[Anonymous]

I took FAR last week and have moved on to AUD. I was going to do BEC next but I guess the stuff about economics and some of the other topics that I know nothing about just scared me off of it for now. So, I started on AUD because I took several auditing courses during school and was naturally more familiar with those topics.

The AUD exam is changing. I’m using Roger’s most updated materials for it, so I’m probably in an OK position as far as preparing for it. He has some new videos and IPQs related to the new DRSs and stuff that will be on future AUD exams. But, and this is going to sound crazy, I am totally lacking confidence when it comes to the practical aspects of audit because I have not done it in a job. Yet. My career path is actually internal audit but to date, all I’ve done is general accounting.

So, I am a bit worried about the exam. I haven’t done any practice exams yet, but I’m just wondering if the test is a theory test, much like FAR is, or if they ask stuff that only seasoned auditors are going to know how to answer quickly. I have a decent working knowledge of all the stuff covered on the exam, but I don’t know if that’s enough. The good thing is that Roger gives about 1,200 questions on AUD and I will be working every single one of them. But…is it sufficient? There’s always Ninja, but I was just wondering if anyone used some other supplemental study materials to get what they needed? Or, is the exam only passable by people who work for Big 4?

[Yolonge]

CPA exam is designed in a way that people with no real experience can pass it.

Beginning of last year, I started at small/medium regional accounting firm and although I was working as audit staff, I was doing non-audit tasks when I was taking the test so I had no audit experience.

It is heavily conceptual, so although having audit experience helps, auditors will not pass the exam without studying it.

Ninja MCQ was sufficient for me to pass the Audit exam (so for pretty much all other parts).

Many people passed audit without any work experience. It should not be a factor.

Materials: Wiley book + Ninja MCQ

FAR - 83 (Jan 2016)
Study time: 6 weeks
BEC - 87 (April 2016)
Study time: 2 weeks
AUD - 92 (July 2016), (74 Feb 2016), (72 May 2016)
Study time: 4 (Feb) + 2 (May) + 3 (July) = 9 weeks total
REG - (70 April 2016)
Study time: 3 weeks

[Anonymous]

@mhei8116 – well, looks like you didn't have any trouble with AUD. I'm half-guessing that it's a mostly-theory test. But, with the new format coming up – I will be one of the first people who takes the exam with the new format – it's anybody's good guess as to how much harder, or different, it will be from the current exam. I wish I had done AUD and BEC before FAR and gotten them out of the way before the format changed. I'm probably screwed…although fewer MCQ will be good because I am no fan of MCQ.

Just curious, did you pass all 4 with Ninja only? I know how good Ninja is, but one of my old accounting professors said “Take Roger, or if not that, then Becker. Almost none of my students use any of the other vendors and I don't know a thing about Ninja, it's too new in the market.”

[mtaylo24]

“Or, is the exam only passable by people who work for Big 4?”

Haha This exam isn't limited to people who work in public, anyone can pass. We all have to step out of our comfort zone for this exam. People who work in audit have to take reg, people who work in tax have to take audit. GL/budget (industry) accountants have to take them all. FAR sucks even if you're a GL accountant in industry, because it still covers stuff that you will never see. Never worked in tax or audit but im sure there are auditors who struggled with audit and tax people who struggled wih Reg.

AUD - 1st - 60 (12/12), 61 (2/13), 61 (8/13), 78! (11/15)
REG - 55 (2/16) 69 (5/16) Retake(8/16)
BEC - 71(5/16) Retake (9/16)
FAR - (8/16)

[Anonymous]

@mtaylo24 – haha well I don't think just anyone can pass this exam, it's not a free-for-all! You have to have a decent brain in your head. But, I mention AUD only because auditing is so hands-on and not as academic as the other 3 sections.

BTW, are you new to Ninja or were/are you using another review course as well?

[mtaylo24]

@crazyleon, I have been using Gleim the whole time, used it exclusively for Auditing, but began adding Ninja MCQ this summer.

AUD - 1st - 60 (12/12), 61 (2/13), 61 (8/13), 78! (11/15)
REG - 55 (2/16) 69 (5/16) Retake(8/16)
BEC - 71(5/16) Retake (9/16)
FAR - (8/16)

[Anonymous]

@mtaylo24 – Cool. I have Gleim's textbooks…I got free copies from an old accounting instructor (Gleim gives out a lot of them as review copies apparently.) The MCQs and TBSs are way harder than the ones I've done in Roger, at least for FAR. I haven't looked at the AUD book yet but I will soon.

