[Nuffsaid]

Hey Ninjas,

So I’ve just finished enough credits to qualify for an NTS and am planning on starting with FAR in July of this year.

I haven’t taken Governmental/NFP Accounting or Cost Accounting and was considering taking one or both of these, since I have little to no knowledge or experience with these subjects.

I’m a bit burned out on classes, but am committed to to idea of taking Gov/NFP simply because it’s a large part of the exam, and I’d like some exposure to the subject . . . would Cost Accounting be a good idea too? If I can learn it without a class fairly easily, I’d be fine with that. Any feedback appreciated. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Cost accounting is covered under BEC so it wouldn't help for FAR. I did not take governmental/NFP in my masters program and I felt like it didn't set me back much. In my opinion, the questions were pretty straight forward and only required a fundamental understanding of the topics. I would say to not take it if you have an alternative class that's easier since you can cover the material in a review course.

[Anonymous]

Cost accounting is covered under BEC so it wouldn't help for FAR. I did not take governmental/NFP in my masters program and I felt like it didn't set me back much. In my opinion, the questions were pretty straight forward and only required a fundamental understanding of the topics. I would say to not take it if you have an alternative class that's easier since you can cover the material in a review course.

[Anonymous]

Someone once told me it's not necessary to take a class to learn. I learned everything I needed to from the Wiley book and google/YouTube when I needed more info on Gov/NP. there are some great videos on YouTube about government funds and the accounting used. good luck!

[Anonymous]

Someone once told me it's not necessary to take a class to learn. I learned everything I needed to from the Wiley book and google/YouTube when I needed more info on Gov/NP. there are some great videos on YouTube about government funds and the accounting used. good luck!

[Anonymous]

Taking an entire class on those topics is going to give you way more detail than you need to know for the exam. It will help as in you probably won't have to study those parts at all for the exam if you take the test shortly after the class finishes, but what you need to know for the exam can be learned with your review materials if you put in enough effort. My vote is don't take them and utlitize your review materials to the fullest.

[Anonymous]

Taking an entire class on those topics is going to give you way more detail than you need to know for the exam. It will help as in you probably won't have to study those parts at all for the exam if you take the test shortly after the class finishes, but what you need to know for the exam can be learned with your review materials if you put in enough effort. My vote is don't take them and utlitize your review materials to the fullest.

[Study Monk]

I think your time would be better spent on starting to studying for FAR without the additional classes. Governmental accounting and non profit accounting are actually the easiest part of FAR even if you have no experience with them. A lot of Becker/Wiley student's complain about how these components made them fail FAR, because they are the some of the last subjects covered in the program and they were unable to review them properly.

CPA Review courses do a relatively good job focusing on the components that are applicable to passing. College classes will cover more topics that won't help you compared with the topics that are actually commonly tested. I also am assuming you will wait the three months to pass these courses before you actually take the exam? This is a waste of time. You could potentially pass FAR in this amount of time.

The CPA exam is hard mainly because it takes at least 500 hours to study to pass. This is because there is a lot of material. Do not add more unnecessary material, by taking classes that do not focus on CPA exam prep. The material covered in these exams is not super hard if you take the time to digest it. The questions on the exam can be hard, but you will get zero help from college classes on how to answer these questions. The way to prepare for these exams is to use review courses to study for the exams while doing 1000's of multiple choice questions. College classes are a waste of time now that you are ready to start the party!

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[Study Monk]

I think your time would be better spent on starting to studying for FAR without the additional classes. Governmental accounting and non profit accounting are actually the easiest part of FAR even if you have no experience with them. A lot of Becker/Wiley student's complain about how these components made them fail FAR, because they are the some of the last subjects covered in the program and they were unable to review them properly.

CPA Review courses do a relatively good job focusing on the components that are applicable to passing. College classes will cover more topics that won't help you compared with the topics that are actually commonly tested. I also am assuming you will wait the three months to pass these courses before you actually take the exam? This is a waste of time. You could potentially pass FAR in this amount of time.

The CPA exam is hard mainly because it takes at least 500 hours to study to pass. This is because there is a lot of material. Do not add more unnecessary material, by taking classes that do not focus on CPA exam prep. The material covered in these exams is not super hard if you take the time to digest it. The questions on the exam can be hard, but you will get zero help from college classes on how to answer these questions. The way to prepare for these exams is to use review courses to study for the exams while doing 1000's of multiple choice questions. College classes are a waste of time now that you are ready to start the party!

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[Anonymous]

I didn't take a class in Government and NP, either, and did fine based on my review materials (Wiley). I did take Advanced Accounting which touched on Govt and NP, but I didn't retain much from it, because to me, they're ridiculously confusing!

I'm surprised that your accounting program didn't include a Cost Accounting course, but I suspect that you can learn that also from the review materials. Maybe just apportion a bit of extra time for BEC since you haven't studied it previously. However, like others have said, FAR isn't really about cost-accounting. I'd say that more time studying the materials would help as much as if not more than the extra classes.

[Anonymous]

I didn't take a class in Government and NP, either, and did fine based on my review materials (Wiley). I did take Advanced Accounting which touched on Govt and NP, but I didn't retain much from it, because to me, they're ridiculously confusing!

I'm surprised that your accounting program didn't include a Cost Accounting course, but I suspect that you can learn that also from the review materials. Maybe just apportion a bit of extra time for BEC since you haven't studied it previously. However, like others have said, FAR isn't really about cost-accounting. I'd say that more time studying the materials would help as much as if not more than the extra classes.

[PocketsWithCash]

This all depends on how comfortable you are teaching yourself, but if you're worried about study materials having adequate information, I assure you that everything you need to know for the exam is covered in the Becker study materials. This is probably the case for most other review courses as well.

I didn't cover gov't & non-profit in any of my courses, nor did I use any materials outside of Becker. I probably spent a little more time learning those chapters because they were unfamiliar, but on exam day I did just fine on that material

FAR 97
REG 91
AUD 5/30/14
BEC 7/11/14

[PocketsWithCash]

This all depends on how comfortable you are teaching yourself, but if you're worried about study materials having adequate information, I assure you that everything you need to know for the exam is covered in the Becker study materials. This is probably the case for most other review courses as well.

I didn't cover gov't & non-profit in any of my courses, nor did I use any materials outside of Becker. I probably spent a little more time learning those chapters because they were unfamiliar, but on exam day I did just fine on that material

FAR 97
REG 91
AUD 5/30/14
BEC 7/11/14

[fuzyfro89]

Do what makes you feel comfortable, but you need to realize that everything on the CPA is relatively high level. You won't need the in depth knowledge specifically for govt/NFP sections of FAR. They are just a brief overview of the basic accounting, financial statements, journal entries, etc related to these types of entities.

If certain topics are confusing or you want some further explanation, you can definitely search online to find some more info.

[fuzyfro89]

Do what makes you feel comfortable, but you need to realize that everything on the CPA is relatively high level. You won't need the in depth knowledge specifically for govt/NFP sections of FAR. They are just a brief overview of the basic accounting, financial statements, journal entries, etc related to these types of entities.

If certain topics are confusing or you want some further explanation, you can definitely search online to find some more info.

[Nuffsaid]

Alright. Unanimous verdict. No need to take either course. That's good, cuz I'm worn out from the constant class work, and ready to study for the test that matters.

Thanks y'all.

[Author]

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