The Quest to Becoming a CPA

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.