[jeff]

Guess I’ll kick it off!

Scheduled to take BEC on 4/19. It’s my last test so I’m putting as much study time in as I can. If I pass I get promoted, if I don’t pass I don’t get promoted, so the pressure is on!!

Good luck to everyone taking BEC this quarter!

AUD - 79
BEC - 80
FAR - 76
REG - 92

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71

[Grunt117]

BEC is the WORST exam of the 4, at least for me. I passed the other 3 sections on the first try with high scores, but then I got to BEC. The BEC concepts are much harder in my opinion (I'm talking to you, IT), and I stink at written communication. Well, I am actually a decent writer, but I need to know exactly what I'm talking about or I can't write a good memo. With the BEC exam, I was generally familiar with the WC topics, but I wasn't familiar enough to write a detailed memo, so I just made stuff up to add filler.

The Becker and Wiley practice questions do a good job of preparing you for the BEC exam, as long as you understand why you missed the questions. When I practiced for FAR, REG, and AUD, I would usually understand why I missed practice questions. With BEC, I often find myself saying “huh” when reading the answer explanations for practice questions that I miss (especially IT and COSO). Sometimes the BEC questions make my head spin. Also, I found that many of Becker's cost accounting questions were much longer than the ones I saw on the actual test.

[sdgh1826]

@AnnaMay84

I think Becker's computational problems were overkill. The Wiley questions reflected more the last time I took this section, but who knows. I made a formula sheet with specific examples and review them as much as possible. The concept questions are vague and tricky, so be sure to give them as much attention.

Becker 2012, NINJA notes

[MintsRGood]

Assuming all goes well with Audit on March 8/11th, I plan on diving head first into BEC! I work in public accounting, so I plan on testing 5/6/13 after the craziness of tax season subsides! For REG & Audit, I put in approx. 20 per week for 8 weeks, read and outlined all chapters in the Becker text, 2000+ MC?s on Wiley Test Bank, daily Ninja Audio, weekly Ninja notes. It's been a strenuous but successful method and I plan on doing all of this again for BEC.

Frankly, I am terrified of cost accounting! I don't have any manufacturing clients so it's like a foreign language to me. I hated it in school and barely passed my cost/managerial class in my grad program! To pass my final, I literally memorized 5 main topic problems and attempted to drop in the numbers on the test into my problem template…I limped through but to this day have never really understood what I was doing with cost accounting!!! Ugh…

The instructors from my grad program offer a live CPA review course for all parts and I went through their program this past fall. Between my notes and materials from my review course, my supplemental materials, plus my study program I hope I can go “one and done” on this beast!

Good luck to everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂

REG: 75 DONE 🙂
AUD: 61, 71, 68, 92 DONE 🙂
BEC: 76 DONE 🙂
FAR: 72, 74, 79 DONE 🙂
Licensed Michigan CPA 🙂
-Some people dream of success...others wake up and work hard for it!!!
-The cowards never start and the weak die along the way!
-You better work, b***h!
-Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.-JFK

[Anonymous]

A multi period project has a positive net present value. Which of the following statements is correct regarding its IRR?

a. Less than the company's WACC

b. Less than the project's IRR

c. Greater than the company's WACC

d. Greater than the project's IRR

Answer: B

Can someone please better explain this to me ?

[ROACH]

Should be taking BEC on 4/1.

Almost 1 year since I even looked at a prep book.

I have the Wiley books from 2011… do you guys think it'll be okay to study with?

I might get the Wiley test bank again if I find some money.

BEC: 66 | 69 | 7/23/2013
AUD: 8/28/2013
REG:
FAR:

[WICPA06]

Taking BEC on 4/5. Finishing up BEC-1 in Becker tonight and then starting BEC-2 tomorrow. Also patiently waiting for my FAR score the end of this week.

Happy studying all!

BEC - 77 (lost credit), 4/5/13
AUD - 83
REG - 77
FAR - 73, 74, 80! One more to go!!

[no.cruncher]

@AnnaMay84, Similar Question might help with this…

REMEMBER:

NPV = Discounted CFs – Investment at Present Value Today, If NPV + >= 0 Accept, if (NPV) (-) Reject ;

IRR = IRR that would cause NPV to Equal 0 = Discounted CFs – Discounted Investment @ IRR%, if IRR > Discount Rate Accept, if IRR < Discount Rate Reject

*NPV uses the Required Rate of Return of the Investment, which is less than the IRR. IRR uses, via trial and error, the % that would cause the Discounted CFs to equal the Discounted Investment, or a NPV of zero. IRR is too optimistic and always higher than the Discount rate, and therefore, the MIRR comes into play, to adjust the IRR downward to a more realistic reinvestment rate (Reinvestment Risk) closer to the cost of capital rate = discount rate = Hurdle rate = required rate of return.

https://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/tableview.php?title=bec-3-missed-questions

A multiperiod project has a positive net present value. Which of the following statements is correct regarding its required rate of return?

