CPA Test Requirements - Easier By State?

CPA Test Requirements | Another71 Podcast #3

Are the CPA Test Requirements easier in one state vs. another?…

What is the difference between being licensed and having a certificate?…

Where should you go to go your ethics course materials?…

What is the best CPA Review course?…

Getting to 150 hours: MBA vs. MAcc?…

How do you stay motivated while studying?…

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Well, it's happening to everyone. Welcome to the Another71 Podcast. Today is Tuesday, September 13th, 2011 happy Tuesday to you. Alright. CPA exams score release. I anticipate it starting to roll out next Monday, September 19th so that's something that we all have to look forward to.

All right. On today's show, we have several questions. You can ask me your questions and I will answer them on this podcast. Go to another 70 one.com. And in the upper right-hand corner, click ask Jeff, and that's all you have to do. All right. And also you can go to facebook.com/another 71 I believe we passed 8,000 people on Facebook over the weekend, which I greatly thank you for.

All right. First question is from Michael and. He has questions about the Wiley test bank. I am an official reseller of Wiley test bank pins, which means that you can buy the test bank pins from me for their online software at a significant discount over the retail price at wiley.com. Jeff, I have several questions about the Wiley regulation software and your store, and that store is@anotherseventyone.com if I purchase it from your site, will it be the same as purchasing from wiley site directly?

Will I get the same material? The answer is yes. Also, is it a one-year subscription or a four-month subscription? I only resell the one-year subscription and it's because the difference in price was pretty negligible and. I didn't want people to be in a position where they bought software and then they find out that they failed their exam and then, oops, their software has expired.

So I only resell the one-year pins. Lastly, when I purchase will I, will I get the activation code via email? Yes. You, after you purchase it, you email me@jeffatanotherseventyone.com and ask for your pin and I will send it to you and hopefully, I get an automated system up soon where I can wear them, the unique pins just get automatically sent to you from the list.

Right now I have to manually send them to you and the turnaround on those is usually very quick. Right question is from Priyanka. Jeff, I need to know if it makes a difference in the exam. If you apply from a certain board of accountancy. I've passed the exam from Delaware. My friends are taking the exam from California.

I'm hearing that the chances of passing from Delaware are higher compared to the California board. Is this true? I know that the eligibility criteria to sit for the exam differ in these two different States. But after putting so much effort when I'm told it's easier to pass them, Delaware feels like a slap on the face.

Wait my facts. Right. Well, you're correct that the. That the CPA test requirements to sit for the CPA exam might be different in those two States, Delaware and California. However, it is a uniform exam, which means that the person in California who passed it had the exact same type of exam. As the person sitting in Delaware, maybe, maybe your, your testlets were a little bit different, but that all depends on how you were performing during the actual exam.

But your chance of passing and once they or the other is exactly the same. It is a uniform exam and so there's nothing to worry about there. Jeff, I'm planning to sit, and this is from Chris Jeff. I'm planning to complete the CPA exam this coming January. I have a BS in accounting with 124 hours. What would you suggest the next step to get my 150 hours MBA Mac or something else?

I've been in the private industry for 20 years. At some point in my career, I'd like to get into public accounting and know it sounds backward. Most people are trying to get out. I'm thinking a small local, original firm. I would appreciate your thoughts. All right. Chris, I was in your seat in a similar situation.

When I passed, I had 139 hours. What I did was I just went back to night school at a local university and I actually began my progress towards a master of accountancy, a Mac. Uh, I took a couple of tax classes. I did not get the business law elective in my undergrad, so I had to take that. And once I get my 150 hours, I bailed.

Do I wish that I would've gotten masters of accountancy and finished, you know, gone on and whatever it was? I think it was like 30 hours, 30-hour program. Not really, because you have to do a cost-benefit analysis and having a master's in accountancy when you have a CPA designation. I don't think it helps you at all.

So. If you want to get an MBA eventually anyway, maybe it makes sense to go the MBA route and your situation. Um, usually getting an MBA is most beneficial when you already have some experience under your belt with it sounds like you do. Most college kids who just go on and get an MBA, it's just theory and they don't get as much out of their MBA program, in my opinion, as someone who has.

Been in the workplace for a while and then goes back because the stuff that they're learning when you were alerting things, it's always helpful to have a concrete example to apply these abstract concepts. And so someone who's the veteran in the workforce can more easily do that. So it's up to you, MBA or Macc, if I was in your situation and I want it to get an MBA.

I want wanted to invest it then invest a ton of money. I would get an MBA. I would not get a Mac. If you were just wanting to get the whatever, 26 hours for your, for your, um, well, I guess either way if the MBA program is 30 hours and the Mac is 30 hours, I would probably go for the MBA. Marina asks Jeff, I still need to clear the ethics exam.

Do you have any study materials available for that? Well, you need to check with your state board of accountancy and find out, do they, do they require the AI? Well, number one, do they require an ethics exam at all? Some states don't. Some states have their own ethics requirements, and some States, like in Kansas where I pass the exam, use the AI CPA ethics exam.

And so I would, I find out first. Do they require one second? Which one? And Ben, I would purchase it. If it's the AI CPA ethics exam, you can go to, I believe it's CPA to biz.com something like that. And you can buy that there. Alright. Hi Jeff. I actually have some questions. I'm a bit confused. After I passed my four exams, my teacher said there's a difference between a licensed CPA and a registered or certified or sir CPA.

