Two years ago, I was a frustrated CPA Exam candidate who was looking for light at the end of the tunnel (that wasn’t an oncoming freight train) and I can say without a doubt that the sacrifice was absolutely worth it.
I want to commend those families who are sacrificing by allowing a loved one to study for the CPA Exam all weekend for the hope of a better future. I have been there.
I commend the candidates who get up early to study when they would rather sleep an extra 2 hours. I have been there.
I commend the people who skip lunch with their co-workers so they can do 30 multiple choice questions instead because they are scared to death of their upcoming exam. I have been there.
I commend those lonely spouses who sit and watch tv while the other one studies at the kitchen table – my wife has been there.
Especially in this economy – it takes going above and beyond to succeed - to sacrifice in a way that your co-worker in the cubicle next to you is not willing.
In addition to the Another71.com Blog and CPA Exam Forum, CPA Exam candidates can stay up to date on CPA Exam news by adding Another71.com to their social media profiles in 2010.
Another71.com now has a Facebook page, Twitter account, and you can add me, Jeff Elliott to your LinkedIn page if you would like.
In addition, you can subscribe to my YouTube videos (a goal of mine is to find time to do more topical CPA Review videos in the coming year), and you can also have all of my blog posts delivered via e-mail through RSS, which is especially important during CPA Exam score release time.
Dr. Phil Yaeger, CPA will be filming a live CPA Exam webcast for Club 75 members tonight at 9:30pm Eastern.
The webcast will last approximately an hour and will be devoted exclusively to FAS 141(R) consolidation problems for the Financial Accounting and Reporting section of the CPA Exam.
This webcast is for Club 75 members only, but you can view it for free by joining Club 75 and taking part in the free 7 day trial.
If you are struggling with FAS 141(R) – don’t miss this webcast. You can be SURE it will be a major part of your next FAR exam and it’s a ripe topic for simulations because it’s only been tested for six months.
If you can’t attend the live filming, the webcast will be archived to view at your convenience.
You can view the webcast, as well as interact with others taking FAR by subscribing here:
Dr. Phil Yaeger, CPA will be filming a live CPA Exam webcast for Club 75 members on Thursday December 17, 2009 at 9:30pm Eastern.
The webcast will last approximately an hour and will be devoted exclusively to FAS 141(R) consolidation problems for the Financial Accounting and Reporting section of the CPA Exam.
Dr. Yaeger is one of the best CPA Review instructors in the industry and was instrumental in me passing the CPA Exam.
This webcast is for Club 75 members only, but you can view it for free by joining Club 75 and taking part in the free 7 day trial.
There are over 100 CPA Exam candidates in Club 75 and many of them are taking FAR in the January/February 2010 testing window.
If you are struggling with FAS 141(R) – don’t miss this webcast. You can be SURE it will be a major part of your next FAR exam and it’s a ripe topic for simulations because it’s only been tested for six months.
If you can’t attend the live filming, the webcast will be archived to view at your convenience.
You can view the webcast, as well as interact with others taking FAR by subscribing here:
I am happy to announce my latest addition to another71.com: a CPA Exam Forum. Candidates have been using my blog as a quasi forum for months now, so it was time to set up an official forum.
Registration to post comments to the blog or to the forum is painless and easy. If you have any questions or comments, send them to jeff@another71.com.
update 6/05/2009: You can watch Dave Ramsey’s Town Hall for Hope free on Hulu.
I attended Dave Ramsey’s Live “Town Hall For Hope” Simulcast Thursday night and wanted to share some thoughts from the program. Is this related to the CPA Exam? No – but it’s related to the economy and the job market – two things that strongly affect the accounting profession and your pursuit of the CPA designation.
Let me say two things:
1. This is Dave Ramsey’s opinion (which I usually happen to agree with) and commentary and not intended as professional advice of any kind.
2. There will be people who take issue with various things that he said because everyone has an opinion and many people with opinions think that they’re experts. As it turns out, they’re just experts on their own opinion, and even that is subject to change. If you think Washington walks on water, the following will probably fall on deaf ears.
Oh, and one more thing – I was scribbling furiously during the event and took notes as fast as I could and still read my own handwriting. I tried to quote him word for word, but had to fill in the gaps afterward using the live blog from the telecast, and it *still* may not be perfect, but the spirit of the message is intact.
***
Fear
The program started with fear. Americans are scared right now. It starts in Washington, the media follows, and it causes Americans to freak out.
“Fear is the antithesis of hope.”
