[Anonymous]

I noticed a lot of us are preparing for FAR.

i have no experience with this section, and left it for last.

I decided to make a thread that will hopefully yield tons of advice. this is inspired by Jeff Foxworthy’s “You know you’re a redneck if…”

Hopefully this will turn out as informative as Foxworthy’s thing was humorous. again the criterion is:

“you know you’ll pass FAR if you…[insert advice here]”

[monikernc]

eat something light, drink water and get back to it.

AUD - 93
BEC - 82
FAR - 76
REG - 88

How have you been?
Ninja book and MCQs and the forum, all first try! 2016
Licensed State of Montana April Fool’s Day 2020
State of Colorado June 2020 - AICPA Ethics 93
Experience was the worst part of the journey for me. You?
If you want things to change you have to do something different.

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[Excel14]

@monikernc,

Putting up for tonight. Studied from 8:30-3:30 solid, with one 30 minute break to eat lunch, so I'll get back at it tomorrow. Thanks for all of the encouragement! God knows I need it!

What do they call an accounting person, who only managed a 75 on all four parts of the CPA exam....you got it, CPA!!!

BEC (2/28/16) ----- 78
FAR (09/10/16)-----
AUD
REG

CIA, CGAP, CFE

[Anonymous]

@CPA50 thanks for the advice. please elaborate:

what is ARO?

why the new in parentheses behind bond issuance costs? Bond Issuance Costs (new)
you mean new bonds or that its a newly tested area?

is it weird that i dont remember most of this stuff from my MACC program?!

[Anonymous]

also, does FAR test any time value of money questions or did BEC cover those? if there are TVM questions and discounting how are you supposed to do it with no calculator?do they give you a table/rates you need?

[monikernc]

Eesti, ARO is Asset Recovery Obligation such as cleanup costs at the end of a project, like mining. I forget the exact treatment but there is some sort of present value entry at the beginning of the project for AROs.
Bond issuance costs treatment is a recent change so you will encounter correct treatment as you review. It has changed since I took FAR so I will have to learn it if I don't pass REG by next January.
You will see some discounting questions for which you are either given a choice of factors or are so short term you can easily do it with the allowed calculators.

AUD - 93
BEC - 82
FAR - 76
REG - 88

How have you been?
Ninja book and MCQs and the forum, all first try! 2016
Licensed State of Montana April Fool’s Day 2020
State of Colorado June 2020 - AICPA Ethics 93
Experience was the worst part of the journey for me. You?
If you want things to change you have to do something different.

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[Tscape16]

You know you'll pass FAR (or any section for that matter) is if you leave the exam feeling emotionally/physically/mentally drained to the point you believe you failed bad (at least that's how I felt each time).

AUD - 92
BEC - 86
FAR - 90
REG - 82

Licensed CPA since 2015.

FAR - 90 ✔
BEC - 86 ✔
REG - 82 ✔
AUD - 92 ✔
ETHICS - Passed

*Licensed CPA

[monikernc]

my bad, ARO is Asset Retirement Obligation, not recovery. silly, silly, me.

AUD - 93
BEC - 82
FAR - 76
REG - 88

How have you been?
Ninja book and MCQs and the forum, all first try! 2016
Licensed State of Montana April Fool’s Day 2020
State of Colorado June 2020 - AICPA Ethics 93
Experience was the worst part of the journey for me. You?
If you want things to change you have to do something different.

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[Excel14]

@mnikernc,

Recovery obligation occurs after each of us take the FAR exam! Lol. It's fine, you're entitled to an occasional slip up.

What do they call an accounting person, who only managed a 75 on all four parts of the CPA exam....you got it, CPA!!!

BEC (2/28/16) ----- 78
FAR (09/10/16)-----
AUD
REG

CIA, CGAP, CFE

[KJ]

I have been scoring 80-100% in Govt. questions by using my own mnemonic that I created to remember these fund. So thought to share if it with everyone if it will help anyone. I write the mnemonic to answer all the govt. questions and it does help. Of course there is more to it like knowing govt. fund types (restricted, committed, assigned, etc.) but getting these lined up helps. It will help answer if there is question on how CAFR is presented and which fund falls under proprietary or fiduciary.

