[jeff]

SO I know every test is different but does anyone have any insight on what has been heavily tested recently? I take the exam Monday and I need to narrow my focus….Thanks!

AUD - 79
BEC - 80
FAR - 76
REG - 92

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71

[go2134]

@RH:

Think of “estimated federal income tax payments” like a pre-paid expense.

Pretend you're a shopaholic who doesn't have any self-control, so any money you get, you're likely to spend.

You decided to change your ways, so every quarterly paycheck you get you take a % and give that cash to your friend and say “Listen, I owe this money in taxes at the end of the year. If I have it, I'll spend it, but if you keep it away from me now, I'll only be liable to come up with the excess amount at the end of the year.”

So tax day comes and you owe $50,000, but you spent all of your money again and you don't know if you'll have enough. But wait! You gave your friend $40,000 to hold on to for this exact reason. Now you're only “Currently Liable” for the Excess $10,000.

[Anonymous]

Good Luck, Go! Nice work on the memory tricks, they should serve you well.

DM

[rbozung]

@Go1234: As far as mnemonics:

My favorite is “DRIP the CEG PIPPA” for governmental accounting. Ever since Pippa's behind made a statement at the royal wedding, this is an easy one for me. Governmental funds are the consenants (DRPCG), Fiduciary are the vowels (IE) and Proprietary is her name (PIPPA).

For Qualitative and Enhancing characteristics of useful financial info, I use the following “Your faith must be relevant” and “Enhancing your looks makes you cuvt (sounds like cute). Qualitative: 1. relevance and faithful representation and Enhancing 1. Comparability 2. Understandability 3. Verifiability 4 Timeliness

Items that go to OCI: I remember this because “puffing” is like lying and these items really are not income yet so (PUFE R). P = Pension actuarial G/L recognized U = Unrealized g/l on AFS Securities F = Foreign currency translation E = Effective portion of cash flow hedge R = Revaluation surplus changes (for IFRS only!)

“IDEA”: This is the order of presentation: “Income from continuing operations” “Discontinued operations” “Extraordinary items” “Acceptable changes in accounting principle” (The last one is in the statement of RE)

BEC - Passed
AUD - Passed
FAR - 10/28/14 (waiting results)
REG - Passed

[go2134]

Haha, those are good. Unfortunately, you hit areas I already have covered, but it still helps, so thank you.

Does anyone have anything for Bonds or Notes? Those seem to be my biggest trouble area.

[jasbeerch]

Hi

My exam is on 24th Nov and its my retake……..:((

Please give me some suggestions ..

This is my last section….want to finish this journey ASAP

[Juliemiddle]

I'm doing topic overview MCQs (Diagnostic exams for those that use CPAExcel), and I'm seeing I have an issue with Income Taxes. Does anyone have any formulas/tips/tricks for Taxes?

@jasbeersch – this is a re-take for me, too. Assume you know nothing, and start on pg. 1 of your review. And yes, it does suck more the 2nd time around. But, you don't want to have to do this a 3rd time, so study compulsively!! Also, try Ninja Audio…it helps with the basics of every topic & items you're likely to see on exam day.

AUD: 84 - Oct. 2013
BEC: 83 - Feb. 2014
REG: 91 - May, 2014
FAR: 68, 96 - Oct. 2014...DONE

CPAExcel, Ninja Audio (all sections)

[Anonymous]

@CPA50 — How did it go? I just got back from the test and it looks like there will be retest for me in the first quarter of 2015. The sims were AWFUL……….

[jasbeerch]

@ Juliemiddle ..Thanks for the suggestion.

When is your exam?

How did you plan your schedule…like how many weeks are you doing review, doing mcq's , etc

[rbozung]

Can someone please explain to me why this is a gain rather than a loss? This is a contract to purchase a foreign currency (a/p due in the future). If the future rate is .90 on the date the contract is made and .93 on the balance sheet date, that is 3 cents more you will have to pay to acquire the same 100k francs. (paying 90k today or 93k in 12/31/04). How is this a gain when you are paying more for the same amount of francs? (correct answer is $3k). Am I getting the direct vs. indirect exchange rate wrong or something?