Okay. Um, yeah, if you, of course, each state uses different verbiage. Um. I believe that some States only issue a certificate when you get your license. Don't quote me on that. And I heard that. Um, but okay, when I pass the exam, I got my certificate. Okay. This big certificate that said I was a certified public accountant, however, I could not put CPA.

In an email signature, put CPA in on a business card, but CPA on my website, unless I was licensed, and that means that I was licensed through my state and that I kept up with the ongoing CPE requirements, which I do. So, and see, this person says they, they're in Canada and not planning to do any work in the US.

They just want a CPA certificate and they don't want to sign financial statements. So I would find out since you're in Canada, I would find out what US state you are sitting through. Maybe it's Colorado, and if Colorado will just issue a certificate after passing the exam like Kansas, then you should be good to go.

Um, so yes. Can you have a CPA certificate on your wall after passing? Yes. Can you, unless you're licensed and have a little card that says that you're licensed and, and, uh, your state board of accounts, he recognizes you as a licensed CPA on their website. Um, can you do that unless you're, can you hold yourself out as a CPA?

Can you put your, can you put CPA and your signature? Can you put CPA on your business card unless you are licensed? And the answer is no. Right turn into facebook.com/another 71 Michael asks, what's the best CPA review course I want the biggest bang for my buck? The answer is, what's the best CPA review course that matches your learning style?

Do you want an instructor in front of a dry erase board explaining the concepts? On, on the dry erase board, like college-style lecture. Do you prefer PowerPoint with voiceover or do you prefer to just read the books yourselves and take notes? There are several review courses that use an instructor style with the dry erase board, like Jaeger.

Roger. And there are others that use more of the PowerPoint, like Becker, I think Becker does a little bit of both. Well, they have the voiceover and then you also see the instructor. I think CPA Excel is similar. You see the instructor with kind of a PowerPoint. Um, and then, and you have like Wiley, which is just a book.

And if you want to read the Wiley book and you use Wiley software, you can do that. So it's all about efficiency and your learning style. So what I would do is I would, whatever course you are considering, I would watch their demos for sure. And before you drop whatever, 1500 bucks on a review course. Or more, actually, I would, I would make sure that you, that you liked the product that you're going to get.

I would watch the demos from all four, from all four sections. If you are going to buy a complete review course, the biggest bang for your buck. I mean, if on one hand this is kind of inefficient because there are things. Like in the Wiley book, there's a lot of information in there, and so it really helps to have an instructor go through and weed out what they think that that you need to know in their opinion.

However, if you just want to pull out a Wiley book, take notes, read it, use Wiley software, that's probably the cheapest. I'm not sure it's the biggest bang for your buck because of the, you know, it will take more time. So I hope, I hope that helps. The bottom line. Get a review course that matches your learning style and your budget.

Kimberly asks, how did you keep yourself from getting bored, seeing the same material over and over again? Did you have more success taking multiple sections in one window or when you just took one? Did you read the chapters from your study course or did you watch the lectures and take notes? How to keep from getting bored?

The biggest thing that I did was I took notes while I watched the videos. Accounting is boring information, but taking notes was a more active learning approach. So that's, that's what I did. I usually took two sections in a window and I was able to space them out six weeks apart, which means you have to start studying during the blackout month.

They read the chapters. No, never read the chapters, only watched the videos and took notes. She also asks, how do you achieve balance while studying for the exam where the, so the best ways to avoid burnout? Well, you have a finite number of hours in the day, as you know. And so between work, family, studying and actually having some semblance of a life, you really have to prioritize, prioritize your time, which is a, if you have a study planner.

Like the free one that I offer@anotherseventyone.com you can, you can click on the free study planner and download that. It's an Excel sheet that keeps track of your hours and you, if your goal is to study 25 hours in a week, you just budgeted it out. So, but you have to do something other than study and work, which means you just spend time with your family if applicable.

It's. Man, it's, it's really good to exercise at least a little bit while you're studying for the exam. Even if it means just jogging around the block a couple of times. I mean, just do something at a minimum a couple of times a week because you will, you'll feel good about yourself if you do that. And also watch, watch what you eat, which means don't, I mean, it's easy when you're studying to just fuel up on.

Sugar and energy drinks and caffeine. Make sure that you have a balanced diet cause I'm not a dietician. And um, so that's how you avoid burnout. You some of the things that you, that you did prior to the exam for fun, you need to sprinkle them in still to make it feel like you're still a human being.

Alright. Jim asks, what should a candidate do to prepare for simulations specifically for reg? Well, I am not a proponent of practicing simulations, like actually practicing several different types of simulations. Some people disagree with me on that and that's fine. I say go to CPA hyphen exam.org and practice.

The AI CPAs demo, of the simulation so that you know how to do the research component and you know how, how the different simulation tabs work. But in my opinion, if you know the material enough to do the multiple-choice questions, you know the material enough to do the simulations. So. Working multiple-choice questions and really understanding the concepts are key to doing well in the simulations.

All right. That wraps up this edition of CPA reviewed. My name is Jeff Elliott, editor of another 70 one.com I thank you for listening. Please send your questions and comments due to the ask jeff@another71.com keep moving forward out there and I'll talk to you soon.