[Anonymous]

I’ve finally gotten through all of Becker for FAR and up until the last two sections, I didn’t think it was terrible. Everything they went over, I had seen in school and at some point, was tested over and passed. But government and NFP accounting…holy ****. This stuff just goes over my head. I never studied it in school so it’s a completely foreign concept to me, or so it seems.

Anyone have any advice? I’ve noticed that it doesn’t seem to focus on computation, but rather it seems everything is geared towards JEs. How long did it take for you to get the concepts down? I have the test next Sunday (11/28) and I feel like I’ll have to study chapters 8 and 9 for about 50 hours just to get comfortable.

[thorsbew]

Clark,

I'm a JE person myself, but when it comes to NFP, I haven't thought about JE's at all. Just think about whether you have to wait to use your contributions or whether they can only be used for a specific item. These are restrictions. If you or your board can decide however you want to spend money, it's unrestricted.

For Governmental, I am just finishing up my Wiley MC questions. It seems that the general idea is Proprietary (sp?) Funds and Government-WIDE financial statements (NOT Governmental funds) follow the same general concepts as we see in GAAP. Governmental funds and Fiduciary funds are on the modified-accrual basis. MA basis says that if you aren't going to use your revenues within 60 days of the end of year, don't record the revenue.

In terms of what each fund does, study HARD. This section is a decent portion of the test. Don't slack on it!

Aud - 65 + 79, BEC - 82, REG - 89, FAR - 86

[WI_11]

I took FAR in oct and I also had limited gov acct experience. IF you had to pick one area to concentrate on it would be the J/E's.

AUD 89
BEC 84
FAR 87
REG 94!! ALL DONE

[thorsbew]

I wouldn't say focus on that one area… I took FAR back in August to get a feel for it and my experience was quite different.

Aud - 65 + 79, BEC - 82, REG - 89, FAR - 86

[evaianos]

clarkface,

Becker helped me to pass FAR, but doesn't explain govt and nfp very good (too much unimportant stuff) . Before to switch to Becker I used Kaplan which explained gov't and nfp much better than Becker and I end up using Kaplan for gov't and nfp.

I believe that I still have my notes for govt and nfp and I can email to you. Let me know.

[Anonymous]

evaianos,

That's kind of how I feel. The final two lectures are just way too repetitive, and I found myself tuning out for a lot of them. I guess repetition is a good way to beat something into your head, but it's also a good way to lose concentration. The way Becker went over each different type of fund, it all seemed too similar that now I can't differentiate between any of them…they all kind of just glob together. Maybe that was their intention…guess I'll find out.

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

but seriously though, the main difference between 8 and 9 is the fact that the majority of it is concept-based, opposed to the majority of the material which is more computation (where you can learn by just practicing). you NEED to get an understanding of the motions and the big picture. unlike you guys, I actually felt the lectures were fantastic. sure, they were quite repetitive, but when I first read the chapter I had no idea what was going on. after the lectures, everything just fell together and I did quite well in the homework.

I would recommend giving the lectures another shot, get a good night's sleep, wake up fresh tomorrow, have a nice cup of coffee and give it another go. focus on learning and getting a basic understanding on what each of the funds are responsible for, and I think with that knowledge you can figure out a lot of the questions.

then again, I haven't taken the exam yet, I am just basing my understanding of gov't and nfp on how I did in the homeworks.

[Liz317]

I had to go over the gov/NFP chapters 4 times for FAR. What helped me was writing out JE for the problems to find the logical reasoning (the “why?”) behind them. Once I felt like I understood the logic, I didn't feel overwhelmed by having to memorize all of the different transactions. I don't know if it will help you, but you can try. Also, study the funds and the differences and relationships between them all. This helped me keep everything straight instead of having it all jumbled in my head.

FAR - 92 --- AUD - 87 --- REG - 80 --- BEC - 87
A licensed CPA in Louisiana!!!

Dear CPA Exam, You are a beast. But you WILL be defeated!

[Author]

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