Govt. Funds (GS remember as grade level in govt. jobs, DC (district of columbia), P as in letter P 🙂 or you can make up ur own) – I am from DC metro area so I created this but you can create your own.
G – eneral
S – pecial revenue
D – debt service
C – apital projects
P – ermanent

Proprietary (i.e. like that is)
I-internal service
E- enterprise

Fiduciary (PAPI – like the spanish word)
P – ension
A – agency
P – rivate trust
I – nvestment

Governmental-wide is only modified accrual and financial; the rest two (proprietary and fiduciary) are accrual and economic.

AUD - NINJA in Training
BEC - NINJA in Training
FAR - NINJA in Training
REG - NINJA in Training

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler" - Albert Einstein

FAR - August 2016
AUD - September 2016
REG - October 2016
BEC - November 2016

Remember: "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein

[KSOZE]

“My advice is actually the polar opposite of what a lot of people are saying.

Master GAAP. Be comfortable with NFP and Governmental. Don't worry about IFRS aside from maybe 3-5 major differences from GAAP that seem to come up often in the MCQs.

No amount of knowledge in any other topic can bail you out if all the big GAAP rules aren't ingrained in your mind.”

This did not work for me. I had several in depth sims on stuff “other than GAAP” and it's what made me flunk the test. I did comparable or better on all the MCQ but those SIMS are killer. KNOW IT ALL.

Best advice I can give is identify those subjects that make you think “I can skip this if I know all of it” and hammer that stuff until it at least doesn't make you nervous. Take MCQs til you vomit and actually work a decent amount of SIMS. I hate the advice to neglect SIMS as this caused me to fail this most recent take of FAR with a 70.

CRAM this exam!

FAR - 59, 70, 81
BEC - 80
AUD - 81
REG - 79

BEC - 80
FAR - 81 (third attempt)
AUD - waiting for score 8/23
REG - 09/08/2016 - going to cram and wing it

OH Ethics - Completed

[KJ]

@KSOZE well said. I have always believed even in college you can be tested on anything. My biggest challenge is JE. I always mess up on those and I have heard those are tested big time esp. on SIMS. Let's see what brings in tomorrow, nightmare or not I am not ready but I am going to give it a shot and give my best.

AUD - NINJA in Training
BEC - NINJA in Training
FAR - NINJA in Training
REG - NINJA in Training

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler" - Albert Einstein

FAR - August 2016
AUD - September 2016
REG - October 2016
BEC - November 2016

Remember: "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein

[slacpa]

@ kanwal78 I live in the DC metro area as well. would you be interesting in getting together sometimes to study? I work not to far from metro center. whats your email? When are your exams schedule? I take FAR in Aug and then AUD next. Thoughts?

[steph]

Does anyone have any advice about how to conquer pensions. I'm using becker and maybe its just me but I feel like the info is really glossed over and they don't make all the journal entries clear although how to do the calculations of the different components of the periodic pension cost seem simple enough. Any advice ?

Aud-passed April 2016

Bec-passed May 2016

Far-passed Aug 2016

Reg-scheduled May 16 2017 (fingers crossed)

AUD - Passed in May
BEC - Passed in June
FAR - Waiting for score
REG - Planning it for Q4
We can do this ninjas!

[Grizzly92]

@ginx789 I didn't like the way Becker covered pensions so I used my Kieso intermediate book. The Kieso book uses pension worksheets which make understanding them much easier. If you don't have it let me know and I can hook you up.

FAR: 89 5/14/16
AUD: 99 6/09/16

Becker Self Study

[steph]

@Grizzly92 hey thanks for the advice. I'm looking at my intermediate book now. I don't have the Kieso book, I have a Spiceland, but I'm sure its similar. Thanks though, yeah I feel like Becker just skimmed through the info when its more complex stuff

Aud-passed April 2016

Bec-passed May 2016

Far-passed Aug 2016

Reg-scheduled May 16 2017 (fingers crossed)

AUD - Passed in May
BEC - Passed in June
FAR - Waiting for score
REG - Planning it for Q4
We can do this ninjas!

[Author]

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