[Anonymous]

Just thought I would share this with everyone. Living at home this summer. My brothers friend wont shut up about how hard his 100 level Biology class is and it is getting extremely annoying. He is taking it this summer and has all the old tests too. My brother told me that he compares it to CPA thinking it is just as hard. Cells, atoms, protons, neutrons, and electrons… They just quizzed me about what was in H2O…and I said Hydrogen and Oxygen…My brothers friend said it was Hydrogen and Carbon!?!

haha

[financeguy]

college is a joke. It is one of the reasons why I decided to go for my cpa. College degrees have lost so much value…they will pretty much give them out to anyone who doesn't flat out stop going to school. I got a degree in finance from a pretty good state school…I barely put in any effort at all (as I just flat out hate studying). I feel as a nation we have become increasingly less intelligent, and basically school standards are becoming lower. It is ridiculous how bad of writing standards many college grads have.

Plus college is a business. Many people are getting paid. Loans backed by the Federal government, that for the most part, cannot be discharged in bankruptcy add to the problem. There was an article on the net this week calling student loans the new subprime. It gave an example of a girl who graduated w/ a degree in something like women's studies w/ a minor in something about religion. She has $97K in student loans. How unbelievably stupid can one be? I certainly would never hire anyone like that.

There has been this false belief in this country that you go to college and you graduate and then get this magic dream job that will get you started in life and you will forever be a desk jockey making good money and never have to attempt manual labor for the rest of your life. 1.9 million graduates from this spring 2010 semester, and a majority of 2009 grads still can't find a job. The average student graduates w/ $23K debt. Soon there is going to be a lot of pissed off grads feeling very ripped off. I am very thankful that I graduated in 2003 and have a job right now. I feel for the recent grads.

AUD - 81, BEC - 74, 80, FAR - 82, REG - 81
Done!

[Anonymous]

It does surprise me the number of people who have a lot of comments about the CPA exam even if they have never studied for it or even know anything about it. We will have the last laugh once we pass!

We will just need to take beginners conversational classes since we have anly communicated with videos, texts, practice sims, and MC questions for months. I hear it is like rifing a bike ,,,, you never forget 🙂

[rahulcpa]

@FINANCEGUY

I couldn't stop myself in responding to your post, which is so DAMN true.

1) College degree is a joke

2) College is a business. The B S loan process where banks make money

3) Average loan of a student (mine was 25K)

4) No permanent job for me as now (graduated 2007) 🙁

The worst of all, my opinion that CPA will eventually lose its value overtime because a lot of candidates sitting for this exam become CPA every window.

BEC - 82 Reg-87 Aud - 86 Far - 81 (THANX THE LORD)
(Dr CPA (Asset)
Cr Life) 😉 (revenue)

[jeff]

Additional certifications will become the norm. It is quickly approaching the point to where having a CPA after your name is the standard. If you want to differentiate yourself, you need additional certifications – like the CMA.

CPA, CMA > CPA > MBA > BS

AUD - 79
BEC - 80
FAR - 76
REG - 92

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71

[75 CPA]

CFP (Cetrtified Financial Planner) for me!

[jeff]

I'm not certified, but I am trained as a Financial Counselor through Dave Ramsey's program. I got 35 hours of CPE to boot.

AUD - 79
BEC - 80
FAR - 76
REG - 92

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71

[financeguy]

@ rahulcpa

It is true, over time the CPA status will decrease in value. If there is one thing the world has an abundance of, it is people. In the past 10 years more and more people have gone into the accounting/finance/business/banking sectors because they have shown to make so much money. The sectors are now bloated. Also, with the global economy, many times in America, you may be competing against candidates in other countries.

I have been reading that Accounting is an industry that may soon be outsourced. Only time will tell if that is true.

One of my top reasons for becoming a cpa is because I want to be an EXPERT on reading financial statements – for my own purposes. You do your best to prepare yourself for the rapidly changing world. Even if the world of CPA's is growing, it is not growing nearly the rate of bachelor's degree's, nurses, realtors, etc.

If you don't mind me asking, what state are you in and what size city? Also, what has your job prospects been like?

AUD - 81, BEC - 74, 80, FAR - 82, REG - 81
Done!

[financeguy]

1 more thing, just to put it in perspective:

This 2010 spring semester produced 1.9 million college grads. That is just 1 single spring semester.

I'm not sure the total, but I believe I read on here, total CPA's in the country is 500K. Even if that number is way low, double it. 1 million total CPA's in the country. Just for conservatism, lets just say there are 2 million total CPA's in the country.

In one total nationwide graduating semester, the total # of CPA's = that total # of grads for one year of graduates. So yeah, CPA's may become over-saturated, but we got a ways to go.

AUD - 81, BEC - 74, 80, FAR - 82, REG - 81
Done!

[Anonymous]

I agree with most of your comments…I'm living proof of the low level of academics in our universities. I did all my high school overseas, then , started college here in CA. For two years I was reviewing stuff I had seen in my highschool years.

To top it off, for three years I was reviewing accounting concepts(all my accounting classes for my concentration) that I HAD ALREADY SEEN in highschool. I graduated with a 3.96. The truth came out when I started stuying for the CPA Exam. College did not prepared me for this exam. Good luck everyone!!!

[75 CPA]

Something as important as education should not be administered by the state. If you cannot see from one end of an organization to the other end, you are already in trouble. Politicians NEVER spend a minute actually experiencing public schools, nor do their children, grandchildren, and yet they are the ones writing flawed policies for public schools.

