FAR SIMS (Preparation advice)

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #2696790
    AndreA
    Participant

    I would appreciate any advice from those who passed FAR, how did you study for SIMS?

    I’m planing to study based on AICPA Blueprint following topics, which supposed to be SIMS, if someone who passed FAR will confirm or not that it useful to study those topics it would help me a lot.

    Balance sheet/statement of financial position
    A) detect, investigate and correct discrepancies while agreeing the balance sheet amounts to supporting documentation
    B) calculate fluctuations and ratios and interpret the results while reviewing comparative balance sheets

    Income statement/statement of profit or loss
    A) detect, investigate and correct discrepancies while agreeing the income statement amounts to supporting documentation
    B) calculate fluctuations and ratios and interpret the results while reviewing comparative income statements
    Statement of comprehensive income
    A) detect, investigate and correct discrepancies while agreeing the statement of comprehensive amounts to supporting documentation
    Statement of changes in equity
    A) detect, investigate and correct discrepancies while agreeing the statement of changes in equity to supporting documentation
    Statement of cash flows
    A) detect, investigate and correct discrepancies while agreeing the statement of cash flows to supporting documentation
    B) derive the impact of transactions on the statement of cash flows
    Notes to the financial statements
    A) compare the notes to the financial statements to the financial statements and supporting documentation to identify inconsistencies and investigate those inconsistencies
    Consolidated financial statements (including wholly owned subsidiaries and noncontrolling interests)
    A) detect, investigate and correct discrepancies while agreeing the consolidated financial statement amounts to supporting documentation
    Cash and cash equivalents
    A) reconcile the cash balance per the bank statement to the general ledger
    B) investigate unreconciled cash balances to determine whether an adjustment to the general ledger is necessary
    Trade receivables
    A) prepare a rollforward of the trade receives account balance using various sources of information
    B) reconcile and investigate differences between the subledger and general ledger for trade receives to determine whether an adjustment is necessary
    Inventory
    A) reconcile and investigate differences between the subledger and general ledger for inventory to determine whether an adjustment is necessary
    B) prepare a rollforward of the inventory account balance using various sources of information
    Property, Plant, and Equipment
    A) prepare a rollforward of the property, plan, and equipment account balance using various sources of information
    B) reconcile and investigate differences between the subledger and general ledger for property, plant, and equipment to determine whether an adjustment is necessary
    Payables and accrued liabilities
    A) reconcile and investigate differences between the subledger and general ledger for accounts payable and accrued liabilities to determine whether an adjustment is necessary
    Revenue Recognition
    A) interpret agreements, contracts and/or other supporting documentation to determine the amount and timing of revenue to be recognized in the financial statements
    B) reconcile and investigate the differences between the sales subledger and the general subledger to determine whether an adjustment is necessary
    Account changes and error corrections
    A) derive the impact to the financial statements and related note disclosure of an accounting change or an error correction
    Contingencies and commitments
    A) review supporting documentation to determine whether a commitment or contingency requires recognition or disclosure in the financial statements
    Leases
    A) interpret agreements, contracts and/or other supporting documentation to determine the appropriate accounting treatment of a leasing arrangement and prepare the journal entries that a lessee should record.
    Subsequent events
    A) derive the impact to the financial statements and required note disclosues due to identified subsequent events

    FAR - 73, 78 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 50 SIMs)
    AUD - 73, 81 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 40 SIMs)
    BEC - 71, 71, 74, 84 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 10 SIMs)
    REG - 84 (WileyCPAexcel 2,000 MCQs, 15 SIMs)

    CA Ethics Exam - 94%

    NEVER GIVE UP.

Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
  • Author
    Replies
  • #2697246
    Cobalt60
    Participant

    Wow, that was hard to look at.

    One of the things I thought was helpful was using the excel app on exam day. It was very functional and helped me to keep my numbers straight. Also a great time saver. The calculator app is awful. The dry erase boards and markers are a cruel joke.

    I'll leave to someone else to do a line by line.

    AUD - 91
    BEC - 90
    FAR - 84
    REG - 89
    -
    #2697345
    AndreA
    Participant

    Thank you! I did the same on my exam, the calculator app is totally useless.

    FAR - 73, 78 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 50 SIMs)
    AUD - 73, 81 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 40 SIMs)
    BEC - 71, 71, 74, 84 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 10 SIMs)
    REG - 84 (WileyCPAexcel 2,000 MCQs, 15 SIMs)

    CA Ethics Exam - 94%

    NEVER GIVE UP.