A. Less than the company's weighted average cost of capital

B. Less than the project's internal rate of return

C. Greater than the company's weighted average cost of capital

D. Greater than the project's internal rate of return

Choice “b” is correct. The required rate of return must be less than the projects IRR. The IRR is the rate earned by an investment that equates to a NPV of zero. by definition, a project with a positive NPV will have an IRR greater than the required rate of return used to compute that NPV.

FAR - 7/16/2012 *76 : 2.5mo [Exp. 1/2014]
AUD - 8/31/2012 *82 : 1mo
REG - 11/27/2012 *83 : 2.5mo
BEC - 2/27/2013 *80 : 2.5mo LET'S DO THIS!!!
Ethics - 3/13

[ 2011 Kaplan Self Study - Textbook, MP3s, FlashCards ]

CMA... Hmmm...???

[RGlazier12]

Can someone explain to me this Becker question:

The use of activity-based costing normally results in:

a. Substantially lower unit costs for low-volume products than is reported by traditional product costing.

b. Equalizing set-up costs for all product lines.

c. Decreased set-up costs being charged to low-volume products.

d. Substantially greater unit costs for low-volume products than is reported by traditional product costing.

Explanation

Choice “d” is correct. The use of activity-based costing normally results in substantially greater unit costs for low-volume products than is reported by traditional product costing.

How in the world is that correct? Under traditional costing, you would use a company or factory wide MOH rate, which would be applied on the basis of some arbitrary driver (DL, DM use, etc.) typically inflating the costs of product that is low resource intensive. I would think that switching to ABC would cause such a product to delate the amount of cost it takes as it would be low resource intensive.

Becker's book even says: An ABC system will apply high amounts of overhead to a product that places high demands on expensive resources, If a product demands places few demands on expensive resources, the system will assign little of that cost to the product.

If anything, based on that, and my interpretation, that question seems incredibly ambiguous considering both options could technically be answers.

CPA Candidate - Becker In-Class Study

AUD - January 10th, 2013 - PASSED 95
REG - February 28th, 2013 - PASSED 81
BEC - April 11th, 2013 - PASSED 85
FAR - May 30th, 2013 - PASSED 85
ETHICS - May 2013 - PASSED 95

[Grunt117]

My book says that traditional costing methods usually allocate costs based on volume-driven cost drivers. I guess that makes sense, like if you only make 100 units of product, you would allocate overhead to the product using something like direct labor hours. The lower the volume of product you make, the fewer DLH it takes to make the product, and the less overhead gets applied. Under an ABC system, maybe the same 100 units of product uses more of the activity cost driver, like what if the 100 units of product used up 1,000 pounds of materials, and the Activity Cost Center of “Materials Handling” gets allocated to the 100 units of product based on pounds handled. In this case, ABC would allocate more cost to a low-volume product than traditional costing, because ABC isn't necessarily driven by volume. Questions like this make my head spin.

[Anonymous]

I'm already behind on my studying and this is only my second week : /

[jeff]

AUD - 79
BEC - 80
FAR - 76
REG - 92

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71

[futureARcpa]

Taking BEC 4/4/13 and I am in public accounting. Probably not the smartest thing I have ever done. I am finding it hard to study with Becker for this section. I studied Becker for AUD and FAR. I feel like the lectures are sooooo long. I have a short attention span so it's hard for me to sit still and watch Olinto preach for 2+ hours and retain the info. Anyone else have my problem? HELP!

FAR: 79 (Becker basic)
AUD: 68 (Becker basic), 91 (Becker, WTB, NINJA)
BEC: 64 (blind), 81 (Becker, WTB, NINJA)
REG: 68 (Becker basic), 73 (Becker, WTB, NINJA), REMATCH 2/27

[futureARcpa]

Me too, @CPA4birthdaypresent. Me too. I took a break after my AUD exam, and now I can't get motivated like I was.

FAR: 79 (Becker basic)
AUD: 68 (Becker basic), 91 (Becker, WTB, NINJA)
BEC: 64 (blind), 81 (Becker, WTB, NINJA)
REG: 68 (Becker basic), 73 (Becker, WTB, NINJA), REMATCH 2/27

[ROACH]

I'm about to finish the IT section today and start on Econ tomorrow.

BEC: 66 | 69 | 7/23/2013
AUD: 8/28/2013
REG:
FAR:

[Anonymous]

Must will myself to study…I generally like Olinto more than Gearty, but why do his lectures have to be SOOOOO LOONNNGG???? Ugh.

[Author]

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