Keynesian Economics
A man named John Maynard Keynes received a B.A. in mathematics from Cambridge in 1905. He came to the US in 1934 and had a meeting with FDR to tell him how to get the US out of the Great Depression. FDR finally listened – four years later. Keynes held that full employment can be maintained with government spending, government investment, and government hiring. Keynes also said that the government must deficit-spend in a slow economy.
In 1944, everything rebounded with the GDP skyrocketing and unemployment dropping to 1%.
The New Deal and Keynesian Economics worked a miracle, right? Wrong.
In 1941 something called World War II was going on and the men of the US were off fighting and the women were working stateside. Everyone was working and we were making stuff – a lot of stuff, for the war.
“Keynes got credit for what World War II did.”
Capitalism
Then, Milton Friedman – the father of capitalism came along and said “you’re wrong”.
“…democracy is like a three-legged stool. One leg, political freedom; the second, economic freedom; the third, moral responsibility. Weaken any leg?the stool topples.” – Michael Novak
“We need a capitalism that has a value system that cares about its employees and cares about its customers.”
“Capitalism is the source of hope for America.”
Good Morning America
Dave was on Good Morning America around the time of the first bailout (Fall 2008) with two fellow “financial goobs” that he highly respects and believes that they are sincere. They made comments like “well Dave, they have to do something…most economists agree that something has to be done.”
“I’m reading a different (economics) book than they are reading.”
“I believe you can be sincere and still be wrong.”
Bailouts
“Bush bailed out stupidity. The new administration came in and they stimulated stupidity.”
“The truth is you’re grownups, you don’t need a keeper or a caretaker, and this is how life works. It’s not fair…We’ve got to go back to some basics. We need to love people enough to allow them to fail. Failure brings clarity. Failure will run you towards excellence. If there’s no chance you can fail, you will never be at your best…Failure needs to be an option.”
Personal Responsibility
“We need to re-introduce a word into the culture. This word is now politically incorrect – the word is ‘no’. It will set you free … No, you can’t buy a house. You’re freaking broke.”
“My father used to say ‘you shot it, Tarzan, you eat it.’ “
“Take responsibility when you cause the mess. Learn your lessons and keep going.”
Question for Dave: “Is this our generation’s “Great Depression”?
“I hope this is this generation’s Great Depression. People from the Great Depression were changed after going through it. That generation learned and gleaned something from the pain.”
In the Depression, the stock market lost 90%; we’ve only lost 57%. This isn’t even the greatest recession in our generation.
When Nixon resigned, the stock market dropped 50% and took 60 months to recover. We had 11% inflation and gasoline lines that went around the block.
In 1982, after four years under Carter, US inflation was 10-13% and 30 year fixed interest rates were 17%.
Yet – 47% of Americans polled say that they fear losing their job.
Why? Fear - not reality.
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real
Question for Dave: What other alternatives are there to the stock market since things are so bad?
Fact: In 100% of the 15 year periods in the stock market’s history, the stock market has made money.
The stock market is artificially low right now. Why? Fear. It’s hysteria driven by the media.
“If you don’t believe that Wal-Mart and Home Depot will come back – you’ve given up. Do you really believe that these companies are worth half of this time last year?”
“If you have money to invest in the stock market, it’s like you are at K-Mart and it’s the blue light special.”
Economic Forecasters
“I’ve decided that economic forecasters exist only to give meteorologists credibility.”
Three things to do if you’re struggling with hope.
1. Get up. Take action. Get moving. Even if it doesn’t make sense, at least you are doing something.
2. Don’t participate in loser talk. If you hang out with losers, you know what you are going to be? A loser. Stay away from the “Eyeores” who whine about everything in life. Studies show that your income is within 10% of the average income of your 10 closest friends. Choose your friends and influences wisely.
“Five years from today you will be the same person you are today except for the books you read and the people you meet.”
3. Learn to give again. If you don’t have money, go serve the homeless. All of a sudden, you’ll get your eyes off your hopelessness.
Closing
Tonight was a breath of fresh air. It’s nice to hear someone say publicly that we’re going to “be ok” and have some optimism for a change. Optimism seems to be in short supply these days.
The quote of the night:
“It’s not a perfect formula, but you know that your best chance at success is YOU…and it’s really your only chance. If you wait on some congressman to fix your life – darling, you’re going to have a long wait. Have you noticed how effective they are at anything? If you stand there at the mailbox, you’re going to be standing there until you’re old. The President is not going to fix your life whether he’s Republican or Democrat…and it’s not their job even if they think it’s their job.
