I got approved!

[Ava]

Well, not yet. But I will be, probably tomorrow or Monday.

After coming back from vacation I sent the Florida CPA association my latest transcript, which includes the two classes I took during Fall 2015 to fulfill the credit requirements for the Florida CPA exam.

I've been logging in every day to see if they updated my information. As of this afternoon all the items are checked as received and approved. The credit requirements are listed as Complete in green, which means they are ok. Those were the only items highlighted in red as Incomplete until yesterday.

The application status still shows as Work in Process, and they haven't sent me an email yet. So I guess they'll finish processing soon.

I am so excited!

Now I have to decide the dates for the exams, and which materials I'm going to use to study. I am leaning towards Becker because I really think it is  the best one. The only drawback is the high cost. My second choice would be Wiley CPA, but I only have one shot at this because I cannot spend in two training programs. My guess is that I will end up choosing Becker despite the price. It's very important to have the right materials to study.

I am ecstatic. I am about to pinch myself to convince me it's not a dream.

Hopefully, I'll be posting from Florida at this time next year 

Now the plan is to study, pass a couple of parts, and then moving to Florida, leaving the cold and the snow behind FOR-EVAH!

[Jaguar]

WOO HOO, AWESOME !!!!!

[wvugurl26]

I would just spend the money on Becker. When I did that and really buckled down and did all the lectures and homework, I passed the exams. They do a good job of preparing you. I tried other stuff in between and it just didn't work for me. It is expensive but I look at it as a small price to pay for increasing my earning potential forever.

[Works4me]

Congratulations!! And I agree, go for Becker because you want to pass the first time.

[Ava]

Jan 28, 2016 21:12:48 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

I would just spend the money on Becker. When I did that and really buckled down and did all the lectures and homework, I passed the exams. They do a good job of preparing you. I tried other stuff in between and it just didn't work for me. It is expensive but I look at it as a small price to pay for increasing my earning potential forever.

Yes, I'm going to use Becker.

Can I ask you in what order you took the exams?

How many weeks did you study for each of them? And how many hours a week?

I know each person has a different timeframe to learn, but it would give an estimate to budget my time.

Thanks

[Gardening Grandma]

Ava,
I know nothing about CPA exams, but just wanted to wish you tne best. You don't need luck because you are smart and hard working.

Looking forward to more exciting news.
GG

[wvugurl26]

Jan 29, 2016 7:46:57 GMT -5 Ava said:

Jan 28, 2016 21:12:48 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

I would just spend the money on Becker. When I did that and really buckled down and did all the lectures and homework, I passed the exams. They do a good job of preparing you. I tried other stuff in between and it just didn't work for me. It is expensive but I look at it as a small price to pay for increasing my earning potential forever.

Yes, I'm going to use Becker.

Can I ask you in what order you took the exams?

How many weeks did you study for each of them? And how many hours a week?

I know each person has a different timeframe to learn, but it would give an estimate to budget my time.

Thanks

It's been some time since I passed. I did finance, audit, tax and bec. I think bec is something different now? I wanted to do finance first because it was the hardest one for many people. I think we could sign up once per quarter for exams. I probably could have spent more time on them. I believe Becker gives suggestions on that. Sitting down and focusing on something like that is hard for me. I had the DVDs. I know when I watched all the lectures and did the homework I passed. I liked the DVDs because I could pause and rewind and go at my pace.

[TheOtherMe]

My nephew did audit first and flunked it.  Then he passed all the others and took audit and passed!

You will get this!

[Ava]

I found this email in my inbox this morning.

Now it's official!

Dear Exam Candidate:

Congratulations, this letter is to advise you that your application has been approved to sit for the CPA examination.

The Florida Board of Accountancy recently approved the application that you submitted for the above referenced examination. Your approval status has been electronically transmitted to the vendor. You will need to contact CPA Exam Services (CPAES) at 1-800-CPA-EXAM between 8:00 am to 4:30 pm central time to register for the CPA examination; which you can pay by credit card or be billed. The sections for which you register will be valid for six months. If you experience problems registering for the examination contact the Florida Board of Accountancy. 

Prior to licensure you will need to complete the following:
• Complete one year of work experience (see 473.308 F.S. and Rule 61H1-27.0041 F.A.C.).
• Complete education deficiencies (if applicable, your education evaluation is enclosed).
• Any additional requirements imposed by statute and/or rule.

Please do not submit additional transcripts or work experience verification at this time; these documents must be submitted at the time you apply for licensure. Applicants should contact their college or university’s school of accounting/business for guidance in selecting additional courses to meet education deficiencies.

Thank you for your cooperation.

CPA Examination Team
Florida Board of Accountancy

The letter is longer, I just cut some parts.

