[KassiusKlay]

Ugh. So I just finished Becker study course for FAR. All 10 beautiful chapters. I realized I understand majority of the concepts, but when it comes to JE I am failing miserably. It probably has to do with the fact I took Accounting 201, 202, and 203 at a community college and haven’t seen intense JE since (which was almost 2 years ago). I thought I had a general understanding of debits and credits but the more I dive into FAR the more confusing they get. I’ve tried YouTube for videos on JE and some are helpful and some are not. Does anyone have any suggestions how to approach this? Any websites/videos? Becker is extremely helpful in the fact that they dont expect you know anything at all, but I think they gloss over the JE’s. And from everything I have been hearing/reading the Sims in FAR are all JE…. Im taking the test on Aug 30th so I have some time… Dont know why I cant grasp this concept…. ugh any help would be much appreciated. And I dont want anyone to write out a 2 page cheat sheet, but just guide me in the right direction. If nothing else I am going to open up my Accounting 201 book and read the darn thing all over again… I would really really really like to not have to do that… Thanks guys…

Form is temporary, class is permanent.

Audit 4/19/12 - 77
BEC 5/31/12 - 75
FAR 8/30/12

[jtcali]

as general rule of thumb you debit expenses and assets and you credit revenue, liabilities, and equity. other than that you have to memorize the journal entries for certain events such as selling an item in inventory:

db cogs

cr inventory

db cash or AR

cr revenue

[Marivy22]

---

Dr

---

Cr

Assets

---

+

Liabilities

---

+

Capital/Equity

---

+

Revenue

---

+

Expenses

---

+

A new mnemonic for you “ALCRE”. The first and the last letter increase with debits……….all other letters with credits.

Hope this helps…

Done 😉
Class of 2012!!!!
Lots of prayers and hard work....

[NDCPA123]

Take ‘credit' for your income items. It's how I remember.

AUD - 80
REG - 77
FAR - 78
BEC - 84

[mena je twa]

Kassius-

All the above have showed you short cuts as to how to attack the Debit/Credit issues. I would definitely take a class in a community collge or may be a webinar, online or something. They will start from scratch and take you till the end.

FARE is not the only case you will need debit/credit help. In real life you will need to iron out these issues. I do journal entries at work and sometime complex, compounding entries where i have to use T accounts to sort some stuff out.

DO it now, dont rely on these quick fixes, it will eventually haunt you.

Just my .02 cents.

Licensed CPA, Texas - 2012

[Anonymous]

I agree whole-heartedly with mena je twa on this one…the CPA exam isn't the kind of thing where you can “fake it till you make it”. And I'm not saying this to be mean, rude, or offensive, but to me, your struggles with journal entries shows me a weak foundation in the THEORY of Accounting. I know you may understand the theory behind how we account for certain areas (e.g., why we book a liability for unfavorable contingent events, etc.), however, you MUST understand the theory behind the double-entry system (thank you, Luca Pacioli, circa 1494).

Again, I only say this because I want you to succeed, but you really need to understand the impact of journal entries on the B/S & I/S, as well as the pervasiveness of entries throughout the financial statements. Understand the fundamentals 110% and nothing will stand in your way.

[I love numbers!]

Go thru the lessons on this website…

https://www.accountingcoach.com/

B - 71, 83
A - 85
R - 80
F - 80

[jenuno01]

Ah man, J/Es and T-Accounts are seriously the key to passing FAR. Like my dawg Baseball said, understand the fundamentals, and nothing will stand in your way. Most if not ALL the calculations in FAR can be solved via JE or T-Account. Don't rely on short-cuts, take the guessing factor out and learn your Drs and Crs. I don't know if I have advice on how to learn double entry accounting from scratch, I had really good Accounting professors in college, and it honestly just comes natural to me. You have to get to the point where you read a scenario or a question, and can automatically picture the JE and know what the efffects of the Financial Statements will be. Once you get the hang of it, it's actually fun! It's like a puzzle that needs to be put together.

