[Anonymous]

I tried using authoritative literature tab while practicing becker’s sims but ended up spending more time researching and was unable to find a answer. Did I not search correctly? Are there any search tips that you can share?

[Onmyway82]

I just usually try to pick out the keyword in the Research question. And a word that won't give me a million links. Then just start clicking through the results and try to find the paragraph that answers the question. You just have to practice, I have gotten really good at them since I have been studying for awhile.

FAR- 70, 68, 90
AUD- 72, 85
REG- 74, 83
BEC- 81
ETHICS- 90

CA CPA
CMA

[Anonymous]

My strategy was to find the key word in the “Topical Index” which is on the very left of the screen. Then I would click on the appropriate section and use the “Search Within” function.

Here's an example (this is not from the exam – just totally making it up)…

Say your research question asks “Where would you find how to evaluate the inherent risks of auditing derivatives?”

In the Topical Index, I would look for Derivatives. Then I'd open the Derivative section and type “inherent” in the Search Within field.

[Anonymous]

Were you able to find answers to all SIMS using the authoritative literature tab? Are there any particular SIMS that are searchable and some not?

[Anonymous]

I'll echo what apbandj said in that using the “Search Within” feature is critical. If you can find the section of the standards that you're fairly positive contains what you're looking for, use the “Search Within” with more specific keywords to narrow it down more. 9 times out of 10 this works for me to find the answer.

[OUCPA84]

For non-research sims what are people's experience? I have trouble finding the literature being of any help most of the time.

AUD Pass
REG Fail, Rematch TBA
FAR 11/26 Certain I failed
BEC ?

Becker

[lynseyklly]

I never had much luck on the non research SIMS, finding answers in the literature. I didn't try it much in practice, on the actual exam I was able to find some info that validated my choices and at least 1 that helped me answer something I didn't know. My suggestion is to ignore the literature until you have completed the SIMS, then use whatever time you have left to search through for topics you weren't confident on.

(btw, this was not the case for FAR, I couldn't find anything helpful, but it may just be me)

AUD 85 (2/22/12)
FAR 81 (5/10/12)
BEC 7/13/12
REG 10/1/12

using Becker

[Anonymous]

For me, I extensively use the research tab for research and non-research SIMs. Like I said, approximately 90% of the time I can either direct or indirect guidance to the question I'm working on.

[Anonymous]

@aud_cpa

My SIMS looked like this (but not necessarily in this order)

1. Research

2. Calculation – knew how to do it so didn't even try to look it up in research tab. Doubt it was any info in there on how to do it anyways. This was just a general FAR topic that a CPA should be able to do, and it wasn't covered in any review materials.

3. Calculation – same as above, except I wasn't as confident. Didn't look it up b/c I doubt it was in there.

4. Non-Calculation – freaked when I saw it… it wasn't covered at all in review materials. Looked it up in Research tab and it was almost word for word.

5. Non-Calculation – Info was covered in review materials. The research tab had some general info on the topic, but the questions were very specific and the authoritative lit didn't go into much detail.

6. Non-Calculation – Again, questions were very specific. Info was in Research tab but not word for word. There seemed to be a lot of gray areas on this topic and I couldn't find very straightforward info in the authoritative lit.

So in summary, I would look at the SIMS and try to do them before using the research tab. If you aren't sure about something, definitely look it up. I allowed 2 hours for SIMS and used every minute of the time but didn't use the research tab for every question.

HTH!

[Anonymous]

apbandj

It has been a while since I have taken my FAR exam. What FAR topics do I need to prepare for the audit exam? Thanks

[Anonymous]

I honestly don't think you need to study any FAR topics for AUD. The stuff that was covered on the AUD exam was pretty basic accounting knowledge that I'm sure the AICPA would expect a candidate to have. I think as long as you look over the FAR stuff that's in your AUD materials (i.e. ratios) and know which accounts go with what financial statements, you should be golden 🙂

[Author]

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