JANUARY – MAY:

For my friends who know a little something about the Big 4 firms, in which I work for one of the four largest international accountancy and professional services firms, I was immersed into the lovely time of year called “busy season”.  A time of 60-70 hour work weeks, late nights, and a keen addiction to caffeine.

JUNE-AUGUST:

In June, I continued to study for my last CPA exam, Regulation.  I took my exam in July and found out I passed my exam in August!  Now I am in the midst of doing all the paperwork to get my CPA license.  Also during this time, I continued to work on a variety of audit clients ranging from technology to consumer products.  In addition, in June, I participated in my frm’s internationally recognized Impact Day–to make an impact on the communities where they work and live.  This year the people of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu firms around the world shut off their computers, email, and phones to provide skills-based volunteering and a helping hand to hundreds of not-for-profit organizations as part of IMPACT Day. Deloitte member firm professionals use this day to support not-for-profits in activities where they share their knowledge and expertise such as strategic business planning and helping teachers in schools, as well as painting buildings and beautifying parks and gardens. About 50,000 Deloitte people across 60 countries contributed their time and skills throughout the year to serve their communities.  This year, I helped paint a mural at a local elementary school and helped setup computers in the school’s newly donated computer lab. It was fun having paint brush sword fights with the kids. 

SEPTEMBER:

On September 9th, I celebrated my 23rd birthday.  My girlfriend took me out for a nice birthday dinner at a sushi restaurant. Yum!  Even my colleagues and boss celebrated my birthday by bringing in cookies, cake, and taking me out to lunch which was extremely nice.  Also, on September 15th, I celebrated my one year anniversary with my company, Deloitte & Touche LLP.  I am now a second year. Woot!  Looking back, I have learned more than I could ever imagine and have been given so many opportunities and unique experiences, as well as made some great friends.  There is definitely a huge gap in what I know today compared to the day I graduated college.

OCTOBER-NOVEMBER:

Starting in October, I was given the opportunity to work on a new life sciences client in which I put in some fairly long hours through December.  It was quite an experience in which I learned a great deal about the industry and really enjoyed working with everyone.  

DECEMBER:

In an effort to not repeat my last year shopping experience, I began my holiday shopping much earlier in the month rather than the week of, or a few days before Christmas day.  I finished all my shopping by December 22nd–a new record!  Now I have a few days off to relax and enjoy life.  It is definitely my favorite time of the year and the perfect opportunity to wind down and catch up with friends and family.  I also went ice skating for the first time in my life at the Irvine Spectrum.  It was pretty hilarious hearing the sound of kids falling hard on their tookus.

Anyways, that about wraps up my year.  December is nearly at an end and as we prepare for the Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza, and New Years, I would like to wish a Happy Holidays from my family to yours.

Here’s looking forward to Twenty-Ten!

Well, I just took the Regulation section of the CPA exam yesterday and lets just say I got owned. It was insanely difficult… and lets just leave it at that.

Now that I have a little time on my hands until I get the results of my Audit and Regulation CPA Exams, I decided to get back into reading books that I’ve started during college but never had the time to finish. So currently, I have two books on my plate, the first one is called Extraordinary Circumstances – The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower by Cynthia Cooper (you may know her from when WorldCom went bust along with Enron). The second book I am reading is called The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve Chairman.

These books aren’t your so-called fiction novels or what may be “fun” reading, but these topics interest me very much. All in all, I much rather read a textbook than an actual fiction novel. So far, on both of these books, I am about halfway done and hope to be finished with them in the coming few weeks.

If you have any other book recommendations, let me know! I have coupons to Barnes & Nobles as well as gift cards I have yet to use.

UPDATE: In anticipation of summer, I updated my song of the moment with an awesome tune by ATB called “Summer Rain”.

As many of my accounting friends know, the CPA (Certified Public Accountant) exams are a pain in the behind. For those who don’t know, there are four main parts that one must pass – Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR), Audit and Attestation (Audit), Business Environment Concepts (BEC), and the dreaded Regulation (REG) part. CPA candidates with a 4.0 undergraduate GPA walk into their testing center, but stumble out limping, dejected, wondering what just happened to them.

So far to date, I have passed FAR and BEC on my first attempt with absolute ease. I usually finish an hour or so early. I’m still waiting on the results for Audit, so we’ll see how that goes. Audit is a 4.5 hour exam, and I finished in 2.5 hours–possibly I finished a little too early and should of gone slower? We’ll find out in a few weeks. I am usually not one to second guess myself on multiple choice questions for these exams.

However, as I sit here studying for what could be my last exam, Regulation, I am recalling why I didn’t go into tax. This stuff makes absolutely no sense. For every so-called “rule”, there are at least several exceptions. To my definition, these so-called “rules” are more like rough guidelines. The government seems to over complicate what should be fairly straight forward. I am doing the  Becker CPA Self-Study Review which consists of video lectures and multiple choice problems as well as simulation problems. I’ve been spending a lot of time with my new best friends, Peter Olinto and Tim Gearty (you CPA candidates know who I’m talking about).

There’s just so many things to memorize for Regulation that it makes my mind boggle. Usually, this is the point where I begin to taper off and loose some motivation, but surprisingly, I am even more motivated. I am studying with vengeance and most importantly, I just want to finish this darn thing. But in all fairness, the material really isn’t that difficult since most of us with a B.A./B.S. degree in accounting have spent a couple years studying this stuff, it’s really just a matter of regurgitating what you already know/learned. The hardest part is getting the motivation and energy to study. After working 9-13 hour days, no one wants to come home and crack the book open. It’s more like wanting to come home and crack open a can of beer. But the dedication to study even after a hard days work is what separates those who pass and those who don’t.

Although I didn’t have much of a summer after graduating from University of California, Santa Barbara, I spent that summer taking a CPA review course which proved to be beneficial and well worth it. It allowed me to study less than what I would normally have to after coming home from a rough day of work. It also allowed me to quickly glance and skim through the 400+ page CPA review book assuring myself I already knew most of the topics in the book already.

So as I stand at the halfway point, the idea of quiting is definitely not an option, and from this point on, it’s full-steam ahead.