    #2697351
    AndreA
    Participant

    Balance sheet/statement of financial position
    A) detect, investigate and correct discrepancies while agreeing the balance sheet amounts to supporting documentation
    B) calculate fluctuations and ratios and interpret the results while reviewing comparative balance sheets
    Income statement/statement of profit or loss
    A) detect, investigate and correct discrepancies while agreeing the income statement amounts to supporting documentation
    B) calculate fluctuations and ratios and interpret the results while reviewing comparative income statements
    Statement of comprehensive income
    A) detect, investigate and correct discrepancies while agreeing the statement of comprehensive amounts to supporting documentation
    Statement of changes in equity
    A) detect, investigate and correct discrepancies while agreeing the statement of changes in equity to supporting documentation
    Statement of cash flows
    A) detect, investigate and correct discrepancies while agreeing the statement of cash flows to supporting documentation
    B) derive the impact of transactions on the statement of cash flows
    Notes to the financial statements
    A) compare the notes to the financial statements to the financial statements and supporting documentation to identify inconsistencies and investigate those inconsistencies
    Consolidated financial statements (including wholly owned subsidiaries and noncontrolling interests)
    A) detect, investigate and correct discrepancies while agreeing the consolidated financial statement amounts to supporting documentation
    Cash and cash equivalents
    A) reconcile the cash balance per the bank statement to the general ledger
    B) investigate unreconciled cash balances to determine whether an adjustment to the general ledger is necessary
    Trade receivables
    A) prepare a rollforward of the trade receives account balance using various sources of information
    B) reconcile and investigate differences between the subledger and general ledger for trade receives to determine whether an adjustment is necessary
    Inventory
    A) reconcile and investigate differences between the subledger and general ledger for inventory to determine whether an adjustment is necessary
    B) prepare a rollforward of the inventory account balance using various sources of information
    Property, Plant, and Equipment
    A) prepare a rollforward of the property, plan, and equipment account balance using various sources of information
    B) reconcile and investigate differences between the subledger and general ledger for property, plant, and equipment to determine whether an adjustment is necessary
    Payables and accrued liabilities
    A) reconcile and investigate differences between the subledger and general ledger for accounts payable and accrued liabilities to determine whether an adjustment is necessary
    Revenue Recognition
    A) interpret agreements, contracts and/or other supporting documentation to determine the amount and timing of revenue to be recognized in the financial statements
    B) reconcile and investigate the differences between the sales subledger and the general subledger to determine whether an adjustment is necessary
    Account changes and error corrections
    A) derive the impact to the financial statements and related note disclosure of an accounting change or an error correction
    Contingencies and commitments
    A) review supporting documentation to determine whether a commitment or contingency requires recognition or disclosure in the financial statements
    Leases
    A) interpret agreements, contracts and/or other supporting documentation to determine the appropriate accounting treatment of a leasing arrangement and prepare the journal entries that a lessee should record.
    Subsequent events
    A) derive the impact to the financial statements and required note disclosues due to identified subsequent events

    FAR - 73, 78 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 50 SIMs)
    AUD - 73, 81 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 40 SIMs)
    BEC - 71, 71, 74, 84 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 10 SIMs)
    REG - 84 (WileyCPAexcel 2,000 MCQs, 15 SIMs)

    CA Ethics Exam - 94%

    NEVER GIVE UP.

    #2697528
    andrewmarii
    Participant

    Common Sim topics that I've seen on my FAR exam:

    – Subsequent events combined with contingent liabilities (Know IFRS for this)
    – Bank reconciliations (F3.1 should help, remember the rules and you should be fine)
    -Pensions
    -Revenue Recogniton
    -Cash Flow statement fill in
    – Extremely difficult consolidating financial statement

    I felt good with the mcq's but i only felt good on 4/8 sims and i still passed so don't feel discouraged after if you feel wrecked by the sims. Good luck!

    AUD - 75
    BEC - 86
    FAR - 84
    REG - 78
    No one ever fails the CPA, people only quit the CPA exam.
    #2697645
    AndreA
    Participant

    Thank you! I really appreciate that! Would you recommend to study journal entries for pensions? I know the concept but journal entries killing me..

    FAR - 73, 78 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 50 SIMs)
    AUD - 73, 81 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 40 SIMs)
    BEC - 71, 71, 74, 84 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 10 SIMs)
    REG - 84 (WileyCPAexcel 2,000 MCQs, 15 SIMs)

    CA Ethics Exam - 94%

    NEVER GIVE UP.

    #2699010
    andrewmarii
    Participant

    You most likely would not get a pensions Journal entry sim (in fact most FAR sims are not JE based), but obviously everything is fair game so you never know. Its those types of things that if you were to run into it on the exam and get right would separate you from the rest of the population (the harder the question, the more points are awarded if you get right). Also, I'm not even kidding you I had a sim that was literally based off the 2 pass key on page F7-6 (ending PBO and ending FV plan assets).

