[HoldMyBeerCPA]

Hello all,

Long-time lurker, tenth time poster. Unfortunately, I’m in a position where it’s looking very likely that I’ll have to take the CPA exam after the dreaded changes take effect.

Currently, I work at a small cpa firm in Utah. In order to sit for the CPA exam in Utah, 135 units are required, 150 units are required for Nevada (I’m considering moving to Nevada in a couple of year). I have the required 135 units to sit in the state of Utah, but not Nevada.

Here’s the real problem. I only have my bachelor’s degree and the aforementioned units.

Assuming that the 135 units I have makes me eligible to sit for the exam, do you all think I should try to cram in all four sections of the exam before the changes set in or take it slow, finish the MAcc program I’m enrolled in at Southern Utah University and finish the exam once I’m done? I’m on pace to be done with the program by next winter.

Of course, if I were to complete my MAcc, I’d be on pace to take the exam in summer 2017 at the earliest, or at least be eligible to sit for the exam.

It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on all this so thanks in advance!

[Yaz88]

dude!! just register with NH which can take 120 to sit for the exam or even colorado I think you can sit for the exam !!! then change it to whatever state you reside in… A lot of people confuse the eligibility to sit for exam VS getting your license!!

[Yaz88]

If i were you I would focus on the CPA exam first, (registering with a state that allows 120 to sit for the exam, then finish the program for the license…..

[Anonymous]

There are some states that will only accept the exam credits if you qualified to take the exam in their state at the time that you took the exam as a candidate of another state, so use caution when state-hopping. For the OP, I'd urge making sure that Nevada is not one of those before taking the exam as a Utah candidate with an expectation of moving to Nevada in the near future. Also, many states' education requirements to sit for the exam and to get licensed are the same.

As for whether to take the exam now or do the MAcc now and the exam later, I've got one question: If it weren't for the pending exam changes, when would you be taking it? Post-MAcc? If so, then wait and do it post-MAcc. This isn't the first time the CPA Exam has changed, or the first time that everyone thought it was scary and awful. Every time people have done things that they would've never done otherwise in order to try to “beat the clock”, then ended up wasting lots of money on failed tests because they rushed instead of prepared, and maybe wasted relationships on it too because they obsessed over something that wasn't nearly as scary as it seemed. Then 2 years later, the scary new exam is the normal exam. A couple years after that, some new change is coming along, and everyone's trying to finish with the “good ol' exam” that just a couple years ago was the scary new one that was scaring everyone.

So, don't change your plans because the CPA exam is changing. Every change before has scared people, but people have passed before and after. If I listen to the older CPAs, back in their day, you had to walk uphill both ways through snow 10 foot deep carrying a child on each shoulder and dragging the mule behind you cause even the mule couldn't make it through…then you had to carve your answers into stone tablets and were scored on your artistic abilities as well as your accounting abilities. The final section of the exam was to use those stone tablets to throw at the Fire Breathing Dragons of Tax Evasion; if you couldn't knock them out with one hit, then they'd eat you. Then…

Oh wait, I'm getting off track. Whoops. Point is, everyone thinks the exam of one era or another is harder or easier than another. Reality is, in every era, it's sucked, but people have passed it. Pass rates fluctuate a bit each quarter and people will always have conspiracy theories about it, but at the end of the day, people pass each quarter. If you put in the effort, you can pass. You can do it in 2016, or 2017, or 2018, or 2019, or 2020. If you don't, you will fail. And if you fail in 2017, you can't blame it all on the new exam format. Cause some people will pass in 2017. So the 2017 version of the exam will be passable. In fact, if betting was legal in this country, I'd put some money on that the pass rates would stay within the standard deviation of their normal pass rates.

Relax. Live life how you would have if you hadn't looked on here and seen the news about the exam changes. If your plan was to do your MAcc and then the exams, do your MAcc and then the exams. However, if you really planned to do the exams this year and need a little boost, sure, you can listen to the fire-breathing dragon stories and let them be your motivation to do what you already planned to do. But don't change your life based on some over-inflated campfire stories.

[Jdn9201]

I agree 1000% with Lilla. I will also add that I think the changes are overblown. Yes, I'm glad I'm on track to finish before they change, but keep in mind that it's in the interest of the CPA review businesses to overstate the changes. First, they want to stay ahead of the competition by giving out new information about the exam, and they make more money if they scare more people into hurrying to take the exams now, rather than wait until later.

BEC - 88 8/29/15
REG - 82 11/14/15
AUD - 83 1/8/16
FAR - 80 2/29/16

[Tncincy]

Well they scared me, getting it done before the changes. Not hurrying but studying for real, no more excuses or playing around. When the changes are definite, the materials will change too, in more money as well so Let's git'r done .Good luck everybody.

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader....ready to pass

[HoldMyBeerCPA]

Thanks for the advice and laugh, Lilla. I've always planned on taking exams after I complete my MAcc. However, I've considered taking at least one exam in my final semester just to get the ball rolling a bit earlier in that regard.

[Anonymous]

Glad it could make you laugh. 🙂

I think the people that will get the short end of the stick with the change are people who are caught mid-stream when the changes take place. If you've taken, say, REG twice, scored a 60 and a 74, and think next time you can nail it, then next time the exam format is much different than you're used to, that's going to throw you for a loop. But if you've never taken REG, then having it be different isn't going to be anything different from what you expect. The hope, of course, is that you never take an exam more than once. Statistically it's estimated that only about 25% of people are in that category, but that's the hope. However, it's only the people who are taking the same exam both before and after the changes, in my opinion, will really deal with much negative effects from the change.

That being said, taking 1 exam your final semester – if that was your plan anyway – sounds like a fine plan. Chances are better that you'll pass it on your first try than that you'll fail it (just under 50% pass rate for most of the exams, and some people take each exam multiple times [more than 2], so that means that for each test individually more than 50% of people pass it first time), and if you study well you can increase those, so you've got a good shot at starting out 2017 partway through the exam series.

[Author]

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