Class of 2012

[KassiusKlay]

Thanks guys. Being a non-accounting major only makes this test harder… 🙁 I dont start work until January 2013 and plan on being done with this test by mid October. I was already planning on doing something to enhance my understanding of JE's. I know a quick fix wont help. I might of been over dramatic in my OP. I get the basics of JE. Its one thing to understand something with repetition but I find it hard to repeat JE as they are all different and unique to each situation. I guess what I was asking for in my OP was not a short cut but like @Mena Je Tewa said something like a webinar or an online source. Thanks guys and I would rather have you all be brutally honest and be helpful than be nice and not helpful. Cheers! : )

Form is temporary, class is permanent.

Audit 4/19/12 - 77
BEC 5/31/12 - 75
FAR 8/30/12

[mgoloubenko]

Despite what people have said, I personally have always found JE's somewhat confusing. I think conceptually I understand it well, but have difficulty producing them. This was a really big concern with me with FAR, but I did pass even though I ran into a lot of entries on the SIMs. It can be done.

FAR 4/9/12- PASSED
BEC 7/13/12- PASSED
AUD 8/16/12- Ughhh 71, Rematch: 90!!!
REG-12/6/12 PASSED

USC MAcc- Fight on!

They say good things come to those who wait, but only those things that are left by those who hustle.

[Anonymous]

I totally agree with what mene je twa said. Journal entries are the basic foundation of accounting, and I feel that by not really understanding them and how they impact the financial statements will make it difficult to pass FAR and to succeed in the workplace. Knowing journal entries makes it so much easier to logically think through problems instead of having to rely solely on memorization.

I'm not very familiar with Becker, but I know with the Yaeger FAR course the instructor touches on some of the basics. It's definitely not a repeat of Principles of Accounting, but they typically do more hand-holding than Becker.

I bookmarked this website which someone on this forum told me about last year…

https://www.principlesofaccounting.com/

I'm not sure how much journal entries are covered, but I thought it might be worth checking out.

Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

JEs are the language of accounting. To be able to accurately come up with JEs, you must first understand what's going on in English, then be able to translate that into JEs. You can't just memorize words in a foreign language without fully comprehending their meaning and uses.

In light of that, I would take some time to analyze whether the problem lies in your understanding of what's going on and it's full impact in English, or in translating that into JEs. I have found that the majority of my mistakes in JEs come not from the translation, but from the original lack of understanding.

Philosophical answer aside, one practical tip is to always force yourself to come up with the JEs from scratch. Don't study by staring at the JEs and trying to memorize them. Also, whenever you solve any problems, write down the appropriate JEs for practice, even if you wouldn't need them to come up with the answer.

[Hitemup27]

If you can master the debits, credits, and the rational behind JEs (rather than memorizing them), you really get an understanding of how financial statements work. Students in my MBA class couldn't handle their intro accounting class because the professor was so fixated on advanced theories like capital vs. operating leases, that he didn't realize that spending 2-3 weeks just practicing simple JE's to make income statements and balance sheets would have actually been more valuable.

I think it's akin to the way Neo sees the Matrix at the end of the 1st movie. The top layer of the financials is peeled away and you can see the reality of what's going on.

A - 93 - 10/25/2011
R - 92 - 1/17/2012
B - 91 - 5/31/2012
F - 93 - 10/1/2012
E - 90 - 11/17/2012

Processing...

[KassiusKlay]

@I Love Numbers! Wow that site is really helpful. I've spent the last 4 hours on it familiarizing myself with JE's and DRs and CRs. WOW is an understatement. Im not saying I get it completely but its really helpful. And like all the other posters have been saying, its not memorizing the JE but understanding what is going on. Thanks for the insight. I bet if I spend an hour or two every day from now till the test on just JE I should have a much stronger grasp on it. Thanks everyone for all the input. Really appreciate it! Cheers.

Form is temporary, class is permanent.

Audit 4/19/12 - 77
BEC 5/31/12 - 75
FAR 8/30/12

[Author]

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