[MarathonRunner1]

Per AICPA and Becker 2013 REG, Ethics, Legal & Professional Responsibilities (ELPR) make up 17% of the exam. However, the only area that I see this topic on REG is from pages 43-91 of Chapter R4. Furthermore, Tim Gearty comments at the start of the ethics lecture state that he would expect no more than “a couple questions at most” from R4 pages 43-91. This significantly contradicts my expectation of 11-15 questions (about 17% of the exam per AICPA and Becker written materials)

Interestingly, per review of R5-R8 (Business Law), it appears these 4 chapters (half of the book) make up only about 18% of the exam in comparison to only 48 pages (half of 1 chapter) of Ethics approximating a similar amount. I reviewed the whole Becker REG book and the only area that appears to contain Ethics, Legal & Professional Responsibilities (ELPR) is in the latter half of Chapter 4. Am I missing something? Can someone tell me if ELPR is anywhere else in the materials?

The reason I am questioning my own inspection of the material is because:

1) Gearty said there were only a “couple questions at most” for R4 pages 43-91 (the entire ELPR section) which contradicts Becker’s written materials and AICPA’s approximate percentage of 17%.

2) It does not appear reasonable that 4 full chapters of Business law has the same percentage coverage as 50 pages of minutia in the last half of chapter 4.

In essence, Is the scope of Ethics, Legal & Professional Responsibilities which make up about 17% of REG simply in pages 43-91 of R4? And if so, I guess Gearty simply misspoke.

Thanks for your input guys!!!

AUD: 94 (Nov. 2013)
FAR: 76 (Oct. 2013)
BEC: 79 (Nov. 2012)
REG: 84 (Dec. 2013) It's Mile 26.2, and we finished. Blood, sweat and tears, passion, perseverance, and never giving up, we did it!

California Candidate

[barelystayingsane]

Obviously we can't go into details, but “a couple questions at most” was not representative of my exam. Expect the 17% mentioned in the CSOs.

[barelystayingsane]

Obviously we can't go into details, but “a couple questions at most” was not representative of my exam. Expect the 17% mentioned in the CSOs.

[MarathonRunner1]

Barely staying sane, Thanks. Did you study with Becker too? If so, is the scope of the Ethics, Legal and Professional Responsibilities limited to the latter half of R4? Thanks.

By the way, Congrats on your phenominal scoring!

AUD: 94 (Nov. 2013)
FAR: 76 (Oct. 2013)
BEC: 79 (Nov. 2012)
REG: 84 (Dec. 2013) It's Mile 26.2, and we finished. Blood, sweat and tears, passion, perseverance, and never giving up, we did it!

California Candidate

[MarathonRunner1]

Barely staying sane, Thanks. Did you study with Becker too? If so, is the scope of the Ethics, Legal and Professional Responsibilities limited to the latter half of R4? Thanks.

By the way, Congrats on your phenominal scoring!

AUD: 94 (Nov. 2013)
FAR: 76 (Oct. 2013)
BEC: 79 (Nov. 2012)
REG: 84 (Dec. 2013) It's Mile 26.2, and we finished. Blood, sweat and tears, passion, perseverance, and never giving up, we did it!

California Candidate

[barelystayingsane]

Thanks! Not entirely sure if I understand your question correctly. Were you wondering if there were other parts of the Becker book that fall under the Ethics/Legal Responsibilities section? If so, there might be a small amount in R8, but otherwise I don't think so.

[barelystayingsane]

Thanks! Not entirely sure if I understand your question correctly. Were you wondering if there were other parts of the Becker book that fall under the Ethics/Legal Responsibilities section? If so, there might be a small amount in R8, but otherwise I don't think so.

[MarathonRunner1]

barelystayingsane,

Yes, thanks. That's what I was wondering.

AUD: 94 (Nov. 2013)
FAR: 76 (Oct. 2013)
BEC: 79 (Nov. 2012)
REG: 84 (Dec. 2013) It's Mile 26.2, and we finished. Blood, sweat and tears, passion, perseverance, and never giving up, we did it!

California Candidate

[MarathonRunner1]

barelystayingsane,

Yes, thanks. That's what I was wondering.

AUD: 94 (Nov. 2013)
FAR: 76 (Oct. 2013)
BEC: 79 (Nov. 2012)
REG: 84 (Dec. 2013) It's Mile 26.2, and we finished. Blood, sweat and tears, passion, perseverance, and never giving up, we did it!

California Candidate

[impska]

Copied from Becker's “2014 Improvements”:

“Content Changes

Regulation

BLAH BLAH BLAH…. We have also reorganized the Regulation lectures to allow more time for coverage of Tax topics (R1-R5), which are tested more heavily on the Regulation Exam than Business Law topics (B6-B8).

