[go2134]

Hey guys, I took my exam on Monday. I thought my MCQs were relatively easy, with only a few difficult ones peppered in the last testlet. That being said, there were questions that were NOT covered in Becker, but were covered in CPAExcel.

The SIMS were extremely fair, but I struggled more so than I’d like to admit for 2 reasons. 1, I struggled with because I didn’t get a chance to study for the FAR question I got, but in all honesty it was very, very, fundamental FAR concepts (I think that’s about all I can say about that).

My other downfall was not MASTERING navigating the AL. I got cocky and figured I wouldn’t have to practice much with it, but if I were better with it, I’m sure I could have found at least 3 of the Sims word-for-word; and that’s not counting the 2 research questions I got.

What I wish I focused more on: I’m fairly strong with Relevant Assertions and Audit Procedures, but I would have focused a little more on which kinds of procedures go with Balances vs. Transactions, and how the exams prefer their answers. I grew very frustrated practicing Sims and yelling at my computer when they asked for Rights & Obligations of A/R and wanted me to say Confirmations instead of examining Agreements for Factored A/R, but that’s the way they want it.

What I’m glad I did: I got to the testing center 45 minutes early and looked over all of my notes immediately before I went in, and during the 10 minutes I had to click “Agree” before starting the exam, I wrote down everything I could think of that I might forget.

During the test, I’d be sure to highlight the key words in the question (e.g., review, audit, issuer, except for, etc.), it really helped jog my memory and kept me from making foolish mistakes.

When it came to MCQs I got stuck on, I looked for key words in the answers to narrow them down (e.g., if a question was on Tests of Controls, eliminating any answers that say “Project an estimate”)

My best advice is this, don’t make the mistake of “Learning the Questions”, when I was confused on something, I would use other sources to figure it out (CPAExcel is very dry, but it gives you clear-cut outlines of the standards). And don’t keep reading your notes over and over, keep practicing questions and you’ll be surprised when you teach yourself something but debating over answers.

Any other questions, feel free to ask.

[Jspann225]

This was awesome. I appreciate it.

FAR - 93 - 7/1/14
AUD - 94 - 7/25/14
REG - 92 - 8/30/14
BEC - 89 - 10/6/14

[go2134]

Jspan, good luck tomorrow! Any areas you're struggling with that I might be able to help?

[NYCaccountant]

@go2134 I chose the indirect options on the exam. Hopefully this is correct enough to get me a 75.

AUD - 99
BEC - 84
FAR - 93
REG - 87

NYC born and raised.

FAR - 93
REG - 87
BEC - 84!!!!
AUD - 99!!!!!! CPA exam complete.

[go2134]

@NYC I hear you. I know I messed up big time on my 1 FAR sim, and there was another that I think I confused some answers that may be completely wrong, and one where I could have gotten completely if I was better with the AL. I figure I'm either going to just make it or just miss it, or get ~90, depending on getting lucky on the sims. Hopefully you're done after this man! Any advice going in to FAR? I'm thinking of tackling that next.

[jeff]

go2134: when you posted “About that sim:” … are you referring to your exam sim?

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

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

[Sarah1421]

Hi Jeff – he was talking about a Becker simulation I was having trouble with (A4, Simulation 1, question 7).

FAR - 90
AUD - 91
BEC - 86
REG - 87

[jeff]

Ah – gotcha

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

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

[go2134]

I should have been explicit stating that it was from the becker hw, sorry about that.

[Sarah1421]

Go2134 – Your memory aids for the assertions/procedures just helped me TREMENDOUSLY. I just took the optional MC test from Becker A4 and went from an 80% to a 93%… I totally “get it” now and have something to fall back on when I'm answering the questions. Most of the questions I missed I just misread… Awesome.

THANK YOU!

FAR - 90
AUD - 91
BEC - 86
REG - 87

[go2134]

Haha, Yes! Glad I could help.

[Anonymous]

I have my AUD exam Aug 25 and I'm so scared because is my first exam and my English is not good enough. I'm using Becker but sometimes is confusing to me. Also I don't understand the types of opinions. go2134 thanks for your notes are very useful. Any recommendation please.

[go2134]

Hmm, let's see what I can do. If any words or phrases confuse you, just let me know.

Note: Financial Statements = ‘FS', Management = ‘Mg'

I'll just focus on Audits. The types of Opinions are Unmodified, Qualified, Adverse, or Disclaimer.

Adverse Opinion (The FS are NOT Correct): This happens when Management refuses to follow their Reporting Framework, including their policies for accounting & reporting information.

If the Auditor finds a REALLY BIG Material Misstatement, and Management refuses to correct it, and it is due to Management NOT following their own rules, then it you issue an Adverse Opinion.

– Example: Mg is supposed to Recognize $10,000 of Revenue next year, and you catch them. You tell them to Fix it. If they don't fix it: Adverse Opinion, the FS are completely wrong. If they DO fix it: everything is fine, continue your audit.

