA, and explain its limits as a measure of cash and performance.
Get the full deck when it opens
The full deck has hundreds of cards, one for every technical an interviewer asks, brought back just before you would forget them. Leave your email and we will write to you once, when the corporate finance and fp&a track opens.
One email, when it is ready. Remove yourself any time with the link in the confirmation.
Written for Charta and not affiliated with any employer. A model answer is one good way to say it, not the
only one. A new card appears at midnight UTC.