[Anonymous]

Finished with the exam and just got hired at a tiny public firm. I have zero work experience in accounting and the firm that hired me has zero in the way of new-hire training. Come January they’re going to hand me a stack of 1040s and say “OK, kid, get these done as fast as you can. And don’t screw up!”

I’ve had one (very thin) tax course in college and I did pretty well on REG–neither of which prepared me to *actually do* tax returns for a living. So….

Any recommendations on self-study courses that can get me up to speed on my own?

[I'm, Ron Burgundy?]

What software are they using? I highly doubt they are expecting you to do this long-hand the old fashioned way. I would start by finding that out and move forward from there. I've personally used, Ultra-Tax, Pro-Series, Turbo-Tax, SaxTax, etc. I also knew nothing of these programs prior to starting at the firms that used them. All of the programs are similar in one way or another. But you could probably find some tutorials online via YouTube, etc.

If you know your accounting and can reconcile out a Trial Balance to a consistent Balance Sheet/Income Statement and know how to reconcile items to an M-1 you should be fine.

"If you're going through hell, keep going"
- Winston Churchill

"I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost over 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot, and missed. I've failed, over and over and over again in my life. And that is why, I succeed."
- Michael Jordan

BEC: (54), (72), 80 (losing credit on 02/02/15 - nervous)
AUD: 78
REG: (74), 91
FAR: (71)

[Anonymous]

mhueycpa and I'm Ron Burgundy?:

I don't start work for a couple of weeks yet, so I don't know what software they use. (I'm assuming–and praying–that they do, in fact, have software!) I plan to do whatever I can with software tutorials, and I'll definitely look into the Master Tax Guide.

The client mix isn't anything exotic (small town), so I think I'll be mostly into the mainstream schedules.

My main plan is to go back to the friggin' study routine–this time with PassKey's EA Review book. It seems more geared to actually getting the returns banged out than the stuff we covered for REG.

[Anonymous]

mhueycpa and I'm Ron Burgundy?:

I don't start work for a couple of weeks yet, so I don't know what software they use. (I'm assuming–and praying–that they do, in fact, have software!) I plan to do whatever I can with software tutorials, and I'll definitely look into the Master Tax Guide.

The client mix isn't anything exotic (small town), so I think I'll be mostly into the mainstream schedules.

My main plan is to go back to the friggin' study routine–this time with PassKey's EA Review book. It seems more geared to actually getting the returns banged out than the stuff we covered for REG.

[W_HAMILTON]

CheeseDog, lol, this is completely off topic, but did you get burned out studying for FAR, too? I was wondering because you and I have almost exactly the same exam scores :p

REG - 93 (7/30/13)
BEC - 90 (8/19/13)
AUD - 98 (8/31/13)
FAR - 84 (10/19/13)

[W_HAMILTON]

CheeseDog, lol, this is completely off topic, but did you get burned out studying for FAR, too? I was wondering because you and I have almost exactly the same exam scores :p

REG - 93 (7/30/13)
BEC - 90 (8/19/13)
AUD - 98 (8/31/13)
FAR - 84 (10/19/13)

[Anonymous]

W_HAMILTON:

No burn out for FAR–it was actually the first section I took. The reason it was my lowest score: I stupidly took Becker's advice on exam-day time management. I paid $3,300 for Becker and decided for that much money I would do exactly what they told me to do in terms of studying and actual test taking. They recommended leaving only 15 minutes (as best I recall) for each FAR sim, so that's what I did on exam day. (I hadn't discovered this forum yet, so I didn't know any better.) That turned out to be grossly too little time and I ended up leaving two sims essentially untouched. It was a little disappointing, as I think FAR was actually the section I understood best. Anyway, after that, I adjusted my time usage and got better scores.

[Anonymous]

W_HAMILTON:

No burn out for FAR–it was actually the first section I took. The reason it was my lowest score: I stupidly took Becker's advice on exam-day time management. I paid $3,300 for Becker and decided for that much money I would do exactly what they told me to do in terms of studying and actual test taking. They recommended leaving only 15 minutes (as best I recall) for each FAR sim, so that's what I did on exam day. (I hadn't discovered this forum yet, so I didn't know any better.) That turned out to be grossly too little time and I ended up leaving two sims essentially untouched. It was a little disappointing, as I think FAR was actually the section I understood best. Anyway, after that, I adjusted my time usage and got better scores.

[Author]

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