[rlg5150]

Seriously, if the exam is anything like what my review is throwing at me, there’s no way I’ll ever be a CPA. I feel like I could go back to school and double major in economics and financial management and still not understand these two chapters. Each chapter (economics and financial management) feels like as much material as my FAR exam. I don’t understand how it’s possible to memorize things when they go so in depth with the material?

For example, some of this stuff like market risk and beta risk and security market line…. Risk is up, down, sideways, backwards and forwards and prices being affected by a 10 step formula with symbols I’ve never even seen in my entire life… Starting to feel like my FAR score will be wasted by not having the time to go back to school 7 times and get a freaking degree in each of the 7 chapters of my book.

FAR - 85
AUD - 86
BEC - 84
REG - 88

[supervisor]

I couldnt agree with you more!! I think I stressed out about BEC more than any of the other parts. It is just ridiculous!!! Good luck with your studies!!!

BEC 10/13 PASSED 77
AUD 04/12 PASSED 83
FAR 08/12 PASSED 76
REG 02/13 PASSED 76

Licensed in PA on 12/23/13. Yea boy!!

[wobrie4]

You have to be strong of mind and pretty stubborn. I'm preparing for BEC on 2/23. I started studying 12/26 and just started B5 this week. It's a lot and its tricky. But I see you did well on FAR. Go at it with the same intensity as FAR, which is what I'm doing, and be confident it'll all work out.

On My Way to a CPA...

FAR- 83 (12/02/12) (Try #1...by some miracle)
BEC- 80 (2/23/13) (Try #1... by some miracle)
AUD- 77 (05/04/13) (Try #1... by some miracle)
REG- 79 (08/03/13)(Try #1... by some miracle)

[sdgh1826]

BEC is no joke! Try combining/simplifying formulas, concepts are a bit tricky but I'm understanding things better the second time around (70 last window). Becker needs to simplify how they present the calculations. Invest in making time for your formula cheat sheet.

I'm impressed you that all posters above did well on FAR. This section makes me think I should have gone with REG or FAR for my first shot. This section has too many nitty gritty.

Becker 2012, NINJA notes

[vthokiesaa]

Yeah I have BEC on Thursday. The trickiest part for me is a lot of the cost accounting things. I understand it all conceptually, but unfortunately didn't have very good cost teachers/didn't pay attention as well as I should have, so I'm struggling with some of the problems.

You need to think of the beta, market risk, SML, and the like, in conceptual ways. Investopedia is pretty good at putting it into Lehman's terms. Once you understand what each of those concepts is actually accomplishing in the real world, it makes it a lot easier to understand the formulas.

I don't know when your test is, but mine is in less than 36 hours and I have probably covered half the material. Probably doesn't make you feel better, but at least you're not alone haha.

[mdrobbin]

Yes , BEC is difficult, but COME ON, you need to keep an optimistic mindset for the full CPA journey!!! How many accountants majored in economics and statistical analysis? Not me, that's for sure.

Every single section… Yes, every freaking one of them, will have you staring at the material feeling overwhelmed. Get through the material and block that feeling of being overwhelmed. Step away, take a walk, then get back at it when it's making your mind numb.

Once you are through the material, hammer MCQ like a crazy person. Take notes on why you get certain questions wrong. I used WILEY Test Bank and NINJA Notes. I did every MCQ on the test bank at least twice (think 650 – 700 available questions). I promise, you have come this far so you have the book smarts to get it done. Just manage that feeling of being overwhelmed and keep charging.

Did I mention NINJA Notes and WILEY Test Bank? 🙂 That's been working well for me.

FAR - 2012 - PASSED (YAEGER)
AUD - 2012 - PASSED (YAEGER + NINJA NOTES)
BEC - 2012 - PASSED (YAEGER + NINJA NOTES)
REG - 2013 - PASSED (YAEGER + NINJA NOTES + NINJA AUDIO)

ETHICS - 2013 - PASSED

DONE!!! Thank you A71 for all the support! Hiya!!!

[FlipACoin]

I actually haven't even looked at BEC yet (still in the pre game warm up of my journey) but I have degrees in Finance and Econ (as well as 10 yrs of FP&A experience) so this will be my AUD for you auditors out there or my REG for you tax experts. I'm already freaking out about REG….Anyway..

The best advice I can give regarding Finance formulas is to not just understand the theory very well about what the entire formula is trying to do, but also each part of the formula. The SML formula for example, starts with a risk free rate because that's a baseline. In Financial theory, nothing goes below risk free, that's the cost of doing business if you will. From there you have to layer on the rate associated with risk (because let's face it, nothing is really risk free, not even govt bonds nowadays). That's all the SML is trying to do. Understand what Beta is and how it effects the formula. What happens if Beta is 0?1? 5? Break down each piece and really understand what it's trying to do. I know it seems like tons more work, but once you get it you really won't have to memorize anything because you just know where all of the pieces fit. Of course I doubt you have time to do this for every formula out there, but I would recommend it for the top three trouble makers out there that you just can't seem to get down….

[no.cruncher]

This section, is the hardest by far. I'm taking a lot of notes as I go, and as FlipACoin mentioned, learn every aspect of the formula for sure…

Per my understanding, and from rationalizing:

Market Risk = Beta Risk

Beta > 1 : > Market Risk

Beta = 1 = Average Market Risk

Beta < 1 : < Market Risk

*@FlipACoin, please clarify if need be, thanks!