Qualified: This is when the FS are OK “Except for” 1 Medium area, where you believe they are not following their rules. Same idea: if they don't fix it: Qualified, if the do fix it: everything is fine.

– Example: Mg is supposed to have an Allowance for Doubtful Accounts as 20% of Accounts Receivable. Instead, this year it is only 5%. Now if a Company has $10,000 of Revenue, the Allowance should be $2,000. Instead, it's only $500. Does that difference mean that the FS are completely wrong? No, but it's big enough for you to say, “Everything is good ‘Except for' A/R, that should be $2,000 instead of $500.”

* There is 1 tricky part to this that I will explain later*

Unmodified: This is when Mg follows all of their rules. If Mg Reports $1000000000, and you catch them, and they change it back to $10,000, everything is fine. If they report $10,100 and they don't fix it, that's ok too, not a big deal. For an unmodified opinion, they need to follow all of their rules. Everything is valued as it should be, and they provided you with everything they agreed to.

Disclaimer: Now, say something goes wrong with your audit. Imagine the Company says they have a pot of gold behind a door, but they said they lost the key. That's a big deal, but you can't prove if it is right or wrong. You weren't able to see it, so the Scope of you audit was Limited. So instead of issuing an opinion, you say “I was not able to obtain Sufficient Appropriate Audit Evidence”. This has nothing to do with any numbers the client is reporting.

Now here's the Tricky part I was talking about before: Now if that door only has 1 piece of Gold behind it, and the key is missing, are you going to say that you have to stop the audit and Disclaim an opinion? No, instead, you are going to Issue a Qualified “Except for” Opinion. In this case, you will say in the report that the reason for the scope limitation was because that piece of Gold is Material to the FS.

If you don't speak English well, look for key words, and learn why they are there. Especially make sure you focus on words like “Always”, “Never”, “Issuer”, “Nonissuer”, those kind of things.

Just keep practicing!

[Hunnsterr]

@go2134:

Thanks a ton for the notes on assertions. I was having trouble memorizing that chapter, and ended up procrastinating while picking up the MCQs for assertions. Your explanation and mnemonics helped a lot.

Any advice on what FAR chapters I should revise??

I have 10 days for the exam and I thought I could revise a couple of FAR areas while nailing down AUD sims each day. I'll only be watching NINJA FAR Blitz that i had purchased while studying FAR. That should be sufficient revision as I don't intend to pick up my FAR textbooks.

BEC - 88
REG - 72, 78
FAR - 75
AUD - 64, 64, 3rd attempt!!!

"A day of worry is more exhausting than a day of work" - John Lubbock

[go2134]

For the Assertions, try to remember that whenever you're dealing with estimates, there is always an account you can compare it to for reasonableness: Allowance for Doubtful Accounts should be a % of A/R, Interest Exp should be a % of A/P, Sales Returns should be a % of Sales. Now those are Analytical Procedures, but the only was you can truly substantiate its accuracy is to do a subsequent events review to see what they actually used. Just keep practicing with the different Accounts, especially revenue.

For FAR, they could technically through anything at you, but if you have the time, look over basic stuff such as T-charts, general adjusting entries, how the FS are set up, etc. You're not going to get anything too intensive, but to have a general grasp on the concepts will likely do you a lot of good. If it were me, I wouldn't spend more than a few hours reviewing this though. Stay focused on the AUD material.

[Cpachance]

@GO2134 – I am still confused by these assertions. Lets go back to the A4 simulation 1 question 7.

Here was your response:

About that sim:

1) Inventory Increased significantly on the Balance Sheet from last year:

– Year end Account Balance (CVRU).

– It's an Asset, and since it increased by a lot, you're worried about OVErstatement: Existence & Occurrence (e-i-o COV)

– Being that it's Inventory, what's the best way to test it exists? Observation of the Test Counts, Vouch from the Inventory Summary Schedule to the Vendor Invoice & Receiving Report, and Inspect the Documentation of Inventory.

2) Allowance for Doubtful Accounts doesn't look accurate:

– Valuation, Allocation, and Accuracy

– How would you test it? It's only an estimate, so you can't tell right away. What you can do is 1, test for the Reasonableness of the estimate: Doubtful accounts should always be a % of A/R, look at their policies and Recalculate the estimate based on the A/R balance x policy per Allowance %. You can only test the Accuracy by reviewing Subsequent Events to see what they actually wrote-off.

First off, in number one you meant Account balances (CVER), right? (CVRU) would be Presentation and disclosure?

Second, lets look at number 3. I am very confused:

When Reviewing the AR subsidiary ledger, Derek Fond evidence that accounts had been sold to a factoring agency, but not removed from the books.

When i look at this I first think Account Balances (CVER). Then i decipher that it is Rights and Obligations. So based on your mnemonics that would be “RIO” so i would think the only procedure would be Inspections and examinations. Why do they also include confirmation and review of sub events?

I am just so confused by all of these assertions. I really appreciate you taking time to explain what helped you. It has definitely been helpful, but I am just not there quite yet. Thanks.

[Author]

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