    I was in a similar position to you in that I was close to passing FAR the first time (71) and went back to it with alot of tenacity (which I think you have considering your comments above) and I got an 84 my second time. You'll get it next time for sure.

    AUD - 75
    BEC - 86
    FAR - 84
    REG - 78
    No one ever fails the CPA, people only quit the CPA exam.
    #2699472
    James
    Participant

    I feel like the consolidations are the throw outs…. I don't know for sure but they were the hardest SIMs for me and almost felt impossible to get right. The others were much more manageable. Knowing the basic journal entries in FAR and the basic conceptual concepts seem to be what I saw. Honestly I felt like I did better on the SIMs than the MCQs…. the MCQs in becker are WAY harder than the actual test…. like people say “mile wide, inch deep”. I almost feel like Becker picks up all the throw out questions and tosses them into their test banks. Honestly next time around I am going for the basic SIMs in Becker… I feel like those are more realistic to what I saw.

    AUD - 76
    BEC - 78
    FAR - 82
    REG - NINJA in Training
    Don't Give Up!

    My lesson learned is to commit to studying. If you don't, life moves on.... but you won't.

    Passed and failed numerous others back in 2016-2017.... dropped out after having a kid, decided I needed to get this finished. Passed AUD then found out we were having our second child.

    #2701734
    AndreA
    Participant

    Andrewmarii. Thank you! Knowing your experience help me a lot!

    FAR - 73, 78 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 50 SIMs)
    AUD - 73, 81 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 40 SIMs)
    BEC - 71, 71, 74, 84 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 10 SIMs)
    REG - 84 (WileyCPAexcel 2,000 MCQs, 15 SIMs)

    CA Ethics Exam - 94%

    NEVER GIVE UP.

    #2701764
    AndreA
    Participant

    James. AICPA really like to test us on topics like Consolidation, I.S, Cash Flow Statement, Bank Reconciliation, Revenue Recognition, Non-monetary Exchange. Sometimes I heard people can get SIMS where you need to reconcile and investigate differences between the subledger and general ledger of Inventory, PPE, AR accounts and those SIMS have 6 + exhibits, but unfortunately I couldn't find any SIM like that in Wiley

    FAR - 73, 78 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 50 SIMs)
    AUD - 73, 81 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 40 SIMs)
    BEC - 71, 71, 74, 84 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 10 SIMs)
    REG - 84 (WileyCPAexcel 2,000 MCQs, 15 SIMs)

    CA Ethics Exam - 94%

    NEVER GIVE UP.

    #2701767
    Ralphie Dos Nachos
    Participant

    Please look at the AICPA sample exam for FAR. It saved me come exam day. A few of my sims were very similar to what they had on the site.

    FAR - 76

    AUD - 89

    BEC - 84

    REG - 86

    #2701968
    bigstakk
    Participant

    For FAR make sure you know all the new rev rec and lease accounting rules as well as governmental/non-profit and IFRS. Every test is different, but the new topics are heavily tested. For SIMs it is really critical to read the instructions for how to enter in your numbers -all positives vs negatives and positive integers, leave blank or add a zero, etc…

    AUD - 81
    BEC - 87
    FAR - 80
    REG - 82
    ______________

    Ethics Exam - 90%
    Licensed CPA in CA

    #2702064
    Jimmy Dugan
    Participant

    Trying to predict which topics you will see on exam day is a waste of time. If you are doing well on the MCQ's, then you know what you need to know to also do well on sims. The difference is that sims bombard you with information, only a portion of which is relevant to the answers most of the time. People panic seeing all that garbage and it's hard to think when that happens, so all of a sudden they can't answer the question in a reasonable amount of time and then come back on here and post about how impossible *their specific* Sims were. The best thing you can do is have a gameplan come exam day. In my opinion, it is always best to look at the questions/answer bank first, before reading all of the setup info. That way, you have an idea of what to look for while reading the setup and exhibits. It helps you to focus, also it cuts down on the amount of time you need to answer the questions since you aren't randomly scrolling through irrelevant information.

    AUD - 95
    BEC - 87
    FAR - 84
    REG - 90
    You're killing me Smalls

     

    #2706909
    AndreA
    Participant

    Thank you guys for help!

    FAR - 73, 78 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 50 SIMs)
    AUD - 73, 81 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 40 SIMs)
    BEC - 71, 71, 74, 84 (WileyCPAexcel 3,000+ MCQs, 10 SIMs)
    REG - 84 (WileyCPAexcel 2,000 MCQs, 15 SIMs)

    CA Ethics Exam - 94%

    NEVER GIVE UP.

Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.