I am now on Twitter… and you can add me to your follow list if you would like. Twitter will allow me to write little blurbs that don’t necessarily warrant a full post.
My twitter updates are listed along the right sidebar of the blog.
I am a guest poster over on the accounting/audit industry blog re: The Auditors, which is authored by Francine McKenna.
Ms. McKenna covers the ongoings of the Big 4 and has twenty-plus years of experience in the professional services environment, including tenure both in the US and abroad at PwC, KPMG/BearingPoint, JP Morgan and Jefferson Wells/Manpower. She leads McKenna Partners LLC, a specialized consultancy, advising other professional services firms, especially those with interests in Latin America.
Someone left this link in a comment to another post and I found it highly relevant today (and perhaps even more so given the current state of the job market) even though it was written mid-2008.
Accounting graduates are flooding the streets according to CFO magazine (a subscription to the mag is free, by the way and is an easy way to pique the curiosity of your brown-nosing co-worker who will throw anyone under the bus if they feel it will make them look good to management… “what? he’s reading CFO magazine? why don’t I get CFO magazine? does he think he’s going to be CFO or what??? grrrrrr…did the company pay for the subscription? I bet they did. why didn’t I get one? that’s it – I’m done with this place…no one appreciates ME!!!” )
I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but being a CPA will set you apart from your peers who are not CPAs. I passed the exam back in November and it’s already opened a door internally that wouldn’t have been open for me if I was still trying to get through this exam.
Study study study – get this Exam over with. Being a CPA won’t make you completely bullet-proof in this job market, but at least you’re wearing a vest.
Hear that sound? Newly graduated, lower-paid reinforcements are on the way.
If you’re sitting for a section(s) of the CPA Exam in the January/February 2009 window and have questions or want to share your Prometric testing experience for others doing the same, feel free to do so here.
Obviously, please don’t post any disparaging comments about review companies or entities (“Review Company X sucks”), other people (“hey anonymous at 1:15pm – you suck”) or anything that would violate the confidentiality terms that you agree to when you sit for the Exam.
I keep this blog focused on the CPA Exam and purposely don’t delve into topical tangents like politics or other non-Exam related subjects. The CPA Exam however, tests on economics and business in general, as well as the obvious accounting topics that you would expect.
I also can’t think of a more pressing and relevant topic for accountants to be informed on than the proposed “bailout” as it’s called. As accountants and CPA Exam candidates we need to be informed and equipped to discuss the current financial mess with our peers and with those who expect us to have an opinion on the subject – i.e. your relatives and people who catch you in the hall at church.
“Hey, you’re almost a CPA right? How are we going to fix this mess?”
If you listen to the media, there is only one solution – and it should have been put in place yesterday, and that is to go a trillion dollars into debt and force the taxpayers to clean up the mess of greedy people.
Here is another plan – and it involves (gulp) letting greedy people – not taxpayers suffer the consequences of their own actions.
“What? They’ll be no credit! We’ll all lose our jobs! The stock market will be worth zero!”
Not true.
Harvard Economist Jeffrey Miron writes:
“In contrast, a bailout transfers enormous wealth from taxpayers to those who knowingly engaged in risky subprime lending. Thus, the bailout encourages companies to take large, imprudent risks and count on getting bailed out by government. This “moral hazard” generates enormous distortions in an economy’s allocation of its financial resources.
Thoughtful advocates of the bailout might concede this perspective, but they argue that a bailout is necessary to prevent economic collapse. According to this view, lenders are not making loans, even for worthy projects, because they cannot get capital. This view has a grain of truth; if the bailout does not occur, more bankruptcies are possible and credit conditions may worsen for a time.
Talk of Armageddon, however, is ridiculous scare-mongering. If financial institutions cannot make productive loans, a profit opportunity exists for someone else. This might not happen instantly, but it will happen.”
There are pros and cons to every alternative. We need to be prepared to discuss them. CPA candidates must be somewhat competent on the subject.
I am a huge Dave Ramsey fan and have been a coordinator for his Financial Peace University class where people learn the novel concept of not spending more than you make. As everyone knows the government is hysterically devising a plan to put us $700 billion (with no cap) into further debt.
Dave is a smart guy and someone who I greatly admire and it’s no surprise that he is voicing a debt-free plan to get us out of this mess. It’s relevant to this blog because well, we all live in this economy and also because it involves mark to market accounting and the unintended consequences of Sarbanes-Oxley.
The funny thing about going into debt is, well…someday you will have to pay it back. Our great-grandchildren are going to wake up to an America one day that is completely owned by China and the Middle East.
10. Jun, 2010 
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