The Flesh Needs To Be Strong

January 27, 2010

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The Flesh Needs To Be Strong

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Lesson 61

From: Joe


(a) – I want to wish my lovely wife Sarah a happy birthday on Sunday. While I have aged terribly, you haven’t changed one bit since we got married in 1970. I’m a truly lucky guy.

(b) – We are supposed to have a big snowstorm this week-end. If you are in an area where snow is predicted, make sure that you have all of your books and notes available. If you get stuck in your home, you want to be prepared to get in a lot of great study hours. For the CPA Exam, snow storms can be great. You can wrap up in warm blankets and drink hot chocolate and study all day.


(1) – Okay, I’ve got a challenge for you right from the start. I don’t care if you’ve never used our site; stop reading this email right now. Go to www.CPAreviewforFREE.com. Pick the section that you are planning to take next (even if it is in two years). Take one of our random exam tests. Right now. Stop putting it off. Take 20 minutes. Answer the questions as quickly as you can. Read the answers and, for those you missed, see if you can figure out what you needed to do differently to get it right.

Come back in 20 minutes and you should be at least one point closer to passing the CPA Exam. In these emails, I can tell you all kinds of things to be encouraging. However, if you don’t (a) read the questions, (b) work out your answer, and (c) and most importantly, try to learn from your mistakes, then these emails don’t do you any good.

--I want YOU to pass.
--I want YOU to read those questions and read those answers.
--These emails are merely a means to get to an end. The end is working enough questions and reading enough answers so that you can pass.

So, stop reading and go work 20 questions. When you come back, you’ll already be closer to passing.


(2) – I have really been enjoying sending out tips on Facebook. In case you don’t follow our Facebook page (CPA Review for FREE), here is the tip that I sent out this morning.

www.CPAreviewforFREE.com – Tip Thirty-Nine – Today is moving day here in my classes at the University of Richmond. I find that after about 2-3 weeks even the most enthusiastic student starts to get a bit lethargic. There is something about every day looking the same that eventually gets to be a grind. And, learning is never efficient if it feels like a grind.

So, when I sense a drain in energy from my students, I come in and move everyone in class around. I move the ones on the left to the right and the ones on the front to the back and so on. Usually, I feel an immediate surge of enthusiasm. All of a sudden, things feel new again. It won’t last forever but for another 2-3 weeks, the students should do better.

If your preparation is beginning to feel like a grind, you might try switching to a new room when you work: from the study to the kitchen, from the living room to the dining room. Or, take your study space and rearrange the furniture a bit. Anything so that it will have a different feel. Candidates often turn preparation into a type of death march: “I’m going to head down this path and I’m not going to look right or left until I pass or pass out.” The psychology of that approach is just horrible. Think of ways to keep your energy and enthusiasm up. Be your own cheerleader. Create rewards for yourself if you study for a couple of hours. Or, as with my students, shake up your environment a little bit—move yourself or your furniture around. You may be surprised by how much better it feels to study. Joe Hoyle –President, www.CPAreviewforFREE.com


(3) – Another thing I like about our Facebook page is that candidates get to talk to other candidates about their study. Here is one that was posted by one of the candidates a few days ago. I must admit that this person studies more hours per day than I probably would but, what is most important is that she has organized her work into something that really seems to be working for her:

“When I first heard of this website I was skeptical, so I ignored it for a while, but then I got desperate so I checked it out. I have found that each time I go over a question from www.cpareviewforfree.com that I get a stronger grasp over the topic that I already thought I knew inside out.

“If you work, I would recommend that you head over to a library, one that stays open late (i.e. a college campus library) and try to do about 4-6 hours a day during the week and the weekends try to put in another 8 hours. Like Joe says, every hour you add to studying adds a point to your exam. I would recommend that you be consistent with the time that you set aside to study and that each time you study you make an index card for the rule that the question is testing. His questions are straight to the point, so it would behoove you to note the reason why you got the answer right. Joe gave us a tip where he said to limit your flash cards to 10 words, for the most part that has worked for me and it has helped to keep the old material that I have studied fresh in my mind. I used (big course) in conjunction with this website, however I have found that his questions test you on everything that the exam can ask you conceptually. So even if you purchase videos from (big course)
and also text from them, ultimately it is practicing questions over and over that will get you to pass the test and increasing the speed with which you answer questions.”


(4) – If you need to unsubscribe from these free email lessons, just scroll to the bottom of this lesson and click on the link provided. Personally, I’d rather for you to forward it to all of your friends and neighbors but I do understand if you need to unsubscribe.


(5) – I give teaching presentations occasionally (as well as maintain a teaching blog . When I stand in front of a group of teachers, I often start my program with a Bible verse. It comes from the 26th chapter of the book of Matthew, verse 41: “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Whenever I read that verse, the college teachers will all smile and nod their heads. Why is that? Well, the reason is that every teacher knows that virtually every student who walks into their class really does want to learn the material. Sure, the spirit is indeed willing. If you could just pour the knowledge into their heads; if you could just type the information into their DNA, every student would love that. They want to succeed. No one wants to fail; no one wants to do poorly.

