[Anonymous]

Study tips needed to conquer this beast – I am about to pull every strain of hair from my head. Any Suggestions???

Thanks in advance.. 🙂

[msgolds]

Bonds are a tough topic, but what specific areas of bonds are giving you trouble?

BEC - 90 PASSED
FAR - 84 PASSED
AUD - 93 PASSED
REG - 84 PASSED

I DID IT!!!!

Using Becker Self-Study

"If we were put here to carry a great weight, then the very things we hate are here to build those muscles."

[Anonymous]

One thing that helped me remember discount and premium was the way Cindy from Yaeger described it. For a discount, she would ask why anyone would buy our crappy 6% bond when the market rate was 8%. We'd have to sell them at a discount for anyone to buy them. For quite a while, when I read a bond problem I would change the wording.

Leases are still giving me fits.

[rlg5150]

What specifically is giving you troubles? A certain concept or just grasping the whole thing? Bonds was a FAR topic that I was glad to be tested over because I always felt it was pretty straight forward. Maybe we can nail down exactly what is giving you problems and you can feel this way too.

One thing I can tell you to pay extra attention to is dates and semiannual/annual interest. The calculations themselves are fairly easy but these things can throw a wrench in the whole thing.

FAR - 85
AUD - 86
BEC - 84
REG - 88

[Anonymous]

I get iffy when it comes to MCQs. I made notes and did all the examples in Becker . But whn i did MCqs i scored 45%. This morning i read jeff notes . it did clear my concept but still not sure about mcq- may be i should practice them again..

So much information to grasp ;-( ..

Thank you guys

[rlg5150]

Practice filling in the amortization tables for both discounted and premium bonds. This will help you get a strong sense of what the numbers really mean. For example:

You may be given the carrying amount of a bond and the interest rates and asked what the carrying amount will be in 6 months or a year, etc. Being able to take those numbers and go ahead and write down the amortization will help.

Carrying Amount Cash Paid – Effective Interest = Amortization +/- Carrying Amount

Does that make sense? If you can maybe give some specific examples I can help more. I really feel like there's only a handful of ways to ask a question about bonds so once you master how to do a particular “type” of question, you can answer all questions similar to it.

FAR - 85
AUD - 86
BEC - 84
REG - 88

[make_yourself]

I was one of the lucky ones, bonds/leases actually made sense to me (everything except restructuring loans). Not sure what type of problems you're specifically having issues with, but here are some of the items that helped me in that section:

I would agree with @rlg5150, make sure you're comfortable with the amortization tables, that will help a lot.

One other item that was helpful was getting really comfortable with (or just memorizing) the journal entries. In fact, for most FAR topics, if I was able to understand and memorize the journal entries, it was a lot easier to do conceptual questions because I would try to put the scenario into a journal entry.

With discounts and premiums, I always thought of it in terms of the fact that a company can slap whatever coupon rate they want on their bonds, but investors may not agree with that rate, and the way to adjust the amount of interest an investor is actually EARNING, is to adjust the price of the bond. So if a bond pays 10% and the investor demands 12%, the price of the bond has to be lowered to synthetically create that higher yield. If the investor only demands 8%, the company will have an opportunity to increase the price of the bond, and to earn a premium, in order to lower the yield.

FAR - 81 (07/24/2012)
BEC - 92 (10/06/2012)
AUD - 92 (11/29/2012)
REG - 88 (02/28/2013)

Ethics - 90

California Licensed CPA - 12/2013

[MCLKT]

@make_yourself, could you provide a journal entry? I specifically don't know what I'm supposed to DR/CR after I have calculated the amortization. If I am carrying a Bond Payable at a Premium and need to amortize $700 I think I DR Premium on Bond but I don't know the other side.

A:[73]97 F:[74]85 R:86 B:[74]82
*NINJA 10 Pt. COMBO & Yaeger*

[Shay]

I am using Becker “FACE” example for discount/Prem. It is very easy with that example.

For J/E on bonds: (borrower)

In beginning , always CR bond payable. B/c you have liability to pay in xx yrs. DR cash, b/c you got cash

Always DR Discount on B/P and CR Premium on B/P in beginning

When you record Interest Expense. Just reverse previous J/E, meaning CR Discount OR DR premium. And CR Cash account (same amount alwayss!!)

I need help with leases!?.

[Anonymous]

Thank you guys so mcuh . i really appreciate it ! Reading the book again and reading your commets did simplify my concepts.

@shay: when are you taking the exams? I am revisiting leases this weekend , I will update my lil notes soon.

[Shay]

@Nam…Next year probably….after not passing AUD. dont feel like taking FAR this window. too much risk

[Author]

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