If you plan to take the Regulation exam in 2014 and you have not started studying (or recently started studying), we strongly recommend that you start fresh with the new 2014 (V1.0) Regulation course.”

REG - 94
BEC - 92
FAR - 92
AUD - 99

[impska]

Copied from Becker's “2014 Improvements”:

“Content Changes

Regulation

BLAH BLAH BLAH…. We have also reorganized the Regulation lectures to allow more time for coverage of Tax topics (R1-R5), which are tested more heavily on the Regulation Exam than Business Law topics (B6-B8).

If you plan to take the Regulation exam in 2014 and you have not started studying (or recently started studying), we strongly recommend that you start fresh with the new 2014 (V1.0) Regulation course.”

REG - 94
BEC - 92
FAR - 92
AUD - 99

[MarathonRunner1]

Impska,

Thanks. I will be sitting for it on Friday. I've always wondered why did they did not modify the structure of the chapters sooner. I acknowledge that Business Law is a very very broad topic. However, why in the %#@^ would a book dedicate 50% of its pages to only 17% of the exam content. Well, I'm just glad they are making it better for the candidates next year!

AUD: 94 (Nov. 2013)
FAR: 76 (Oct. 2013)
BEC: 79 (Nov. 2012)
REG: 84 (Dec. 2013) It's Mile 26.2, and we finished. Blood, sweat and tears, passion, perseverance, and never giving up, we did it!

California Candidate

[MarathonRunner1]

Impska,

Thanks. I will be sitting for it on Friday. I've always wondered why did they did not modify the structure of the chapters sooner. I acknowledge that Business Law is a very very broad topic. However, why in the %#@^ would a book dedicate 50% of its pages to only 17% of the exam content. Well, I'm just glad they are making it better for the candidates next year!

AUD: 94 (Nov. 2013)
FAR: 76 (Oct. 2013)
BEC: 79 (Nov. 2012)
REG: 84 (Dec. 2013) It's Mile 26.2, and we finished. Blood, sweat and tears, passion, perseverance, and never giving up, we did it!

California Candidate

[Anonymous]

The assumptions is you should know this stuff making an “a…” out of you know who (us). Because it all ties in with AICPA Professional, General, and Ethical standards some covered in audit some not. When you look at the CCSO the reference part, all the goodies/books they want us the candidates to use as reference when studying for the exams. Its impossible to read all that material, so we invest in review courses hoping for the “holy grail”. But if you notice with technology and 6 month rule its hard and expensive for review courses to keep up. AICPA can test whatever they want 17-21% can mean allot of things to them, because we still don't know how we are graded when you factor in the so called hard questions or medium mcqs….and how many candidates answered that question, pretest…

Sometimes I think AICPA=Legislative Bills that get through congress you really don't know what will be tested (tonnes of material, and they will test the most terrible thing you didn't study. REG will have FAR questions BEC will have questions from all the other parts.

How I miss the hard copy encyclopedia days. Because the standards were the same for 10 years before any changes were made and printed.

Finally some of the material CPA liability and misc. will be covered in bits across the Becker book. By dedicating a line or two just in case someone complaints.

[Anonymous]

The assumptions is you should know this stuff making an “a…” out of you know who (us). Because it all ties in with AICPA Professional, General, and Ethical standards some covered in audit some not. When you look at the CCSO the reference part, all the goodies/books they want us the candidates to use as reference when studying for the exams. Its impossible to read all that material, so we invest in review courses hoping for the “holy grail”. But if you notice with technology and 6 month rule its hard and expensive for review courses to keep up. AICPA can test whatever they want 17-21% can mean allot of things to them, because we still don't know how we are graded when you factor in the so called hard questions or medium mcqs….and how many candidates answered that question, pretest…

Sometimes I think AICPA=Legislative Bills that get through congress you really don't know what will be tested (tonnes of material, and they will test the most terrible thing you didn't study. REG will have FAR questions BEC will have questions from all the other parts.

How I miss the hard copy encyclopedia days. Because the standards were the same for 10 years before any changes were made and printed.

Finally some of the material CPA liability and misc. will be covered in bits across the Becker book. By dedicating a line or two just in case someone complaints.

[Anonymous]

If Gearty said you would only get a few questions on CPA liability / responsibility / ethics then it could potentially be misleading in terms of the number of questions you'll get on the exam. I didn't watch the Becker lectures (just read) but I sat for it today and got just as many from those topics as I did from business law. Granted, every exam is different… but the page count — CPA responsibility vs Business Law — in the textbook was not representative of the exam. I would place equal importance on those 48 pages as you would on the entire business law portion.

[Author]

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