They attached an excel worksheet with my education credits evaluation, but I cannot open it. I get a message that something is wrong with the worksheet. I'll try to open it later from another computer.

I still haven't completely processed the good news!

[Ava]

Jan 29, 2016 9:30:17 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

Ava,
I know nothing about CPA exams, but just wanted to wish you tne best. You don't need luck because you are smart and hard working.

Looking forward to more exciting news.
GG

Thank you so much for your support, GG

[Ava]

Jan 29, 2016 9:40:28 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

Jan 29, 2016 7:46:57 GMT -5 Ava said:

Yes, I'm going to use Becker.

Can I ask you in what order you took the exams?

How many weeks did you study for each of them? And how many hours a week?

I know each person has a different timeframe to learn, but it would give an estimate to budget my time.

Thanks

It's been some time since I passed. I did finance, audit, tax and bec. I think bec is something different now? I wanted to do finance first because it was the hardest one for many people. I think we could sign up once per quarter for exams. I probably could have spent more time on them. I believe Becker gives suggestions on that. Sitting down and focusing on something like that is hard for me. I had the DVDs. I know when I watched all the lectures and did the homework I passed. I liked the DVDs because I could pause and rewind and go at my pace.

Great information. I am going to sign up for two parts now that I got my approval. My rationale is to choose the exam that covers more topics first, get it out of the way, and then deal with the other three.

By the time I get to the last one I expect to be in Florida and working, so I want to leave the less time consuming for last. A lot to decide this weekend.

[Ava]

Jan 29, 2016 23:33:14 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

My nephew did audit first and flunked it.  Then he passed all the others and took audit and passed!

You will get this!

What probably happened is that your nephew felt more confident the second time around, as he had passed all other parts. Also, at that point, he had to do it. You are not going to put the time, money and effort to pass three parts and then not finish. So he did what he had to do. I've also noticed, from the time I failed Statistics, that it is easier the second time, because you already have a foundation, however shaky.

And heck, yes, I got this!

I'm not letting this great opportunity slip through my fingers.

[Ava]

Ok, I clicked on the excel worksheet again and I was able to open it.

Good news is that I have enough number of credits for the licensure.

Bad news is that I am still missing six credits for this section of the evaluation:

ACCOUNTING EDUCATION PROGRAM
(36 Semester or 54 Quarter Hours above Elementary) - MUST BE UPPER DIVISION - JUNIOR, SENIOR OR HIGHER
All applicants are required to have coverage in auditing, cost and managerial accounting, financial accounting, taxation, and accounting information systems (61H1-27.002(3)(a) & 61H1-27.002(3)(b)). Elementary accounting subjects are not counted. 61H1-27.002 (4) Elementary accounting subjects include principles of financial and managerial accounting courses even if they are covered in a three course sequence, are titled “introductory,” “fundamentals” or “principles” and even if they are offered at the graduate level. 

I can't believe it. I still need to take two more classes to obtain my license.

Now I see why few people make it as far as the CPA license. It's really hard!

But I'm not going to let it bother me right now. I'm going to concentrate on the exam and passing it and take the two classes immediately after the last part.

I'll try to take them online since I'll hopefully be slave labor for some public accounting firm at that point                       
                     

[taz157]

Congratulations Ava!!

Florida is a little more stringent with the number of accounting classes needed. I had my Maryland CPA license when I moved to Florida but I had to take 4 accounting classes as I didn't have enough accounting classes. I got those classes out of the way and got my Florida CPA license!

With Maryland, I only needed the 150 credit hours but wasn't required to be a certain amount of accounting classes (like Florida).

Don't let this get you down! You got this! I can't wait to hear that you passed all 4 parts, moved to Florida and got your Florida CPA license!

[TheOtherMe]

Jan 30, 2016 10:36:55 GMT -5 Ava said:

Jan 29, 2016 23:33:14 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

My nephew did audit first and flunked it.  Then he passed all the others and took audit and passed!

You will get this!

What probably happened is that your nephew felt more confident the second time around, as he had passed all other parts. Also, at that point, he had to do it. You are not going to put the time, money and effort to pass three parts and then not finish. So he did what he had to do. I've also noticed, from the time I failed Statistics, that it is easier the second time, because you already have a foundation, however shaky.

And heck, yes, I got this!

I'm not letting this great opportunity slip through my fingers.

He said he didn't study much the first time around for audit.  The second time, he studied very hard because if he didn't pass he would have lost the next part he had passed. He was not going to let that happen. 

He already had the work requirement, so he just had to pass the ethics part, submit his documentation and get the certificate.  He has an MBA also.

[sapphire12]

Congratulations Ava!

[zibazinski]

I've enjoyed your journey. Thanks for sharing it and congratulations!