[Missy]

I wouldn't venture to guess a percentage but when you figure how many people actually pass these exams who are (a)straight out of college with no professional experience whatsoever, (b) old and moldy cryptkeepers with 20 years industry experience never working a day in public (like ME) or (c) work in public but in Tax, I'd say theres no need to be a seasoned auditor to pass AUD.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Anonymous]

@mla – yeah, and once again, I come back around to “THIS EXAM IS WEIRD.” And, it doesn't pertain much to what anyone does, or doesn't do, in a job. It's just a matter of getting review materials or a review course, completing it, and taking the exams.
I stopped trying to make sense out of the whole thing a long time ago because it would be impossible to do so.

[Missy]

My .02 is that it simply gives you a bit more “clout” compared to peers without the license but more importantly gives you a feel for what you don't know if that makes sense……for example off the top of my head I know very little about the ACA and personal taxes, and a friend asked me about the penalty for not having insurance. She can google it just as easy as I can but the difference is I can see an article about it and it will jog something in my memory about being allowed a small gap in coverage without a penalty. I STILL don't know exactly how much of a gap is allowed but I DO know that I have to look up the answer to another question before I respond to her. I've actually said in job interviews that the experience of getting my cpa has taught me to know what I don't know…………and that answer has always been well received!

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Anonymous]

You don't have to be an auditor to pass AUD. I am an auditor and was for two years prior to taking AUD. It certainly helps, but isn't required. I'm of the opinion that FAR is much more beneficial to understand relative to auditing. Auditing can be summarized by asking yourself two questions: “What am I doing?” and “Why am I doing this?”

If you can answer those questions with some authority for a given question, you're generally going to get it right. To know what you're doing, you must understand FAR. To know why you're doing it, well that's auditing.

[Anonymous]

I got my highest score on AUD (90-something, can't remember, maybe 92), and at the time, the closest I'd gotten to auditing was copying a client's records to send for a local tax audit…and actually, I think even that experience was after I'd taken the exam. I find audit interesting, and might give it a try some day, but I've never done any auditing, and had no trouble with the exam (of course I had to study etc., but I passed it fine).

My first accounting job was at a small tax/bookkeeping/payroll firm. My boss there said to me that there's no way for anyone to know the full IRC, but that our job was to know enough to ask the question. Kinda like what mla said with the ACA example. I find myself thinking about this a lot at my job, since I'm the only one on staff with formal accounting education (my boss, the CFO, has an MBA and I believe a Business degree for his Bachelor's, so has taken accounting courses, but doesn't have an accounting degree, hasn't passed the CPA exams, or anything else like that). I don't know the answer to many of the questions that I run into, but I know what questions to ask and what information to look for. Same when I do my personal taxes; a year in tax 4 years ago isn't enough to know taxes, but it's enough to know what questions I should ask as I go through the year and through my tax documents. And…when the auditors come annually, I don't know enough to do their jobs without some training, but thanks to AUD and my audit course (and work experience), I know enough to know what questions they should ask, and prepare answers for them, instead of giving the “deer in the headlights” look and having to go figure out how to find the information to answer their questions.

So…the CPA exams are about learning what you don't know, so that you know when you need to learn something more. 🙂

[Anonymous]

@Casey – good point about knowing FAR material well before you can do an audit successfully. That crossed my mind earlier.

@Lilla – yes, it seems that if someone knows all the nuts and bolts of auditing, even if they've never done it, they will pass.
Me too, I've had bosses with BS or MS in Accounting. Or, even an AA. My last boss, for a short-term temp job, was great at accounting and if she studied, she could pass the exams. But, she's paid well and doesn't need to I don't imagine.
If I had a job right now that paid $70K or more per year, and I knew I could keep that job forever, I would not bother with CPA.
But, the fact is that I make nowhere near that amount now, and given the fact that I've changed careers twice, one reason that I have to get the CPA to prove to prospective employers that I'm serious about my current career path. Everyone has their own reasons for getting the license. Believe me, I've fended off a lot of “Ooooh, that's difficult, and you're pushing 40 years old, it's too late for you” and other similar comments. But, I got a second BS degree in Accounting (part-time school for 4 years while working full time), I've studied everything in school that is on these exams. So, it's a combo of “I might as well do it” and “I need to do it.”

[Anonymous]

@mla – good point about the CPA exam/studying for it as a way of finding out what you don't know, that you thought you did know. When I took FAR last weekend, it spelled out pretty much everything. I remember nothing specific about the questions, but I remember all the topics that I guessed on.

[EZ_Sims_4_me_Pls]

I passed audit with about a week of study (no audit experience). I used gleim.

I pretty much made educated guesses on the MCQ, got through all 90 in roughly an hour. averaged out to “comparable” on my report.

scored “stronger” on the simulations.

if I can do it, you can do it.

[Wannafree]

Ez-Sims-4-me , could you do the SIMS by studying Gliem in one week ?

[Author]

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