[jeff]

Welcome to the Q1 2016 CPA Exam Study Group for BEC.

Some BLITZ videos to help your exams: https://www.another71.com/ninja-blitz

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

[Anonymous]

@momikernc I kind of get you. I am getting my butt kicked by these math intensive formula questions. When I am starting to feel comfortable with variances and my confidence starts to grow suddenly comes other insanse detailed mcqs sith specific formulas. I hope I can get comftarble with them by feb 29, I may have to write them down somewhere… what are you doing to memorize them? Btw I had to look up the formula for SS (safety stock) I had forgot it. EOQ and RP are other ones that I did not remember…

kanwal78 I am a firm beleiver that the 10 point combo its sufficient. I used it for FAR and now for BEC. (had book notes and mcqs for REG) Its great having a wiley book for reference, I think it is not neccesary but it does not hurt. It can give you a different perspective to the material. That may come in handy if you do not understand something from NINJA. The ninja materials are great for me since I feel they go straight to the point, before bying them I suggest that you look up samples (notes and chapters from the books) that Jeff has in the website. If you think that his style is good for you then go for it. But whatever your decision is I say buy the mcqs, they are a must in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Btw the answer to my mcq was:

Beginning work-in-process inventory $ 12,000
Direct material used $40,000
Direct labor used 30,000
Manufacturing overhead applied 27,000
——-
Total manufacturing costs added 97,000
——–
Manufacturing costs to account for 109,000
Less: Ending work-in-process inventory* 9,000
——–
Cost of goods manufactured $100,000
========
* Combining the beginning balance of work-in-process with costs added during the month gives a total of $109,000. Subtracting the costs transferred to finished goods of $100,000 leaves an ending work-in-process balance of $9,000.

Thus, the ending work-in-process inventory represents the direct materials, direct labor, and manufacturing overhead applied to the job still in process at the end of the period. The cost of the direct materials charged to the job still can be determined as follows:

Ending work-in-process inventory $9,000
Manufacturing overhead applied (2,250)
Direct labor ($2,250 / 0.90) (2,500)
——-
Direct material charged to Job No. 101 $4,250

[monikernc]

cortes, the reason i have taken the extra time for bec (total 3 months) is because, i don't memorize – i have to see things over and over to remember them – not sure why that is, it's not like i have short term memory issues – so as i work the questions i write everything out as i solve them and write tips, or jot down the revelation i had while solving. repetition and reworking are my survival tools on all of this material. i know this won't help you but bottom line for me, i just do it all until it becomes second nature. i wish it would happen faster but it is what it is. i fear i will be the same way with REG – i am good with individual, sch C, trusts, and bus law, to some extent, but have no corporate or partnership experience.
i'm doing ok, just this one section with these little factoids get me. variances i have no problem with – i redid the chapter example in my managerial principles book and stare at the list of them every now and then.

i will say i have started a half sheet of paper and have written down items (no more than 10 things) i will drill in the car and hope to remember in that first 10 mins of exam so i can write them on the card. little things and memory prompts. i'm still working on it.

you seem to be doing very well. so hurry up before that baby starts crying!! so much joy ahead. good luck!

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[Anonymous]

Thanks monikernc! I am a visual learner too so I am not a fan of just memorizing stuff, but nontheless I will start writing them in other sheets with pointers and little facts that I understand are important for them. You seem you are in very good shape for the exam, good luck!

[Zyx]

A digital signature is used primarily to determine that a message is:

A. unaltered in transmission.

B. not intercepted en route.

Incorrect C. received by the intended recipient.

D. sent to the correct address.

This question just made me angry because only mentions the sender. What about the recipient?? Digital signature is used by recipients as well to ensure that the right person receives it. Can someone explain why?

Is anyone struggling with IT like me? I'm so confused by wording and some stupid terms we have to remember. After many discussions with my husband who is an IT for a national retail and he said “we don't use that blah blah blah anymore why they are asking about that!” My respond was well..I don't know. I know just we cannot pass CPA not knowing it 🙁

REG: 77 x2
BEC: 81 x3
FAR: 68 retake 10/1
AUD: 8/27

[payaza2000]

IT & Microeconomics are my struggling topics.

FAR 5/6/2015- 84
REG 8/3/2015 - 87
AUD 10/25/2015- 69 1/20/2016 -75
BEC 2/26/2016- 80

Thank you God

[monikernc]

this short article helped me with foreign currency – ignore the ads/survey
https://finance.zacks.com/appreciation-dollar-mean-10052.html

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[payaza2000]

So after a review of Microeconomics in B5, I am starting B6. How have you guys been treating the writing simulations. I have for the most part ignored them, I just focus on MCQ and making sure I conceptually understand what is being tested. Full Disclosure my writing sucks. But would much rather build understanding of the material.