FAR - 7/16/2012 *76 : 2.5mo [Exp. 1/2014]
AUD - 8/31/2012 *82 : 1mo
REG - 11/27/2012 *83 : 2.5mo
BEC - 2/27/2013 *80 : 2.5mo LET'S DO THIS!!!
Ethics - 3/13

[ 2011 Kaplan Self Study - Textbook, MP3s, FlashCards ]

CMA... Hmmm...???

[rlg5150]

What really gets me is that half of the questions aren't covered anywhere. The only way to learn it is to guess until you get the right answer and see the explanation. While this sounds like a good way to learn, getting 5 questions in a row wrong is not very good for boosting study enthusiasm. It's extremely counterproductive and makes study time a waste.

FAR - 85
AUD - 86
BEC - 84
REG - 88

[no.cruncher]

@rig5150 AGREED!!!

I'll be honest, for that reason, at least in my material, I concentrate more on concepts, then only work end of the chapter problems, flash cards, and MP3s. I think working too many questions can actually become counterproductive and or even more confusing. I take about 1 hour to 10 questions, as I like to answer questions and review explanations whether my answer was wrong or correct.

FAR - 7/16/2012 *76 : 2.5mo [Exp. 1/2014]
AUD - 8/31/2012 *82 : 1mo
REG - 11/27/2012 *83 : 2.5mo
BEC - 2/27/2013 *80 : 2.5mo LET'S DO THIS!!!
Ethics - 3/13

[ 2011 Kaplan Self Study - Textbook, MP3s, FlashCards ]

CMA... Hmmm...???

[Go_Frogs88]

As soon as you get into your computer cubicle do a mind dump for BEC. I wrote down everything I could easily forget (COSO framework, variance analysis, equations, etc.) This worked well for me. Also, try to leave yourself at least 45 minutes for the essays. They may take longer than you think!

B 8/30/2012 - 83
A 11/29/2012 - 78
R 10/27/2012 - 73 - 1/5/2013 - 81 DONE!!
F 7/1/2012 - 83

CPA Excel, Wiley Test Bank, Ninja Notes & Audio

[FlipACoin]

no.cruncher–Close! You really have three different layers when looking at the SML. The risk free rate, which is just the baseline of the line (it's the constant, if you want to look at it that way). You then have the natural incremental rate associated with the risk in the market (hence the Rm-Rf portion of the formula). You then have Beta, which is the multiplier for the specific secruity that you happen to be looking at. I wouldn't say that Beta = Market Risk (because that would be built into the Rm variable) but rather the risk of a particular stock (or portfolio) as it relates to the market risk. You are absolutely correct when you say B=1 is when the the security = the market risk, >1 is when the security is greater than market risk and <1 is when it is less than market risk. Once you understand the three layers of the SML it really falls into place…

[rlg5150]

I'm only on chapter 3 of 7 (I'm using Bisk and my test is February 28th). Chapter one, corporate governance wasn't bad. Possibly because I just sat for AUD earlier this month. Chapter 2, economics, was painful but I didn't do THAT bad on the questions. Chapter 3, financial management, feels like Spanish. I can't even work out a way to tackle all the material. I slow down to focus on one particular formula/concept, only to realize that is only 1/10th of the larger concept that I really need to grasp. And then I get frustrated at that concept only to realize I have 40 more pages to go…

It feels like they expect me to already have a background in this stuff unlike FAR and AUD where I felt like all the material was there for me to learn. I had ONE (1!) intro to finance class in college and we didn't talk about any of this stuff except for time value of money which I don't have a problem with.

FAR - 85
AUD - 86
BEC - 84
REG - 88

[jokami]

BEC is the work of the Devil… He is laughing back at us!!!!

B - 62, 70, 72, 79!!!
A - 68, 81
R - 70, 82
F - 84

"The limit to your abilities is where you place them" - Fortune Cookies

[nbad311]

I went into BEC thinking, “wow this textbook is half the size as ther other sections'! ” and maybe that's the reason I failed first time around. Albeit “less material”, I feel like that doesn't matter AT ALL when almost every chapter is it's own world and it doesn't really build on itself or work off of other concepts, like stuff in FAR or REG. It was like studying 6 mini tests in one.

So after much deliberation, I have come to a conclusion: BEC is worse than having food poisoning

REG - 65, 70, 80!
BEC - 35, 62, 79!
AUD - 73, 75!
FAR - 65, 73, 70, 75! DONE.

[rlg5150]

“Lemur Company's $10 par value common stock currently sells at $100 per share. Lemur has retained earnings of $100,000; once this is exhausted, Lemur will raise any more necessary equity capital through a stock issue. Lemur can raise cash by selling common stock at a $2 per share discount with a $3 per share floatation cost. Annual cash dividends are $7 per share and are not expected to change. The estimated after-tax cost of funds raised by long-term bonds is 5%. The estimated cost of funds raised by preferred stock is 6%. Lemur's preferred capital structure is 30% long-term debt, 20% preferred stock, and 50% common stock. Not counting the $100,000 of retained earnings, the current capital structure is Lemur's preferred structure. If Lemur raises funds for projects requiring capital of $1,000,000 and keeps its preferred capital structure, what would be the weighted-average cost of capital?”

I give up. No CPA for me.

FAR - 85
AUD - 86
BEC - 84
REG - 88

[Author]

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