[Anonymous]

Okay I haven’t taken FAR yet but I am just wondering, the actual CPA exam, for the simulations, if there are multiple journal entry slots and if for some of them the correct answer does not require a journal entry, for the account name, does it matter if you select “none” or leave it blank? And for the actual amount, does it matter if you put “0” or leave it blank?

[Sandra]

For mine I had the option to select “no entry required” or some BS like that. I do believe if the option is there to select that you have to select it in order to get credit. Otherwise people could not even look at the sim and get partial credit. I didn't have a single spot in my sims where I didn't have to select something, although I did have extra lines for some entires.

[Getting a CPA]

And if a credit is blank because a debit is filled, do we have to enter “none” or “no entry required”? CPAExcel makes me do that right now…every box gets something then…

[Sandra]

No. I did not do that. As far as I remember I only had one sim like that- several JE were required with one particular scenario not requiring any entry. I simply took the first line where the account would be selected and picked “no entry”. Debit and credit were filled in only where required, otherwise left blank.

I believe this has been discussed before, maybe if you search you can find the official answer which was copied and pasted on here. Also as a side note- it does not matter in which order you do your journal entry.

[Getting a CPA]

Sandra – thanks. CPAExcel dings you points whenever you leave fields blank no matter what. I wonder what they are getting you ready for!? I have heard that JEs can be in any order….

[Sandra]

I think the software they use just isn't as spiffy as the exam software. Wiley is the same way- it doesn't like out of order JEs and is finicky about a lot of things.

Like I said- I didn't have a single “confusing” thing like that on the test. They make it VERY clear what you are suppose to do and will tell you if you need to put zeros for some things.

[MintsRGood]

@Sandra I am relived to know that there is someone else who noticed that Wiley downgrades your simulation score because it's finicky about the order! There was one particular audit sim in the test bank that it asked you to select 2 substantive procedures to test a topic with answer choices from A-M…if you selected your choices out of alphabetical order it marked the sim WRONG. It drove me nuts!!!

I also agree that on the real exam the software is very clear and specific. I haven't yet encountered anything that was not explicitly clear on a sim during the actual exam.

Good Luck Everyone!!!!!!!!

REG: 75 DONE 🙂
AUD: 61, 71, 68, 92 DONE 🙂
BEC: 76 DONE 🙂
FAR: 72, 74, 79 DONE 🙂
Licensed Michigan CPA 🙂
-Some people dream of success...others wake up and work hard for it!!!
-The cowards never start and the weak die along the way!
-You better work, b***h!
-Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.-JFK

[Sally WEN]

No entry is required: we should choose it or leave it blank when taking the FAR exam?

[Anonymous]

I would love to know the answer to this as well. Some questions I'd have, say, 5 lines to put entries in, but would only need 2 for the correct answer. I have no idea if I should put “no entry required” and zeroes for the remaining 3, or just leave them blank.

Contrary to what others have said, they don't always spell this out in the instructions to the question, I've reread them 3-4 times in some cases just to be sure and still not known what to do. I always put “no entry required” if it's an option. Hopefully the software they use to grade the exam wouldn't ding someone points over this issue

[mill4336]

I asked the AICPA about this and here is how they responded:

“The instructions in the TBSs vary depending on the type of entries that are required. The directions will tell you if not all lines are needed. If that is the case, then you should only enter responses in the number of lines that are needed to respond to the question. Be assured that the responses can be selected in any order. Responses selected for journal entries can also be selected in any order as long as you enter the proper corresponding debit or credit with each entry. The instructions may also state “an account may be used once or not at all for each entry”. That means that when a response is selected from the dropdown list and populates the cell, it is no longer among the choices on the list. As with all spreadsheets, a response can be changed by selecting a different response from the list, or removing it from a cell by highlighting the cell and then hitting the Delete key. Once changed or removed, the original response repopulates the drop-down list.

The ‘No Entry Required’ response should only be used when no journal entry is necessary for a question. The instructions state that if no entry is needed for an account name, select ‘No Entry Required’. It also states that “an account may be used once or not at all for each entry” which means that when a response is selected from the dropdown list and populates the cell it is no longer among the choices on the list. Finally, the instructions state that all rows may not be required to complete each entry. In other words, you may have empty rows. For an example of this functionality you should review the CPA Examination Tutorial and Sample Tests on the Exams website at http://www.aipca.org/cpa-exam.

We hope you find this information helpful, and, we wish you luck in your endeavors.

Sincerely,

Examinations Team

AICPA”

Hope this helps!

[wanttochangejobbypassingcpa]

Is this still up to date?

[jbergmann1]

This is not hat big of a deal. Just read the instructions for each SIM.

Passed all 4 parts of the CPA exam!
License application in progress

[Author]

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