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HRCI SPHRFree Senior Professional in Human Resources practice test
10 real HRCI SPHR practice questions with instant answers and explanations — no account, no credit card, no email. Score yourself, then unlock the full bank of 400questions whenever you’re ready. The HRCI SPHR passing score is 500 / 700 (scaled, modified-Angoff).
Which three components appear on a balance sheet and are used to assess an organization's financial position? Select all that apply. There are 3 correct answers.
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All 10 HRCI SPHR questions & answers
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Q1. Which three components appear on a balance sheet and are used to assess an organization's financial position? Select all that apply. There are 3 correct answers.
Correct answer: B. Equity
A balance sheet displays three core figures that together describe an organization's financial position: assets, liabilities, and equity, expressed by the accounting equation Assets = Liabilities + Equity. Net income belongs on the income statement (sometimes called a profit and loss report), which captures revenues, cost of goods or services, overhead, and the resulting profit or loss for the period. Budgets are forward-looking planning tools rather than reported financial statement items. HR leaders should be conversant with all three primary statements, including the statement of cash flows, which reports cash movement during the period.
Q2. When a business decides to permanently reduce headcount as part of its operating strategy, the action is commonly referred to as a:
Correct answer: C. Reductions in Force
When an employer must permanently separate workers for business reasons, HR typically labels the effort a Reduction in Force (RIF). A RIF can range from a single position elimination to broader downsizing across departments and is often triggered by cost pressures, mergers, acquisitions, or structural reorganization. Offboarding describes the administrative process of separating an individual employee, the WARN Act is a notification law, and reassignment refers to internal transfers rather than workforce elimination.
Q3. An organization operating in a niche industry has spent months trying unsuccessfully to source a new CFO. What approach would best help HR secure the right executive talent?
Correct answer: D. Use a third-party executive recruitment firm
For senior leadership openings and hard-to-fill roles, organizations typically engage an external executive search firm that maintains a confidential network of qualified leaders in the relevant field. Internal referrals, broad social media campaigns, or in-person travel rarely surface enough qualified senior candidates within a reasonable timeframe.
Q4. A firm partners with a marketing agency to refresh its public image after struggling to draw qualified applicants. How can HR best contribute to this branding effort?
Correct answer: A. Survey employees to identify positive aspects of the company
Current employees are the most credible source of information about what makes an organization an employer of choice. Collecting their perspectives through a survey gives the marketing partner authentic material with which to construct a brand narrative that will resonate with future applicants. The other choices either focus on recruitment tactics or fail to provide brand-building data.
Q5. Turnover has spiked at a firm because many new hires leave within their first quarter on the job. Which action should the HR Director prioritize to address the underlying causes?
Correct answer: C. Conduct exit surveys to discover why employees are leaving so soon
To address rapid early-tenure attrition, the HR Director needs to understand why departures are happening. A structured exit interview or survey collects feedback from leavers about their experience, which can be analyzed for systemic causes such as onboarding gaps, manager issues, or unmet expectations. Backfilling more aggressively or adding temporary staff treats the symptom rather than the cause.
Q6. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) weighs both quantifiable and qualitative program costs in order to estimate its:
Correct answer: C. Value
A cost-benefit analysis totals tangible (hard) and intangible (soft) costs against expected benefits to estimate the overall value a program would create for the organization. It is also used to quantify what would be forgone if the initiative is not pursued, helping leaders make informed go/no-go decisions.
Q7. An imaginative technique in which a person or team generates many potential solutions to a challenge by spontaneously offering up ideas is referred to as:
Correct answer: C. Brainstorming
Brainstorming is the collaborative practice of generating many ideas quickly by inviting open contributions from participants. Many high-performing organizations rely on the technique to surface fresh angles and unconventional solutions by tapping into collective thinking across roles and levels.
Q8. When a group of leaders or staff gather in a structured forum to surface ideas and explore potential solutions, the meeting is best described as what type of session?
Correct answer: A. (Nominal Group) Brainstorming
In a Nominal Group Brainstorming session, every participant has equal opportunity to contribute ideas in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. This structured form of brainstorming surfaces multiple viewpoints and invites perspectives that might otherwise be drowned out in a free-for-all discussion.
Q9. To be effective in the role, a senior HR professional must be capable of:
Correct answer: A. Act as a strategic partner for all functional areas of human capital
HR's responsibility is to partner strategically with leaders across the business so that workforce capability supports the organization's objectives. That means crafting and executing strategies that integrate work design with people decisions, rather than restricting attention to either employees alone or to operational tactics.
Q10. A federal contractor is auditing its responsibilities under the Drug-Free Workplace Act. Which situation is most likely to expose the contractor to penalties under this law?
Correct answer: C. Failing to report an employee’s criminal drug conviction to the contracting agency within 10 days
The Drug-Free Workplace Act obligates federal contractors to notify the contracting agency of an employee's workplace drug conviction within 10 days of learning about it. Missing that statutory window puts the contractor out of compliance. Notifying earlier than 10 days would still satisfy the rule. Neither voluntary rehab programs nor bulletin-board posting of the policy are mandated by the Act, so omitting them would not on their own trigger penalties.
Exam facts and objectives sourced from the official HRCI certification page. Last reviewed June 2026.
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