FAR 5/6/2015- 84
REG 8/3/2015 - 87
AUD 10/25/2015- 69 1/20/2016 -75
BEC 2/26/2016- 80

Thank you God

[Anonymous]

@payaza, for the SIMs I am going to do some practice several days before the exam. I need to nail down the calculations…hoping I won't regret that. It's what I've done for all the other exams and it's worked.

Question: can someone review my summary below and let me know if I have it correct?

Three types of costing methodologies (these differ in how production costs are accumulated):
– job (per specific item)
– order (accumulated at department level)
– ABC (assigns costs to an activity and the products demanding those activities)

For reporting purposes (these differ in the treatment of FOH and result in different NI on the IS):
– Absorption (full) method
– Direction (variable) method

Finally, there are different costing systems (these differ in how the production costs are initially recorded and will affect variance calculation):
– Actual
– Direct
– Normal

Am I missing anything? Or is anything above wrong?

[Anonymous]

ErikaG28 as of now from what I understand those terms can be broken down like this:

Cost systems
These depends on how the company manufactures its products.

Continuous flow of the same product = Process Costing
Groups of different products = Job Order Costing
There are hybrid systems used when the production process is a mix of the two.

Then these systems can use for allocating OH purposes ABC costing. ABC can use machime setup as a cost driver for process costing to account for that cost wothout regards to how much actual output it produced for example and other drives for job order costing.

And to account for the inputs in the production proceess and how the cost are to be applied to WIP there are three methods:
Actual
Standard
Normal

This is what I have understood so far. I thought that the ABC costing OH application was for job order costing but apparently it can be used for process costing. If I am off somewhere let me know.

[Anonymous]

And as you said for reporting purposes there is
Absortion = GAAP. It absorbs FOH into ending inventory and the FOH cost are recognized when the units are sold (COGS)
Direct (variable) = Recognize FOH as a period cost.

When there is no Beg inv:
Production > sales? NI is higher under absortion
Sales > production? NI is lower under absortion.

[Anonymous]

@cortes123, thanks! And yes ABC can be used for process and job costing.

I feel like it is so important to have all the definitions straight!

[Anonymous]

Hi all! Settled in after work and going through the CPA Review for Free questions (it is a nice site if you have never checked it out). The questions are difficult but they are a change of pace and I like to go through MCQ that are ‘foreign' to me to see if I really know the material.

Hope everyone is doing well…I am officially two weeks out. Cue panic time…

[Anonymous]

Hey guys I need help with this calculation. I know that to know in % how much a certain item increased or decrease we can use this calculation:

( Current balance – Prior Balance ) / Prior Balance

But for some reason I am not getting the mcq below:

A hospital is comparing last year's emergency rescue services expenditures to those from 10 years ago. Last year's expenditures were $100,500. Ten years ago, the expenditures were $72,800. The CPI for last year is 168.5 as compared to 121.3 10 years ago. After adjusting for inflation, what percentage change occurred in expenditures for emergency rescue services?

A. 38.0% increase

B. 13.8% increase

C. 0.6% decrease

D. 18.1% decrease

This is the explanation. I feel dumb because I can't get why the 72,800 is multiplied by the fraction of 168.5/121.3:

To convert a dollar amount from one price level to another, multiply it by the ratio of the price level you are converting to divided by the price level you are going from. So, the 10-year-old expenses of $72,800 are multiplied by the fraction 168.5/121.3, which gives expenses converted to current dollars of $101,128.

Subtracting last year's expenditures of $100,500 from the previous period price-level adjusted prior expenditures of $101,128 gives a reduction in expenditures of $628. Dividing this $628 reduction by the previous period price-level expenditures of $101,128 gives a decrease of 0.6%

EDIT: Is there another simplier way to resolve scenarios like this one?

[Anonymous]

For all still struggling with variance analysis and flexible budgets, I found this…I like the visual aides and plan on practicing the problems in the slides this weekend:

https://www.csus.edu/indiv/p/pforsichh/accountinginfo/121/Ch07%20-%20Flex%20Budgets,%20Var%20Analysis/Ch07%20In-Class%20Problems,%20-%20STUDENT%20COPY.pdf

Today I two weeks away from what I really hope will be my last exam. I am stressed out, feeling unprepared and finding it hard to keep motivated. I know now is not the time to give up but I have a bad case of senior-itis.

Ok, enough whining. Off to look at some IT questions during lunch. Good luck all!

[Author]

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