[say]

I got 11.5 as well.

[say]

It isn't enough. I know that is not what you want to hear. What is it that is getting to you? The hours? The type of work? The team? I did public for 4 years with a midsized firm. I think the reason I stayed as long as I did was because the people were great. I didn't like the work. I learned a lot but after a while it was so tedious and I lost my stamina. I hated audit. I still hate it now. I think 10% of auditing is good, the part where you are analyzing and making assessment/testing but the documenting is 90% and it is pure grunt work. I was so over it and the pay. You need to stick it out for the greater good of your career. I can't emphasize what a great learning experience it is.

[say]

I really do think people are going in on you for embellishing a little too hard. You're working for a larger firm that has resources. If it was a mom and pop shop, you're entire team would definitely feel your short comings. You have to do, what you have to do to go out and get what you want in this world. It is a cut throat environment. You're not stealing or hurting anyone… you are hurting yourself with how you're handling this situation. You have 13 days until the deadline and you need to ask questions to get the tasks done. If you're sitting at your desks panicking wasting hours and getting no where, you're going to not only hurt yourself, but you're going to hurt the team. Don't say anything about you exaggerating on your experience. After all, no one assignment is identical to the other everything has a unique challenge. Make sure you gather all the questions and ask them at once versus going to their office multiple times. Lastly, the attitude of – if I can't get it by such and such date I am quitting is a God awful attitude to have. You won't make it in the next place either. Life is hard you need to get used to that fact.

[say]

I am getting my CPA no matter what. However, what you say is not entirely true. I know you can still do it without the CPA. I do think having a full time job coupled with side consulting job is the probably the best way to do it.

[say]

Listen, there is no honor in suffering. Ask for help. The beginning of a job is always challenging because you're going through a learning curve, getting acquainted with the work culture, and familiarizing yourself with their systems. I think you're panicking because maybe you feel that you exaggerating about the Corp tax experience is biting you back. I will tell you as someone who saw this in her career with new hires. I didn't expect them to master the work at all, but I wanted to see them try, be resourceful, and ask for help. You can't even look at prior year because you are afraid to ask for help with using the system. You're just setting yourself up for failure. Make sure when you do ask for help you know exactly what you are going to ask.

[say]

It is all about practice. Familiarize yourself with how to navigate the code. I always felt that when I started to use the search function, it was the last resort and typically I wouldn't even find what I needed.

[say]

I failed with a 71. Felt like a gut punch because in some sense I thought I did pass. Congratulations to those that did. How foolish I was to believe that I could get through this without failing. 🙁

[say]

I felt the exact way you did. I graduated from College in 2006 and I got a C and B in intermediate 1 and 2. I was not that great of a student honestly. Anyway, I do have 10+ years of work experience. That is what helped me with this exam but that wasn't everything. Going through the MCQ I would be floored with some questions and go through the chapters over and over and I wouldn't see the topic covered in the book that relates to that specific caveat in the questions. It was frustrating. Stick with it, don't get discouraged. As you get through the material you'll find that some topics build on each other. I found myself going on the FASB site to research certain topics because I felt that it wasn't in the book. When that didn't work, I would go on youtube. I found professor Farhat on youtube. I mention him so many times on this forum that it may seem like I'm sponsored by him LOL but he really saved me on FAR. His lectures were understandable, precise. He works out MCQ and SIMS for you on a variety of topics covered in FAR. You have to be flexible when studying and accept that maybe the study guide you have may not be enough, but the good news is there are plenty of resources out there at your disposal to help you. For the questions you posed. Those are the “harder” questions. On the first one you posted I had that one in Wiley. Basically the gist of that question is to test your understanding of deferrals/unrecognized rev. For the second one, that one makes your brain go through some gymnastics, but it intertwines inventory accounting and accrual accounting concepts. There is a list of costs that go into inventory. Insurance is one of those costs, b/c it is associated to WIP it is not going to touch the profit loss because it is not in a form that is saleable, and as such won't touch the income statement. However, accrued liabilities are understated. You think with accrued liabilities, there is a corresponding expense associated to it, but in this case, it is inventory or WIP. That is why it is understated, and retained earnings is unaffected.

[say]

Thank you! You're definitely right. Need to get over this pity party and get back to business.

[say]

It was fun reading the thread, especially the response about an iPhone 4 in 2012 LOL! I haven't crossed that bridge but seeing that I am unemployed at the moment, a job will have to do.

[say]

I don't remember the MCQ but I did have an IFRS sim. Pretty simple.
I was so irritated with the IFRS and GAAP comparisons. Barely could remember GAAP lol

[say]

That is interesting. I can't remember if I had this kind of question in my test bank. The questions I had either had depreciation to consider, or the salvage value, but never both presented at the same time. Good to know. Now I am confused, because I would think if you did have straight line and salvage, you would consider the correct depreciation expense amount because it is the tax shield/savings. I would think you would include it under those factors. I pray I passed BEC b/c I don't want to have to revisit this again lol!

[say]

That is one of those tricky A$$ questions. It is a declining method, not double declining, but based on the information given it is a declining method in which you do not take out the salvage value. The only thing you do with the salvage is multiply it by the discount factor and add it to the discounted cash savings. You take the depreciation per year and multiply it by the tax rate to calculate the tax shield to include in the NPV calc.

[say]

That is a tough situation because these companies put a lot of weight on gpa and putting the wrong one, a 2.8 vs a 3.1 is a big difference. Fall on your sword and just say it was a mistake. You have a decent gpa for the graduate degree which is what matters. DO NOT TAKE CLASSES TO BUMP IT UP!! Im going to tell you right now that is a crock of sht! Don't waste your time or your money doing something like that. To me, and my experience, if it comes down to that there are plenty of places you can get just as good experience if not better. When you go and apologize keep it simple, don't over explain. Just state it very simply, concisely, and matter of fact. The more you go into how sorry you are and blah blah, you open the door for them to go in on you or make them suspicious. Good luck to you.

[say]

That is awesome. I'm happy for you. If you don't mind me asking, how did you get through the back ground screening for your employment?

[Author]

Replies