US CPA-FAR PREPARATION STRATEGY

The US CPA certification is globally recognized and is administered by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). To pursue this course the candidate must possess in-depth knowledge in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The US CPA exam is divided into 4 parts

BEC — Business Environmental Concepts

REG — Regulations

FAR — Financial Accounting and Reporting

AUD — Auditing and Attestation

Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) is probably the biggest and difficult section of US CPA for many test-takers.

By planning perfectly, one can complete it relatively in an easy way than what they think.

• It is advised to have a good command of accounting basics, as most of the FAR will be focused on basics and Journal Entries.
• Please make notes for important concepts and practice all Journal entries.
• F1 to F5 are the most important chapters in FAR. It is advised not to leave a single module in all 5 chapters.
• FAR can be completed using A.B.C analysis

Ø A: F1 to F5 = Very important

Ø B: F8 to F10 = Saviours in Exam especially NPO, Governmental Accounting

Ø C : F6 & F7

• The concepts in F6 & F7 are difficult to understand. That’s where Simandhar Lectures will be of great help in decoding them. These are bottleneck chapters when one is aiming for a high score.
• It is suggested to have a basic idea about Leases, Taxes, Pensions, and Derivatives. Deep Diving is not required in these modules if one is facing many difficulties in understanding the concepts.
• Make yourself charts for Governmental accounting, Cash flow statements for different concepts, and IFRS vs. US GAAP. One can find these charts and other material prepared by the students on Simandhar Portal.

Preparation in the following manner and can pass the exam:

• Complete lectures in each module, short lectures from Skills Practice.
• Prepare notes for the important topics in that module, revised them.
• Solve MCQs, mark those which went wrong, then resolve them again.
• Solve SIMs. Watch Skills practice videos which help you to know if there is any better way to finish the SIM within a short time.
• Take new points from MCQs & SIMs and include them in notes. You will get many new points from MCQs and SIMs from each module.
• Repeat the same for the next module
• Once when you finish all modules in one Chapter, Do “PERSONALISED REVIEW SESSION” at the end of each chapter.
• During FIRST REVISION, redo all the Marked MCQs and all SIMS while referring to Notes.

After the FIRST revision, start your SECOND REVISION and then practice 100 MCQs and 10 SIMS using UNLIMITED PRACTICE TESTS for each chapter. It takes so much time to do these tests, but they are very helpful.

• Time Management is very much Important in the FAR exam, and one has to learn that during the revisions. Be prepared to see Lengthy SIMs, which will have 6 –7 exhibits.
• Ideally, one has to complete the First two testlets in 90 mins, the Third testlet in 30 mins and the Last two hours for the Fourth and Fifth testlets.
• Scan first for any Research-based SIMs and Small SIMs before starting to work on a Big SIM. Try to attempt everything in SIM as there will be partial scoring.
• Don’t ever go with mock scores. The valuation in them will be completely different compared to the real valuation in the exam.
• Mocks here are evaluated by basing the Number of correct answers upon the Total number of questions without having weights to each question. Mocks are there for Final Practice before the exam to make sure you covered every important concept.

Two days before the exam, start doing all the FLASHCARDS, which are really helpful, and completed AICPA Newly released questions and the AICPA sample test.

• IMPORTANT ONE: Check for the illustrations in the AUTHORITATIVE LITERATURE while solving SIMs. They are very good examples for each concept after the Explanation.

Wishing all of you the very best and Good luck with Studying.

Conclusion: Try to prepare your own strategies as the thinking is different for each individual. Make sure you follow the prepared strategy with full dedication and without any distractions.

Dedicate at least one hour a day for yourself. That may be for doing Exercises or hitting Gym, Learning something new, or Meditating. One must be in good health while preparing for the exam.