CPA Review | CPA Exam Review – Another71.com

Patrick is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

In some of my previous posts, I mentioned my involvement in re-building my church’s chart of accounts.

Well, it’s really taken on a life of it’s own and now it’s 11:42 PM and I’m re-posting all of the entries from the old chart of accounts to the live database with the new chart of accounts.

All of the account numbers are different so there’s no point in bringing over the old history. I’m on January – tedious work.

When set-up properly, this system posts all of the debits and credits behind the scenes, which is good for the book keeper. But to set it up properly requires a knowledge of debits and credits, that unfortunately, I somehow acquired.

What’s more, setting up the chart of accounts to include unrestricted/temporarily restricted/permanently restricted net asset accounts is a real pain compared to plain old retained earnings. This project has taken up most of my study time over the last three weeks and I know now that I will fail REG on May 30th.

With BEC, I was already into my review a month before the exam. With REG, I still have a lot of material to cover and I leave for Vegas and my new job on the 19th.

Under any other circumstances, I would feel proud and fulfilled about the work I’m doing for the Church, but it’s destroying any chance of a summer with my family, free of exam preparation. I have to pass REG by August or I’ll lose my FAR credit. But I’m not willing to walk away from this.

So it looks like we’re headed for extra innings with Reg.

Tori is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

Hey NINJAs,

I’m back!!

I took a couple of weeks off from studying so that I could put a new strategy into place. You may remember from previous posts that I was really struggling with a long commute and having the time/energy to put into studying.

My husband had a great idea and over the last 2 weeks we have been executing the plan.

We bought a travel trailer and parked it in a KOA RV park that cuts my commute time in half. Now I am living in the travel trailer 4-5 days a week and have been having solo time to study, workout, and rest. We have dubbed the trailer the “Anti-Commute/Study Bungalow.”

After being married for ten years, it is definitely weird being home without my husband under the same roof. But I must admit that if one word were used to describe any CPA candidates experiences preparing for the exams, the word is SACRIFICE.

So here I am sacrificing quality time with my husband and dogs; sacrificing the comfort of my own bed; sacrificing so that I can have time to get through the last two sections of the CPA exam.

In addition to the new living situation, I have accepted an offer at a public accounting firm as an associate. My scheduled start date is the 24th of June. The firm specializes in auditing of governmental agencies, so I will be jumping right into busy season.

This means that I really need to put my nose back in the book and get through these sections before AUD expires around Thanksgiving.

Well NINJAs I better make the most of my solo evening in my travel trailer and nail down some individual taxation topics.

Catch y’all next week.

Tori

Heather is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

So, my study plan didn’t really start out like I had hoped it would this past week. It all started when my husband (firefighter/EMT) brought home a strain of the Norovirus stomach bug going around.

I make it a point to keep my immune system built up because of all the sickness he is exposed to in his line of work. But this virus totally beat my immune system DOWN. My vitamin C was no match for this monster.

Stomach bug – 1; Heather’s Immune System – 0.

So after 4 days, we started feeling better, which meant I then I had to sterilize our house! Fun! Excuses, excuses…I finally started studying on Sunday afternoon.

Even though I wasn’t feeling well, I really did listen to Jeff on the NINJA Audio, over and over and over and over…which really helped when I actually go into the material on Sunday afternoon.

I’ve also come to the conclusion to wait until July to take AUD. I’ve only got 3 weeks left before the testing window closes, and I don’t think it’s enough time for me to know the material well enough to make a passing score.

Call it procrastination, preparation, or whatever. I think it’s the right decision for me. I think once I get one passing score under my belt, I’ll have a completely different outlook on tackling the exam.

Here’s to a better study week!

Heather

Clint is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

Things have been crazy over the past few months for my family. I finished my MBA in December. I passed FAR in January. I passed REG in February.

Thankfully, I just found out that I passed AUD in April.

Currently, my wife and I are in the process of moving after purchasing our first home together so things have been unusual over the past few weeks.

The hardest part so far is getting everything moving from our current apartment to the new house. This has proven to be somewhat complicated with a 1 year-old toddler as he seems to get into everything these days.

Since we have been so busy handling the various changes associated with moving, I haven’t been studying as much as I had planned to prepare for BEC. I had originally intended on taking the exam the last week of May but that is only three weeks away so I’m still trying to figure out if I will be able to dedicate enough time to take the exam this month.

I have re-written the NINJA Notes once and gone through one section of the Wiley test bank. Since I’ve had exposure to all of the topics in BEC it’s not out of the question to be able to study hard the next three weeks and be able to pass the exam.

My hope is that I can quickly become familiar with each topic for BEC over the next three weeks and actually take the exam on May 31st. There are less than 700 MCQs in the Wiley test bank for BEC so my plan is to get 75+ MCQ’s done each day over the next two weeks. Once I’m starting to feel comfortable enough I will schedule the exam.

In October, I originally registered for the first three exams so I would have motivation to have all but BEC done by April. Now that I’m trying to study for BEC I wonder if I should just schedule the exam so that I have no choice but to make sure I’m ready by the end of May.

Unfortunately, I’m still not sure how much time I’ll have to study due to the new house so I’m sticking to the books the next two weeks and I’ll re-evaluate at that time to figure out when I take what will hopefully be my last CPA exam.

I have developed an interest in the CMA exam so I’m entertaining that as my next goal after the CPA exam. However, I will definitely take a break until next year before I would even start attempting another exam.

Perhaps Jeff will have developed some NINJA materials for the CMA exam by the time I start studying for that exam. I know there are a few of us on Another71.com that would be thrilled if Jeff provided resources on the CMA exam that were similar in nature to the NINJA Audio and NINJA Notes he has provided for each section of the CPA exam.

Only time will tell. Until then, I’ve got some studying to do…