If we are going to improve the school system (K-12), we are going to have to have competition. School vouchers to parents with no strings attached are a step in the right direction.

My wife was a teacher in the public schools and now she is a college professor. We have seen first hand the inflexibility and the stupidity of a school system administered by the state.

“Public schools” are no longer public. These schools are government schools.

[financeguy]

Charles, if you don't mind me asking, what country did you attend HS, and what college did you go to in Cali?

Lol, I never even had accounting classes offered at my HS.

There are definitely some college professors out there (including the community college level) that are very good and can teach you a ton. It is mostly just the level at which one must apply themselves in college in order to pass – that level is just way too low.

AUD - 81, BEC - 74, 80, FAR - 82, REG - 81
Done!

[financeguy]

75 cpa you may like this:

https://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/06/chris-christie-on-teachers-unions.html

Chris Christie is a politician who I think is on the right track. One of the very few. I wish in CA I had a candidate for Governor who I feel will take the state in the right direction. Unfortunately, like the South Park episode, it feels like a choice between a giant douche and a turd sandwich.

AUD - 81, BEC - 74, 80, FAR - 82, REG - 81
Done!

[75 CPA]

Catholic schools cannot compete with “free” public education. The answer to better education and higher teacher salaries is competition.

“Public” education does not need more money; it already has too much money, even in poor states. The United States spends more money per student than most other countries in the world; however, the academic performance is worse than other countries. More money for education is not the answer. “Public” education is inefficient and ineffective.

The answer is to take the power from the state governments and give the power to the parents in the form of universal vouchers. Friedman proposed vouchers as a way to separate government financing of education from government administration of schools. The “public” schools would now have to please the parents instead of the state legislature. Viva la competition!

I see universal school vouchers as inevitable. School vouchers are a 50 year-old idea that is backed by solid economic research. Means-tested vouchers for poor families and failing school vouchers have already been tried with great success. All we need now is a test of universal school vouchers.

The only real opposition to universal school vouchers is the education bureaucracy and teachers’ unions. When people strongly support universal school vouchers, they come up against the teachers' unions and the educational bureaucracy, the government civil service.

I am not advocating shutting the doors of public education, just opening more doors of private education.

The parents will vote with their school vouchers. They will decide which public schools will stay open and which public schools will close. Additionally, many new private schools will open. New schools will give parents even more choices. Why should the state have a monopoly on education?

Seven possible objections to the school voucher plan and Milton Friedman’s answer to those objections:

1. The church-state issue. “…Vouchers would go to parents, not to schools. Under the GI bills, veterans have been free to attend Catholic or other colleges and, so far as we know, no First Amendment issue has ever been raised.”

2. Financial cost. “…(There is) present discrimination against parents who send their children to nonpublic schools. Universal vouchers would end the inequity of using tax funds to school some children but not others.”

3. The possibility of fraud. ‘…The voucher would have to be spent in an approved school or teaching establishment and could be redeemed for cash only by such schools.”

4. The racial issue. “Discrimination under a voucher plan can be prevented at least as easily as in public schools by redeeming vouchers only from schools that do not discriminate.”

5. The economic class issue. “Some have argued that the great value of the public school has been as a melting pot, in which rich and poor, native- and foreign-born, back and white have learned to live together. That image…is almost entirely false for large cities. There, the public school has fostered residential stratification, by tying the kind and cost of schooling to residential location. It is no accident that most of the country’s outstanding public schools are in high-income enclaves.”

6. Doubt about new schools. “What reason is there to suppose that alternatives will really arise? The reason is that a market would develop where it does not exist today…The one prediction that can be made is that only those schools that satisfy their customers will survive…Competition would see to that.”

7. The impact on public schools. “The threat to public schools arises from their defects, not their accomplishments. In small, closely knit communities where public schools, particularly elementary schools, are now reasonably satisfactory, not even the most comprehensive voucher plan would have much effect…But elsewhere, and particularly in the urban slums where the public schools are doing such a poor job, most parents would undoubtedly try to send their children to nonpublic schools.”

[Anonymous]

finance guy,

I attended High School in Argentina, I was born in USA, raised in Argentina, then came over to get an Accounting degree, wento to a Commercial High School ( it will to complicated to explain the school system) and had 5 years of accounting, and finances. I graduated in 2008 from CAL STATE San Bernardino.

[NJCPA2B]

I must agree, that there are problems with the educational system “certain” communities across America. Usually, the poor black/hispanic or low income areas. This is caused by a poor tax base, waste or discrimination. We need to find better leaders to help the educational system, not leaders like the idiot and racist, Chris Christie, from NJ.

Now, Vouchers??? Hmmm? What a stupid idea! Even if you gave vouchers for every kid in America, where would they go? To the better schools? Would there be enough room at the better schools? Oh yea, private education? There wouldn't be enough money to entise them……plus there would be no guarantee they can turn things around in a large scale. Sure private education works, but only at certain schools, in certain neighborhoods…

Solution: teachers are underpaid, (logic point: vouchers don't get you better qualified teachers), the governments (both federal and state) need to shift from their budgets from the pork and fat to the teachers. Now with more money you get better qualified teachers. Don't get rid of Unions, they help preserve the teacher’s measly salaries. Without Unions, teachers would have even less money…

BEC=77, FAR=78, REG=73,74,80, AUD=70,69, 84 DONE!

[Author]

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