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RBC Capital Markets · Investment banking analyst · Summer Analyst / Analyst

Finance fundamentals conversation

The analyst-level technical seat: accounting, valuation and a DCF walk, spoken

What they actually ask

The question shapes this round uses. Larpy does not read these out. It builds each one from your own resume, because the generic version is the one you have already rehearsed.

  • “Walk me through the three financial statements and how they connect.”
  • “If depreciation goes up by 10, walk me through how that flows through all three statements (assume a 40 percent tax rate).”
  • “What is the difference between enterprise value and equity value?”
  • “What are the main valuation methodologies, and which one tends to give the highest value?”
  • “Walk me through a DCF.”
  • “Conceptually, what makes an acquisition accretive or dilutive to the acquirer?”
  • “RBC reports under IFRS rather than US GAAP. Can you name a place that actually changes the accounting?”

What this round is judged on

  • Accounting · the three statements and how a change flows through them
  • Valuation · comps, precedent transactions and DCF, and when each applies
  • DCF · a clean high-level walk (free cash flow, WACC, terminal value)
  • Commercial reasoning · stating assumptions and thinking out loud

How Larpy grades this

We score these the way an analyst would. Per topic, what a strong answer lands and the confidently-wrong answers Larpy catches.

  • ACCThree-statement flow of a depreciation change
    Strong
    nets the tax effect correctly (net income down 7.5, not 10); adds the full non-cash charge back on the cash flow statement; closes the balance sheet and states that it balances.
    We flag
    claims extra depreciation raises net income or cash (it lowers net income; cash rises only by the tax shield); forgets the tax rate and moves the full 10 through pre-tax to net income; leaves the balance sheet unbalanced.
  • VALWalk me through a DCF
    Strong
    uses UNLEVERED free cash flow discounted at WACC (not levered FCF or cost of equity); includes a terminal value and discounts it back; sums to enterprise value, then bridges to equity.
    We flag
    discounts unlevered cash flow at the cost of equity; omits terminal value (it is usually the majority of the value); forgets to subtract the change in working capital or capex.

Larpy builds a fresh question per topic from your resume and grades the full answer live. Start the mock for the worked model answer.

Where this round sits

RBC Capital Markets’s published process. Lime marks the stage this round runs.

  1. 01
    Application + division ranking
  2. 02
    One-way video screen (HireVue)
  3. 03
    First-round interview
  4. 04
    Superdaythis round
  5. 05
    Offer
What happens in each stage›
Application + division ranking
Apply on jobs.rbc.com; review is rolling, so early applicants have an edge. After the resume drop, RBC asks you to rank your division and group preferences within Capital Markets, and you should be ready to defend that ranking.
One-way video screen (HireVue)
A recorded, timed video interview used as an early filter. Overwhelmingly behavioral: why RBC, why banking, walk me through your resume, a teamwork or strengths prompt. Occasionally one light markets question.
First-round interview
One live interview, commonly with two associates, about 30 minutes. Fit-heavy, with a few basic technicals layered in.
Superday
Several back-to-back interviews with VPs and MDs. Mostly behavioral and fit; technical depth is concentrated in a single dedicated round. Exact count varies by cycle.
Offer
Rolling decisions. The summer analyst class is the main feeder to full-time seats.

Sources

Built from what RBC Capital Markets publishes about its own process and from real interview data. No leaked question lists. The questions you get are generated against your own resume, so they are not from anyone else's interview.

Sources last checked . Hiring loops change, so this date is the honest limit on everything above.

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