[job895]

Hi Guys,

I’m scheduled to take AUD on January 5th. I’m about halfway done with Becker A4. A lot of people on here have said that the AL for the Audit SIMS helped them answer all the questions, even the non-research questions. However, I am rather unfamiliar with effectively using the AL. I find using the AL in AUD tricky and non-obvious. Are there any tips you guys can share with me (and our fellow NINJAS) on effectively using the AL in AUD? Thanks!

[Recked]

You need to be familiar with whats in the AL, and also use efficient search methods.
As far as search methods, know how to use quotes, search within, and I also always try to pick the word or words that would be the most rare, thereby returning the least results that I have to sort through. Some things are in AL, and some are not (and you would just be wasting your time).

Also be aware that the AL includes samples and examples of auditor's reports, and how they vary for different situations.
Your Becker book is more or less a summary of what's in the AL, broken down for you and highlighting things that are likely to appear on the test.

Get yourself signed up for the free 6 month access, and as you work through problems in your course, try to find the answer in the AL. This is the only way to get to know how to use it effectively, and also know if the item you are searching for will actually be found. The AL is not so useful for things that require evaluation or professional judgement. You need to know the information in order to know how to apply it.

[job895]

@ReckedRacing

Thanks for the help! But what do you mean by quotes and search within? And a 6 month trial of what?

[Recked]

Exam candidates are eligible for a free six-month subscription to online access to authoritative literature.

https://www.aicpa.org/becomeacpa/cpaexam/forcandidates/howtoprepare/literature.html

Search within will make sense once you start using the AL.
You can select a folder, for example, PCAOB, then use search within to only returns results from the PCAOB folder.
Quotes around your search terms only return results that match those terms exactly.
Google boolean search. Not really sure that the AND OR functions still apply to modern computers. It was in my intro to computer course back in 1998.
https://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/Boolean_search.html

Stick with searching for the rarest word to produce the least amount of results/false positives.

[Anonymous]

I was able to complete the research sims by opening the right collection of standards and then going to the end where an alphabetical index of terms and concepts is. Find the term you need and there will be references to the sections where that term is discussed.

[Stilgoin]

I would suggest being familiar with the sections of the AL. That helped me the most.

B | 62, 78
A | 73, 67, 79
R | 82
F | 59, 59, Waiting

Ethics | 93

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
~Winston Churchill

“In a world full of critics, be an encourager."

[Author]

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