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Topic: Out of School for 12 yrs - Struggling (

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Trystdy12
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Joined: 25 Aug 2009
Location: United States
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Posts: 69

Posted: 22 Sep 2009 at 10:36 \| IP Logged

I was never a very intelligent person to begin with and now I have been out of school for twelve years.

I recently started my CPA journey and started with the becker review. Becker tells me what to do and i can do what they say but then in a different problem I am unable to do the things the same way.

Like journal entries, I am unable to do them or understand why they are done the way they are done and its impossible for me to rememebr so may entries together. Then how do i solve questions like effect of this on net income and effect of that on balance sheet.

Basically, my question is to anyone who is taking Yaeger if they find a difference in getting a grasp of the concepts?

Please let me know as soon as possible.

Its a humble request from somebody who is very confused and frustrated here.

ael719
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Joined: 20 Jul 2009
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Posts: 125

Posted: 23 Sep 2009 at 04:39 \| IP Logged

I am using Yaeger Homestudy for FAR and the only reason journal entries make sense to me is because I finished my Intermediate Accounting classes about a year ago. Most of the information is still floating around in my head. When I was taking Intermediate in 07-08, journal entries never made sense to me so I memorized them. Turns out memorizing them forced that foundation in my brain and for the rest of my accounting classes I was able to connect the dots. I have forgotten most of the difficult journal entries that I memorized back in college and Yaeger is just reminding me about what I have forgotten. I can still figure out/guess (with about 95% confidence) what most journal entries are.

In Yaeger, they read through journal entries/basic accounting concepts and don't really explain them in too much detail because at this point they expect you to understand journal entries as a basic accounting foundation. I am guessing this goes with all CPA review materials.

If you're having this much trouble with journal entries, maybe you should look into an online/community college accounting course as a refresher. I'd try to sit in college accounting lectures because hearing someone explain it out loud is always easier than reading it from a text book where its presented in GAAP-anese. Maybe even try just picking up an Accounting for Dummies book. One day I was flipping through a friend's Accounting for Dummies book and I was fascinated by it because it reminded me how much I have learned in accounting and refreshed my knowledge of GAAP with simplistic explanations/examples (Lemonade stand case-study, LOL).

When I was working on my bachelor's, I was always slow on under/overstated Inventory/COGS/Net Income/Retained Earnings because I'd have to visualize them going from the Balance Sheet to the Income Statement. Now, I can answer under/overstated questions quickly and easily. I never realized how well I understood items flowing through the financial statements until I started studying my CPA materials.

It sounds like you have forgotten the basics of accounting. If a concept is not making sense as you study your review materials, then it will not make sense on test day. Studying for FAR is actually fun for me because I've seen every topic before and the review material is just refining my knowledge on those topics which makes me feel like a smarter/better future accountant. :)

wonderin32
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Joined: 14 May 2009
Location: United States
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Posts: 3

Posted: 24 Sep 2009 at 13:35 \| IP Logged

I've also been out of school for awhile. 10 years since a college accounting class, but only 5 years since my MBA accounting classes. Regardless journal entries were never my cup of tea.

I wouldn't worry too much about the journal entries themselves, but only if you know how to complete the T-accounts. Knowing where things go and which side they hit seems to be the key to me.

After going through all of the questions on my own after watching the Yaeger DVDs, the T-accounts were much more important than the journal entries.

I don't know how this will treat me come exam time, but knowing enough about the topics and whether items are additions or subtractions can get you most of the way. Being able to work a multiple choice question rather than accounting is how the CPA exam (or any standardized test) is defeated. You have to have a basic knowledge, but the difference between success and failure is not necessarily knowledge based, but strategy based.

TryingCPA
Major Contributor

Joined: 01 May 2009
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 425

Posted: 26 Sep 2009 at 15:08 \| IP Logged

Personally, I think it would be very difficult to pass FAR without an understanding of journal entries. Sorry :( Maybe you should start out with BEC or Audit until you get up to speed with basic accounting? I finished my accounting degree fifteen years ago and passed with Yaeger the first time; but I've intermittently worked in various Staff Accountant positions to keep up my skills. Can't discuss specific exam content, but it is quite possible you may have to journalize transactions on the simulations portion of the FAR exam and there are two simulations.

__________________
FAR-85 (5/01/09)
BEC-83 (5/30/09)
REG-81 (7/02/09)
AUD-84 (8/03/09)

JustinT
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Newbie

Joined: 04 Jul 2009
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 8

Posted: 27 Sep 2009 at 15:12 \| IP Logged

There are some great videos on Youtube that discuss journal entries etc. One of them that I found is Susan Crosson's online accounting class...

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=30B23428FCA03CDB

This is a pretty good start.

Way back in accounting I also memorized ADE/LOR

Assets, Draws, Expenses debit balance

Liabilities, Owners equity, Revenue credit balance.

From that, I can figure out a lot of entries etc.

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