[reallytired]

Hey everyone,

I am relatively panicked because, for the life of me, I cannot seem to grasp cost accounting. I read the chapters and did the multiple choice and none of it makes sense (besides maybe the basic vocabulary). Should I keep spending more time on it or move on to the rest of the material? I haven’t had issues with any other topics yet. My exam is in 2 weeks from Monday.

B- Pass
A- Pass
R- Pass
F- Pass

B 10/29/16
A 10/1/16
R 9/2/16
F 7/26/16

[Anonymous]

If you're stuck on it, I would move on and get through the rest of the material as quickly as possible just to make sure you cover everything. But DEFINITELY leave yourself time to go back and review cost. I work at a manufacturing company and that was still probably the hardest part of the test for me because I covered it last and didn't spend enough time on it. Understanding is always better than memorizing, but at the very least I would memorize the different formulas for all the variances. If you can get those down I'd say that's most important and will also help you understand some of the other stuff.

I don't say that to scare you – I wouldn't say if you don't understand cost then you're going to fail. It's just something I definitely wouldn't skip over. But if you're good on most the other topics and still struggle with cost I'd say you're probably fine. You can do it!!

[GinjaNinja]

@reallytired It would be a mistake not to at least memorize the variance formulas, including overhead variances.

I found the PURE DADS mnemonic to be super helpful for memorizing the variance formulas.
P = D x A
U = D x S
R = D x A
E = D x S

Price = Difference x Actual
Usage = Difference x Standard
Rate= Difference x Actual
Efficiency = Difference

For OH variances, a Ninja posted this YouTube video, which made everything click for me.

FAR: 79 (7/25/16)
AUD: 89 (10/3/16)
REG: 69 (1/9/17); 83 (8/21/17)
BEC: 74 (3/6/17); 90 (5/31/17)

 

[Anonymous]

@reallytired

Do enough MCQs and things will click and you won't have to memorize anything.

I had the same problem with virtually all of REG except for business law. Which is pretty much the whole exam. Hammer it out. You can do it.

Be sure to regularly revisit all sections though!

[Author]

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