Work Disasters + CPA Exam Study Time

27 Jul 2011

Club 75 Candidate Bloggers

By Kricket

Kricket is a weekly Club 75 Blogger as she documents her journey through the CPA Exam. She has been a member of Another71.com's Club 75 since May 2009.

Normally, I’m not one of those women who go through life with her skirt tucked up in her pantyhose. I am usually very organized. I remember dates, important events and don’t forget important things like the home owners insurance payment. Here lately, I am one of those women and I don’t like it one little bit.

It all started April 19th. Tax season was over and my boss and I thought we could take some time to relax a bit. By 9:00 that morning all of those plans were out the window. One of our governmental consulting clients had basically blown up.

The town clerk and assistant clerk had both resigned and left the premises. There were notices from the IRS that the town’s payroll taxes hadn’t been paid in 3 years. They owed about $1.2 million in taxes, penalties and interest, which was something their auditors failed to notice or mention.

None of the vendors had been paid in months and the utility company was threatening to turn off the street lights if they didn’t get $25,000 in 24 hours. That’s when the work started. I haven’t had a day off since Christmas, except for 2 sick days, 4 days when my dad died and 2 days to take the CPA exam.

Then about a month ago, things went from bad to worse. My boss was on his way to work and passed out while driving. He took out a street sign, a rose bush, and a set of very thick, reinforced concrete steps and clipped the back end of a school bus before coming to a stop at the only fire station in town. The front and rear axles on his truck were broken in half and the engine of his truck was almost sitting in the passenger seat.

Luckily, no one was hurt. The hospital did every test known to man to find out why he passed out but found nothing that would have caused him to lose consciousness. His blood pressure, sugar levels and iron count were all good. They did, however, find a problem with his thyroid. They assured him that this did not cause him to pass out but needed to be checked.

Every time someone asked why he passed out he would tell them that maybe God was trying to tell him to slow down and not take on so much. In my heart I knew he was wrong. God wasn’t telling him to slow down; He was telling me to hurry up!

I held things together at the office and got our client’s new assistant clerk trained on how to do payroll and pay bills. I thought things were getting better. Boy was I wrong.

Last Friday my 68-year-old boss, and two time cancer survivor, had his thyroid removed because the problem turned out to be thyroid cancer. He is recuperating well and even tried to come into the office today so that I could have some time to study before my test Friday. I sent him home!

I had planned to take the whole week off but that didn’t work out, and I’m OK with that. His health is much more important than any test.

Most of the day yesterday and half of today I studied while I screened phone calls, only answering those that were really important. I thought I was on track and could spend the next two days reviewing my notes and taking online quizzes before my test on Friday.

Once again I was wrong. I realized that I remembered watching the Roger CPA Review
lectures on property taxes and they made sense, but I didn’t remember working the problems or taking any notes. The reason I don’t remember doing them is because I haven’t done them yet!

Now I’m sitting here with two days of study time left, and I haven’t started on a section that is about 15% of the test. So with my skirt firmly tucked up in my pantyhose I’m about to watch the lectures again and work the problems. Wish me luck and for those who don’t mind, prayer can start at 1:00pm CST and can stop at 3:30pm CST. I need all of the help I can get with this one!

Leave a Reply

6 comments

Angie 13 years ago

I'm SO sorry to hear about your boss, I feel like I know him from talking to you, and he seems like a great person. I will have you in my thoughts & prayers. Give me a call before or after your exam. XOXO

Barb 13 years ago

OMG I feel so awful for everyone involved. You are a trooper. All that tenacity will pay off. I will say a prayer for your boss and also I will say one for you. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. I wanna give you a hug.

Allyson 13 years ago

As one who has been seen with her pantyhose tucked in her skirt, I can tell you a sense of humor makes everything better. You have such a positive attitude, Kricket, and a great sense of humor. One day you will look back at this and ask yourself, "How did I ever do it?" You are stronger than you realize. I will pray for you on Friday!!

Barry 13 years ago

Kricket, Stay focused, remember, this to shall pass.

Sara 13 years ago

Sending positive thoughts and prayers your way. Sending them to your boss, too!

Matt 13 years ago

I'm testing on Friday as well. Stay focused as best you can. I would review the 15% section that you have left so you have somewhat of a working knowledge and then focus on reviewing what you have already studied! Good Luck