[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any suggestions for mastering auditing simulations? I do extremely well on mc but the sims are killing me as far as passing goes. Any guidance would be appreciated? I’m trying hard not to give up and quit.

[Joey J]

oh don't give up! i scored in the 60's my first two attempts, then in the mid-90's on my last attempt. you can kick it's butt, believe me. i got SIMS that were similar to FAR. that is, journal entries and situations that asked to take AUD subject matter, but apply it financially. it seemed a bit intimidating at first, but when you relax and really look at the questions, it doesn't seem bad at all. there really is no magic formula for SIMS. i would just say take the knowledge you gain from the MC, and then apply it to a ‘case' format for SIMS. that is, don't get psyched out by SIMS, but rather take a step back, relax, and identify what the question is really asking. sometimes it appears a complex SIM, but in reality, it's straightforward and basic to financial statements.

[mep616]

Take advantage of the authoritative lit. If you can use the search function, you can find 90% of the answers to the sims this way.

BEC 80
REG 78
FAR 80
AUD 74, 7/14/11 79---DONE!!!!
CA Ethics--92
License received 12/1/11

[Anonymous]

CPA Candidate – I also had the same story. This was my third attempt at Audit. My first score was 70 and then 72 &72. In all my sittings my score reports shows stronger performance in MC but weaker in sims. I try to study every sims from the review course but in actual exam everything is different. Since now 40% is sims just do not know how to tackle this.

Any advice from anyone on how to tackle sims. And is there any particular review course which can help.

[moogatwo]

If it asks you to do something that relates to financial accounting don't panic, it's probably a distraction! Focus on what the audit issue is. For example, if it gives you journal entries with dates, amounts, and authorizations, focus on the information that matters to an auditor (What are the dates? Who's signing off on the entries?”). Once you've identified the audit issue, then consider the actual numbers and financial accounting concepts.

It feels like a lot of the simulations that involve financial accounting try to add additional stress by focusing on calculations, when all you really need to do is analytically apply audit concepts.

Reg: 7/29/11 (89)
AUD: 8/30/11 (95)
FAR: 10/31/11(88)
BEC: 1/10/12 (86)

[Author]

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