Question #1

On December 12, 2004, Imp Co. entered into three forward exchange contracts, each to purchase 100,000 francs in 90 days. The relevant exchange rates are as follows:

Spot rate Forward rate (for March 12, 2005)

December 12, 2004 $.88 $.90

December 31, 2004 .98 .93

Imp entered into the third forward contract for speculation. At December 31, 2004, what amount of foreign currency gain should Imp include in income from this forward contract?

A. $0

B. $3,000

C. $5,000

D. $10,000

BEC - Passed
AUD - Passed
FAR - 10/28/14 (waiting results)
REG - Passed

[Anonymous]

With a forward contract you're locking in a price (should be $0.90). So increases in prices are a good thing because that means you got a good deal. E.g. if you got a futures contract to buy gasoline for your car at $2.00 per gallon, and next week the price went up to $3.00 you benefited by a $1.00. This is what's called as “going long” in finance I think. If you go long, it's good that the price goes up. If you go short, it's good that the price goes down (e.g. short selling, you want the price to go down so you can rebuy at a cheaper price).

Another, simpler way of thinking through this IMO is looking at the asset. In the case of a futures contract, what you're really doing is BUYING AN ASSET. You BOUGHT a futures contract, an asset. If the price of the asset goes up (forward price), then that's a good thing for you. The value of your asset went up.

Simultaneously, you have a LIABILITY with your accounts payable. So the value of that liability going up is a bad thing.

So in the end you have both a long position (buying a futures contract, an asset) and a short position (the accounts payable, a liability). And the whole point of entering into the hedge was to cancel those two positions out against each other.

[rbozung]

Akvod. Your first sentence says it all. Thank you!

BEC - Passed
AUD - Passed
FAR - 10/28/14 (waiting results)
REG - Passed

[CPAfit]

Do you guys have any tips/tricks on Cost, Equity and acquisition method for business combinations?

AUD - 82
BEC - 78
FAR - 78
REG - 83

HIYA!

NH Licensed CPA - Jun 2018

[Juliemiddle]

@jasbeerch – I'm battling on 10/20. In total, 12 weeks of review. I know people say don't study more than 2 mths., but I work full-time. I couldn't get a hold of all this material in 2 mths.

-9 weeks of reading text, taking notes, doing MCQs/SIMs after each lesson. Listen to Ninja Audio section relevant to what I just learned

-2 weeks of re-reading my notes, attempting the MCQs I missed for each lesson, making flash cards of stuff I'm still getting wrong. Listen to multiple sections of Ninja Audio every day.

-1 week (right now) – MCQs everyday and re-attempting SIMs that I scored below 75% on. Still making flash cards where needed. Reviewing my flash cards 1 hr/day. Listening to Ninja Audio every possible second.

Lotsa coffee, not so much sleep. I really don't want to take this exam again 🙁

AUD: 84 - Oct. 2013
BEC: 83 - Feb. 2014
REG: 91 - May, 2014
FAR: 68, 96 - Oct. 2014...DONE

CPAExcel, Ninja Audio (all sections)

[rbozung]

@JulieMiddle, how many hours is the FAR Ninja audio? I am on my retake studying full time for FAR. I took it 3 months ago and spent about 8 weeks studying at that time. I gave myself 23 full days this time and was not able to re-watch the lectures like I did the first study attempt (Not enough time) so I am just doing all of the MCQ as much as possible and filling in pieces. Is the Ninja audio worth it? Reading these books are out of the question and I am seriously falling short on the questions.

BEC - Passed
AUD - Passed
FAR - 10/28/14 (waiting results)
REG - Passed

[Juliemiddle]

@rbozung – the FAR Audio is 3 hours of fun! It gives you a chance to study while you can't study, ‘ya know? I always seem to catch something new that I hadn't heard before.

AUD: 84 - Oct. 2013
BEC: 83 - Feb. 2014
REG: 91 - May, 2014
FAR: 68, 96 - Oct. 2014...DONE

CPAExcel, Ninja Audio (all sections)

[Author]

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