However, when you ask students to do the work in order to succeed, you quickly find that their flesh can be awfully weak. For a college teacher, Matthew could have been translated: “Students really do want to do well; they just have a tough time doing the work it takes to do well.”

Okay, let’s take an assessment, how is your spirit? How much do you really want to pass the CPA Exam? Is it an aching hungry? Is it a drive pushing you to the final goal? On a scale of 1-10, how much do you really want to pass the CPA Exam? Honestly, if it is not about a 7 or so, you might want to reconsider the whole idea. It is hard to pass if you lack the spirit.

Now, how is your flesh? How willing are you to sit there and answer those questions and read those answers and take those notes? Why did I start this email with “go work a random question test?” Most people need a little push to do the work because the flesh can be weak.

It is human nature, I am convinced. For a whole lot of people taking the CPA Exam: “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

There is no magic cure so how can you go about putting a little push into your flesh.
--Remind yourself every single morning why you want to pass. It is a hard road to travel if you don’t know why you are doing it. “Okay, it is Monday morning and I want to pass the CPA Exam because . . .”
--Set a time goal “I want to pass the CPA Exam by….” Nothing creates urgency like a shortage of time.
--Reward yourself when you do a good job of studying. That makes the rewards for doing the work more immediate. If your only reward is that you’ll take a test in six weeks and hopefully get a passing score in a more weeks, the reward is too far into the future.

Yeah, we are all human. It is always easy, I think, for the spirit to be willing. But it is a much bigger challenge to get the flesh to get up and do the work that is necessary. Don’t let yourself be the kind of person who fails into the trap of “all want and no do.” Wanting is great but the doing is what gets you the points you need.


(5) – Practice – Okay, let’s see if we can add another point to your score, right here.

FAR

You are studying a set of financial statements prepared for the city of Wichita. You find an asset listed as a building which is reported as $2.4 million. The statement also shows accumulated depreciation of $700,000 for a book value of $1.7 million. In which of the following are you not looking as you study the statements for the city of Wichita?

a. Fund-based financial statements for governmental funds
b. Government-wide financial statements for business-type activities
c. Government-wide financial statements for governmental activities
d. Fund-based financial statements for proprietary funds


Answer is A

Government-wide financial statements report all economic resources including all assets (such as a building). That is true for both governmental activities (like the police department) and business-type activities (like a bus service). The fund-based statements for the proprietary funds are reported in the same manner. The accounting for proprietary funds (the bus service, for example, or an internal print shop) are very similar in the government-wide financial statements and the fund-based financial statements. However, the fund-based statements for governmental funds (such as a police department or fire department) only report current financial resources. A building is not a current financial resource and is not reported in those statements.


Auditing

The Machieto Corporation produces a set of financial statements according to United States generally accepted accounting principles. However, by an accident, the accountant reported the book value of the company’s warehouse (as a fixed asset) using a method that was not appropriate under GAAP. The accountant has created a misstatement in which of the following assertions?

a. Existence
b. Presentation
c. Completeness
d. Valuation


Answer is D

The completeness assertion states no transactions or balances have been omitted and none have here. The existence assertion states that no extra transactions or balances have been included and none have been. There is one building and the company is reporting one building. The presentation assertion states that the balances have been properly placed within the financial statements and the building is shown as a fixed asset which is appropriate. The valuation assertion states that the figures being reported have been determined according to US generally accepted accounting principles. That was not the case here.


Regulation

At the beginning of the current year, John Doe is single. However, he marries Helen on January 23. The couple adopts two infant daughters from Russia on May 1 of that year. Unfortunately, Helen dies in a car accident in November of this year. John Doe does not remarry prior to the end of the year. The children do qualify as dependents. What tax status should the taxpayer use when filing his income tax return for this year?

a. Single
b. Head of household
c. Qualifying widow
d. Joint

Answer: D

If a spouse dies during the tax year, the filing status at that time holds (unless a change occurs subsequently such as a remarriage). In this particular case, on the date that Helen died, the couple could file a joint return. Despite her death, that status still applies for that tax year.


BEC

A stockholder of the Chaplin Corporation received each of the following items. All of them are considered asset or capital distributions, except:

a. a stock split of 300 previously unissued shares of the company’s stock
b. a distribution of three acres of land
c. a dividend of $3,000 based on the profits of the company
d. a dividend of $2,000 in cash that is deemed to be a liquidating dividend


Answer is A.

A stock split is a type of stock dividend that neither reduces the assets of the business nor increases the stockholder’s percentage of the ownership. It is not viewed as a distribution but rather as an attempt by the company to reduce the market price of the company’s stock by increasing the supply. It is not viewed as an asset or capital distribution. The business is no worse off and the stockholder is no better off.


If it snows, add points!!!!

Joe Hoyle
Co-Founder
CPA Review for FREE

www.CPAreviewforFREE.com