David is a weekly Club 75 Blogger as he documents his journey through the CPA Exam. He has been a member of Another71.com's Club 75 since December 2010.
Having worked for 20+ years in the corporate finance and management world, I currently find myself being the Treasury Manager for a North Carolina regional drug store chain.
Since 2007 I have been a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP), working to become a Certified Management Accountant (CMA).
My fingers are crossed, since I am now waiting on the results from the June exam that I took. Passing it will be all I need to finally earn my CMA.
By the way, the CMA hasn't been a cake walk, especially for someone like me with no cost accounting background! But perseverance does always get us there in the end.
Many years ago I had pushed aside the dream I once had of becoming a CPA. I did not think it could ever be possible, particularly for someone my age. I am now 47, even though I feel like I should actually be 10 years younger.
My undergraduate degree was in Business Management with the absolute minimum accounting courses being taken, Principles and Managerial. I knew that I didn't have the needed 30 core accounting hours much less the required 150 hours. I had taken some additional accounting courses back in 2004 though.
But one year ago, while surfing the web looking for accounting exam support and information I discovered Another71.com. Wow! There really are people like me struggling to realize their dream! So I joined the email group last July, then became a Club75 member in December.
After reading the many stories and comments posted on Another71.com, I decided to actually see what I might need to be eligible to sit for the CPA exams. It turned out that all I needed was 6 additional accounting hours!
So I took two tax classes last Fall at a nearby university, then sent in my application in late December to the NC State Board of CPA Examiners. Here I am today, actually scheduled to sit for FAR on July 30.
I am using the Yaeger CPA Review self study materials along with Jeff's NINJA notes. Admittedly, I might not pass FAR this go around since it covers what I consider to be my weakest area. And I have a lot of material to cover over the next 3 weeks too!
But I decided to go ahead and take on “The Beast” first and not put it off. I have also scheduled the AUD and BEC exams for the October/November testing window, thinking positively that no retakes will be required for anything (yeah right!!)
REG will then be my January/February next step. Thankfully my wife understands this dream I have, and she is supportive. For now, I've said goodbye to any leisure time. And besides it stays really hot here in North Carolina, so I actually need to stay inside in the air conditioning studying anyway!
I have definitely committed myself to the work that is ahead. After this I can then move on to another dream of mine…learning to play the ukulele. What can I say, other than that Tiny Tim was a childhood hero of mine. Back then it was choosing between either him, or Davy Crockett.
These days I can't really kill any bears, unless of course we can consider FAR to be the bear!
This picture makes me laugh every time I see it...
Yeah, me too. Not sure if its the action or the face he's making. Hope the CMA goes well!