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Lesson 87

From: Joe

(1) – Our big news for today is that our subscription service for BEC is now up and running. It joins our subscription services for FAR and Regulation that have become so popular over the last few months. Of course, our 2,100 free questions and answers are still available (you can even download those for a small fee).

For the BEC subscription service, we have over 650 slides with the content information you need to get the 75 points that will get you a passing score on that part of the exam. We include a study guide to direct you in how to combine the subscription service with our free questions. And, within this package, we have over 25 brand new examples of the Written Communication questions that now make up 15 percent of your grade in BEC.

Each subscription service is just $15 per month (a whopping 50 cents per day). Other review programs are $2,500. We are 50 cents per day.

If you are interested in subscribing for BEC, FAR, or Regulation (Auditing should be up soon), go to www.CPAreviewforFREE.com and click on “Stores” in the upper right corner. You will see information about our “Essential Information” that will guide you through signing up for the subscription service.


(2) – Here’s a nice note that I got a few days ago from CJ: “You may have forgotten me. I am the lady that used to ask you questions on your textbook and your CPAreviewforFREE site. You were always patient with me even when I was talking nonsense. I took FAR and Audit at the end of last year. Today I saw my results. I scored 87 in FAR and 91 in audit. Your site was very helpful. Most importantly the personal touch you give is priceless.”

We are always delighted to be able to help people pass the CPA Exam.

--For many, it is a personal goal – something they do just because they want to prove to themselves that they can pass.
--For others, it is a career necessity; they are in public accounting and they absolutely have to get a CPA license to stay in this business.
--For even others, it is a way to make their resume look stronger so they can receive the jobs and promotions they are looking for as they build their careers.

I don’t care why you want to pass the CPA Exam. All of those are great reasons. But, if you really do want to pass the CPA Exam, the key is to put in the time and do the work. We give you stuff for free or for 50 cents per day; someone else charges you $2,500 because they are trying to get rich. However, in truth, the cost is not the important thing – the important thing is your willingness to sit down most nights, turn off the television, the Internet, and your cell phone and put in 60-90 minutes of real work. Kill the distractions—do the work.

People will promise you tricks and short-cuts and special secrets. There are no tricks, short-cuts, or special secrets. You need to know the material. You need to put in the time. If you do that, you have a wonderful chance to pass the CPA Exam. Nothing in life is guaranteed, of course, but if you do the work, then, as they say in basketball games, you’ve put yourself into a position to win.

And, there is no better time to get started than right now. How much study time can you put in by this time tomorrow? That’s all I’m interested in. I don’t want to hear about studying in the future. I don’t much care about promises of work to be done some time next spring or summer. If you really want to pass, I want to hear about how much time you are able to study right now—or at least in the next 24 hours.


(3) – How hard is the CPA Exam? That’s a good question for anyone to ask who is working to pass that exam. One way to judge the difficult is by looking at the pass rates. People from all over the world take the CPA Exam—some study hard and some don’t study that hard, some have a great education and some not quite so good. The pass rates for 2010 were recently announced: Auditing – 47.80 percent, BEC – 47.29 percent, Regulation – 50.56 percent, and FAR – 47.81 percent.

So, roughly 50 percent of the candidates pass each part they take. What that means is that you don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to make 100. You don’t even have to be at the top of your class. What that means is that you just have to be in the top half of all the people who take the CPA Exam.

Okay, that is still not easy. However, that is achievable; that is a very reasonable goal. It is a goal that you can make. If you use good quality materials and you put in 60-100 hours per part, you’ve got a great chance to get in the upper half of the candidates. If you do that, you are probably going to pass. I think it is important to keep that in mind because that makes this goal of yours reasonable and that makes studying easier. It is something that you can do – hit the top half.

So, every day, think about all of those people preparing for the CPA exam and ask yourself (quite honestly): “Am I working harder today than half of those people?” If the answer is “Yes!!!”, then you are certainly on the road to getting that passing score.


(4) – As I always say, do be aware that you have the right to unsubscribe from these emails at any time that you wish. We love having you with us but you can leave if you need. Just scroll to the bottom of this email (or any email) and click on “unsubscribe.” We’ll miss you.


(5) – This morning, I was visiting a friend of mine here at the University who teaches Organizational Behavior. He had a piece of paper on his desk and there was the following quote on it from Victor Hugo:

“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”

Good stuff. As you get 2011 under way, what are your dreams that are going to create your future? Do you have great dreams or do you just wait around to see what is going to happen to you? It is hard to have the future that you really want if you don’t have dreams of that future.