[zibazinski]

Jan 30, 2016 10:51:56 GMT -5 Ava said:

Ok, I clicked on the excel worksheet again and I was able to open it.

Good news is that I have enough number of credits for the licensure.

Bad news is that I am still missing six credits for this section of the evaluation:

ACCOUNTING EDUCATION PROGRAM
(36 Semester or 54 Quarter Hours above Elementary) - MUST BE UPPER DIVISION - JUNIOR, SENIOR OR HIGHER
All applicants are required to have coverage in auditing, cost and managerial accounting, financial accounting, taxation, and accounting information systems (61H1-27.002(3)(a) & 61H1-27.002(3)(b)). Elementary accounting subjects are not counted. 61H1-27.002 (4) Elementary accounting subjects include principles of financial and managerial accounting courses even if they are covered in a three course sequence, are titled “introductory,” “fundamentals” or “principles” and even if they are offered at the graduate level. 

I can't believe it. I still need to take two more classes to obtain my license.

Now I see why few people make it as far as the CPA license. It's really hard!

But I'm not going to let it bother me right now. I'm going to concentrate on the exam and passing it and take the two classes immediately after the last part.

I'll try to take them online since I'll hopefully be slave labor for some public accounting firm at that point                       
                     

But it looks like only one year of slave labor instead of two.

[moneymaven]

Go get 'em, Ava! You'll be great!!

[Kolt!]

Hey Congrats!

I don't envy you at all though. Accounting is not my fortay at all! I'm an English Major though so give me words not numbers! My ex was an accounting major...

The CPA is not fun. Not that I would know personally. Nor really want to know! lol >.>

But...I bet you'll do awesome! 

[tskeeter]

Jan 30, 2016 10:36:55 GMT -5 Ava said:

Jan 29, 2016 23:33:14 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

My nephew did audit first and flunked it.  Then he passed all the others and took audit and passed!

You will get this!

What probably happened is that your nephew felt more confident the second time around, as he had passed all other parts. Also, at that point, he had to do it. You are not going to put the time, money and effort to pass three parts and then not finish. So he did what he had to do. I've also noticed, from the time I failed Statistics, that it is easier the second time, because you already have a foundation, however shaky.

And heck, yes, I got this!

I'm not letting this great opportunity slip through my fingers.

Back when I took the exam, the section that recent graduates failed most often was auditing.  It is also the section that my niece, who is currently working on the exam, failed.  The reason this happens is that exam questions often ask which of multiple alternatives is the best approach.  Recent graduates usually don't have auditing experience, so struggle to identify the best alternative.  

In your situation, I think you'd be well served to delay the auditing section until you've completed the other sections.  This will allow you time to gain some real world exposure to auditing, from either the auditor or client side of the process.

[Ava]

I have a quick question.

I've been crunching numbers and everything is SO EXPENSIVE.

The fee, the exams, the study program. Plus I have to save to move, rent an apartment and maybe survive without a job for a little bit once I make it to Florida.

I'm trying to contain costs a little bit, and to ease my anxiety.

So before I plunge into a study program I took a second look around. Becker costs 3.4k for the basic. If you add the final review is 4k. I would really like to have the final review available.

4k is a lot for me. Especially because it will be available for 18 months only. If I'm not done in that time frame I'll have to pay again, I think half price, for each part I need to access again.

Wiley CPA costs 2.3K for the platinum version and it never expires. That would take a huge weight of my shoulders. I don't plan to fail any part, but it happens. I'm very stubborn, don't give up easily, so I would take it again. I just don't want to have to pay twice for studying, besides all the other costs.

I tried Wiley CPA for 14 days a few months ago. It wasn't bad. It had short videos and the materials were good. I found it a little bit disorganized, though.

I'm in a crossroads. What would you do?

I feel Wiley CPA would ease my financial worries. The fact that it will still be there as long as I need it is huge. On the other hand, Becker seems to be the go-to option for the big four accounting firms.

[wvugurl26]

I did just fine without final review. When I took the exam credits started expiring at 18 months I think. So even if Wiley was still good you'd be losing credit for previously passed exams and that's not a position I'd want to be in. One thing would be to wait until you are absolutely ready to schedule a section and buckle down with studying before buying. Once you pass a section you can't stretch it out more than 18 months anyway.

I hit my expiration when I had my last section scheduled. I called Becker and they fixed that section for me through my test date. I might have had to prove it was scheduled. I really don't think final review is necessary which brings the price tag down.

But if you are still not comfortable with costs buy Wiley. I know some people who've passed, I've just heard more stories about Becker. I bought mine 3 months before losing my public accounting job and I still think it was worth every penny I spent on it. There are certainly other ways besides Becker. I would say Big 4 has a price break and I feel like it breaks the stuff down well to what you must know. Entry level associates don't have time to waste so that's a big help.