NJSCPA Exam Cram Blog

An update to share

I have some personal news to share. I left public accounting for a corporate accounting position. This new position was an opportunity that I could not pass up.

With this new position, I will use my new found time to my advantage to study for the CPA exam, which, honestly, was put on hold because of the long and rough hours I have been working in tax season. Which brings me to a question: What is your work schedule for tax season? I would love to hear your answers. Shoot me an email, michael.delorenzo@mikedelo.com.

 

MRD

One down, three to go.

January is over!!!!  Which means we have two and a half more months to go until the end of my first tax season.

I must say, tax season has brought my studying to almost a full stop.  What is everyone doing to keep up with their studies!?  It has really become tough to study, work and keep a some-what healthy lifestyle.

Has anyone read January’s Accounting Today article titled, What's Up With Your Docs?  It talks about working in a paperless environment.  I lead the way to a paperless work place at my last employer.  It caught on rather quickly.  We kept a shared drive with the typical directory tree structure.  The firm I am with now, went paperless a year before my arrival.  We utilize CCH Document in addition to the shared drive storage.  I find Document to be very unreliable.  After months of pushing Document, I have went back to the shared drive.  It is dependable.  A few times I have searched for a PDF that was uploaded (or scanned) into Document, and came up empty.  (and I know, for a fact, it was sent to Document)

I've tried to go paperless at home a few years ago.  A few months into it, my hard drive crashed before I was able to implement a back up schedule, resulting with me reverting back to the old fashion way of keep personal records.  To be honest, I have thought about cutting back on the amount of papers I keep.  I have always kept receipts for all credit card purchases and every paycheck stub.  But I find it tough to answer the question WHY?!  Most of the information, if needed, can be downloaded from the internet. 

Is your office paperless?  How do you keep your personal finances?

MRD

Tax: Week 2

I am into week two of tax season.  Nothing really has changed yet, except coming into the office on Saturdays.  The firm is utilizing the Saturday’s in January to train the new staff in tax work. 

 

In the world of studying, I have been really pushing myself to study a little bit at a time, even using my half of my lunch hour to squeeze in some book time.  Every little bit helps.

 

This weekend is my (our) engagement party.  We have been planning the dinner event for about three months, looking forward to sharing the night with my friends and family.  Our next big event would most likely be the purchasing of our home or the wedding; depending how everything falls in line.

 

Additionally, I have started a web forum for golf.  A project that I wanted to start for some time but needed to put my hands to work.  It is still in the start up phase but with any luck (and a little work) it just might grow into a decent size forum.

First Tax Season

Hello all!!!

Wishing you a Happy New Year!  May this be the year we add three letters to the back end of our names. 

Just completed my first week of tax season.  In fact, today is my first Saturday working since September of 2006. 

Today, the firm is providing a training to everyone regarding 1099s.  Should be interesting.  Want to soak up as much as possible, as early as possible so I can shine when the going gets tough. 

Anyone else start their tax season hours yet?

MRD

CPA in 2012

Happy New Year! I absolutely love counting down to a new year. After all, unlike the ticking bombs and count downs to inevitable natural disasters in movies, the only thing we can be 100% sure of is that a new year will commence at midnight on January 1st. Oh, and that you WILL pass the CPA exam if you study! Ok, ok, I'm no comedian so I'll leave the jokes to Tim Gearty.


I am positive that most of us share a 2012 new year's resolution: Become a CPA this year! Personally, I only have 3 exams, 11 credits, and 9 months of work experience standing in my way. Totally daunting, yet totally doable.


I am sitting for BEC this Friday ... yikes! Let's just say that I did not follow my holiday study plan as well as I would have liked. Luckily, I did knock a big chunk of my material out before this long weekend, so I had a little room to slack off. I will definitely be pulling a few all-nighters this week, though, just to make sure I do not have to sit for this exam again. Well, my much-needed study break is now over, so back to the books!


Here's to a healthy and prosperous 2012!
Alyssa

Seasons Greetings!

Hello everyone and happy holidays! I hope many of you will be enjoying early office closings and extended weekends for the holidays and upcoming New Year.

It is surreal to think that in a few short weeks I will be in the midst of my very first busy season. With that in mind, I have been putting all the extra effort I can muster into my CPA studies.


I am sitting for BEC the first week in January and AUD the first week in February. I know this is a little ambitious, but I already registered for all 4 exams and needed to fit them in before May 5^th (my last day to sit and the day I have FAR scheduled). Due to the recent delay in NJ exam applications, I did not receive my notice to sit until well after I had anticipated. Because of these circumstances, I have altered the study routine I used to prepare for REG. I am spending less time on the lectures (I’m more of a visual rather than aural learner) and more time on MCQs, note cards, and reading. If you also identify more with one mode of learning, you may benefit from tailoring your studies to those strengths.