Of course, I hope that one of your strongest dreams for this coming year is to pass the CPA Exam so that you can get on with building a strong career. It is awfully hard to do the work necessary to succeed unless you have a dream that gnaws at you and pushes you forward. Dreams create ambition and ambition pushes you to get up and do the work. You really need to want success, you really need to crave 75 if you are going to put out the effort that is necessary to succeed.

When you go to bed at night, do you envision the thrill of getting that final 75 so that you can go to your friends and family and say: “I’m finished!!!! I have done it!!!! It was not easy but I’ve made it!!! I have passed the CPA exam.”

It is hard to be great without great dreams!!!


(6) – I always end these email lessons with some practice – usually, I give you four multiple-choice questions, one from each area of the CPA Exam along with my answers.

Today, though, in honor of our new BEC subscription service being available, I thought I would give you an example of what I think the new Written Communications questions are going to look like in BEC. This is my guess about the type of writing that you might see.

Think about your approach to the answer.
---Read the question very carefully and see how it is set up. What are they asking you to address.
---Jot down some notes that you want to cover in your answer.
---Go back and number those notes in the order that you want to cover them. That provides a quick outline to guide your writing.
---Look to see if you have left anything out or have not addressed the question appropriately.
---Write up your answer. Make sure all sentences are complete, no words are misspelled, and that all words are used properly. As I have said before, keep the sentences short and make sure one sentence links to the next.
---Read your answer out loud (or to yourself) and listen to how it sounds. Are there places that sound wrong or awkward? Does one sentence flow into the next so that the writing is smooth? Have you actually addressed the question that was asked? When it is read will it be understood?
---Find someone who knows how to write well and ask them to read your answer and point out any places that are hard to understand.
---Make sure it looks like a professional letter or memo. If you were to get that memo from a professional accountant, would you be impressed or shocked?

I believe this is a great system for learning how to write a strong professional answer for the written communication questions (three per exam) on the BEC portion of the CPA Exam.


Written Communication

The San Francisco Corporation is highly automated with the many transactions from its subsidiaries around the world being processed immediately through the company’s computer system. Company officials have become concerned about the possibility of a disaster such as an earthquake knocking out this computer system. A disaster recovery corporation was invited to visit the company and put forth a proposal. This outside vendor talked about creating either a hot site for the company or a cold site as part of an overall disaster recovery plan. Jane Addams, president of the San Francisco Corporation, is not certain that she fully understands those two terms. She has asked you to prepare a memo explaining both of the two terms to her. Please type your answer in the space provided below.


REMINDER: Your response will be graded for both technical content and writing skills. Technical content will be evaluated for infor¬mation that is helpful to the intended reader and clearly relevant to the issue. Writing skills will be evaluated for development, organi¬zation, and the appropriate expression of ideas in professional correspondence. Use a standard business memo or letter format with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Do not convey information in the form of a table, bullet point list, or other abbreviated presentation.


To: Jane Addams, President of the San Francisco Corporation

Re: Disaster Recovery Plan

Type Answer Here


************


Quite obviously, there are hundreds of different ways to set up this response to show that you can make proper use of the English language. Here is one possible structure for an answer.


To: Jane Addams, President of the San Francisco Corporation

Re: Disaster Recovery Plan

If the computer system for the San Francisco Corporation were ever shut down because of an emergency, the company should have an alternative system in place to allow operations around the world to continue to function in a timely manner. One possibility is to have an outside vendor, such as a disaster recovery firm, maintain a designated hot site. A hot site is a facility owned by the vendor that is a fully equipped data center. Every piece of hardware and software that the company needs is already in place. Near-complete backups of all essential user data are maintained. In case of an emergency that halts the company’s computer system, the San Francisco Corporation could move in trained personnel in a matter of hours and be operating with only a minimum amount of downtime. However, such a facility can be very expensive to maintain.

As an alternative, a cold site can be established by the vendor. Space is rented but no actual hardware or software is in place. Instead, a detailed plan is maintained to outline how the necessary components could be obtained in the least amount of time in case of emergency. The cost is considerably less than that of a hot site because no equipment or software is physically maintained. Unfortunately, if an actual emergency takes place, the company would require a greater amount of time before operations could be resumed in a normal fashion.

In making the decision between a hot site and a cold site, company management must evaluate the cost of having the computer system shut down for a period of time. The risk of such a catastrophe must also be weighed. Both solutions will work but one costs more to maintain while the other costs more if there is ever a disaster involving the company’s computer system.


Work hard – I’ll try to be back with another email lesson next week. Until then, show me how many hours you can put in to add those points that you need.



Joe Hoyle
President and Co-Founder
CPAreviewforFREE