Earlier this week, my firm held an after-work CPA Rap Session so candidates and colleagues who recently passed the exam could get together informally and share tips, tricks, complaints, and successes. A coworker introduced me to Another71.com, an online forum serving thousands of CPA candidates who share their experiences within the community. Another friend guided me to CPAReviewForFree.com. As the name implies, the site offers thousands of free MCQs. I really like the site because the questions are worded much differently than the Becker and Wiley resources I have previously used. I feel this is an awesome study tool as many test takers feel the MCQs on the actual exam can be convoluted and confusing, and the site offers great practice at digging through the details to identify the question being asked.


If your firm does not have a CPA Initiative or support group, see if you can start one. Of course you can gain valuable tips from your fellow studiers here at the Exam Cram Blog, but nothing beats meeting up in person to share your trials and triumphs.

Best of luck to everyone taking an exam in the upcoming window!

Alyssa

Tax season ahead

This has been a crazy quarter!  First Thanksgiving then BAAAM! Christmas & Chanukah season is here.  It is hard to even think of the holiday times when there is so much going on.  Not only work, but studying and the dreaded tax season which starts in a few weeks. 

 

Speaking of tax season, how does your schedule change during these months?  How do you keep the life/work/study balance?  I look forward to reading some of your answers. 

 

I still am questioning my I am still pursuing the CPA certification.  There are so many other certifications out there, however, they all have one thing in common; the fact that many CPAs hold these other certifications.  This only tells me that after I am certified, I should specialize in one of these subject matters and gain a second certification.  This will allow me to go down what one would call the nontraditional CPA path, which is anything that isn’t tax or audit. 

 

Well, off to another study session with Roger CPA Review Course!!

 

MRD

Email: michael.delorenzo@mikedelo.com

Its been a long time!

I would like to apologize to the readers of this blog as well as the members of the NJSCPA for not making a blog entry for a complete month.

 

My studying and work has really taken control of my life.  Despite my efforts to keep a good work/life balance, the weight of the world continues to stand on top of my shoulders. 

 

On a lighter note, I have come up with an interesting way to learn more about accounting and the QuickBooks software.  A few years ago I bought the book, The Accounting Game: Basic Accounting Fresh From the Lemonade Stand.  The authors explain accounting in terms of owning a lemonade stand. 

 

I read the book in college but recently wanted to pick it back up to build a story line of company transactions.  My goal is to take these transactions and turn them into entries in QuickBooks.  Today, during lunch, I created a new company in QuickBooks 2011, called My Lemonade Stand, and will begin to enter in the events of the book’s story line.

 

We will see how it works out.

 

On a personal note:  How are the holiday plans coming along for you?  I have started to put together a shopping list, but have yet to kick off my contribution to the holiday lines.

 

MRD

More of FAR

Allow me to be honest – Studying for the CPA exam and working is really tough to balance!  Now that I told you something you already know, we can move on.

I have really utilized my time between work and sleep to study.  It really comes down to about two hours four days a week.  I admit, since I am studying for my first exam, I do not have to worry about the 18 month deadline; which means I do not have shorter period of time to study.  I will cross that bridge when I get to it. 

As for work – everything is going great!  I was getting into my car last night at 8PM after working a very full day, reflecting on the day’s events.  I thought to myself how the day was full of repetitive and boring tasks – I LOVE IT!    I never leave the office feeling unfulfilled.  If you ever worked a really meaningless job, you know what I am talking about.  It is human nature. 

I do have two questions to ask my accounting peers:

a)     Why does it seem like clients hate accountants?  Perhaps it is just at my firm, but of the small list of five clients I have, not one of them returns phone calls or properly greets me on my client visits. 

b)     Why do business owners wait for the last day to submit paperwork so I can make sales tax payments?  Is this going to be what tax season will be like?  Are they that unorganized? 

 

MRD

The Celebration Must Wait…

Hello Everyone -

Let me begin by sharing with you all that I passed FAR! Having only studied for two weeks, this was a huge accomplishment and is proof that the CPA exam is conquerable, with time and dedication, that is. Having said that, let me remind you all, that I did nothing else but study for 10+ days; in fact, I must admit… I was pleasantly surprised when I received my score, as I couldn't help but recall the feeling of utmost defeat that I felt leaving the testing site.

So, time to celebrate, right? Wrong...I take REG this coming Saturday, October 1st...followed by AUD on October 30th and BEC on November 29th.

Studying for REG was going well until I started work at PricewaterhouseCoopers last week. I am now struggling to find time to study. Had I known how difficult it would be to study after a full day at work, I would have requested a later start date… work is mentally and physically draining (as is the commute), and the last thing I want to do is review tax code and business law on my “down” time.

I will update you all after Saturday – for those taking exams during the upcoming testing window, I wish you all of the best…

As Peter Olinto would say…’we are on our way, to a CPA’!