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Thanks for the advice and reassurance that someone will approve my work. I've got to get a new SS card and passport photo to submit an application of intent to the state. Any book recommendations for the exam?
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Jun 22, 2022 20:52
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I used Ninja for all 4 sections, i liked it
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Jun 23, 2022 10:32
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Has anyone taken the CMA? Any thoughts or how long it took you to pass, what sort of managerial experience you had before hand?
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Jun 23, 2022 17:06
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Jhordhynne posted:Thanks for the advice and reassurance that someone will approve my work. I've got to get a new SS card and passport photo to submit an application of intent to the state. I think the key is just understanding how you learn. I know I learn way better with practice questions over reading or lectures and Becker just let me do practice questions/tests until my eyes hurt every day. The lectures were pretty fine too I guess. I don’t think I ever opened any of the books. Other people have had good success with Ninja and Gleim. I don’t know too much about those outside of anecdotally on the internet, though, because Becker was the one my firm paid for and all my peers at the firm used it as a result
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Jun 23, 2022 17:24
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pseudanonymous posted:Has anyone taken the CMA? Any thoughts or how long it took you to pass, what sort of managerial experience you had before hand? Woo hoo, finally a CMA question! I did the CMA exams as well as the additional CSCA test which is optional. But I figured since I was just doing two exams instead of four, I could add a third no problem. I did fail CMA 1 the first time I took it. Years ago I did take FAR and passed but then got stuck on AUD and eventually lost my credit for FAR and my career trajectory at that point didn't really require a CPA. So after a few more years I realized, I'm really a managerial accountant, I should take the CMA exam instead. I feel CMA 1 was very similar to FAR. A tough but fair exam. CMA 2 is probably technically easier but it also includes most of the ethics and more abstract hypothetical questions so if you're a pure numbers person that can trip you up. All in all I did the whole thing in less than a year. I passed part 1 in October 2020 and Part 2 in February 2021. I took a bit of a break then did the CSCA in September 2021. I think the recommendation is 90 hours of study per exam and that's probably about right. I used Gleim, which I can't recommend enough. Between the online resources and the textbook its everything you need As for experience, I worked at a real estate developer/ construction company for nine years. Started as a staff accountant but my last title there was Controller. After I passed my exams I asked for a raise and was given a pittance, so I found another Controller job for a different construction company and jumped over there for a 50% increase in pay. So it worked for me. I'm sure someone will say that CPA > CMA and that is probably true all else equal. For example if a freshmen in college or a recent graduate asked me to recommend what path they should take, I'd probably say CPA since it will give you the most options. But if you're like me and we're nine years into your career and are pretty darn sure you'll never be a tax accountant or auditor, then why not take the exam that's specifically suited for you.
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Jun 23, 2022 19:37
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idk i think CMA is cool 😎
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Jun 24, 2022 11:14
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Congratulations to EY for receiving the largest fine ever imposed by the SEC on an audit firm! Truly a monumental achievement
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Jun 28, 2022 16:12
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For cheating on the ethics exam, lol
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Jun 28, 2022 16:31
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Democratic Pirate posted:For cheating on the ethics exam, lol How do you even cheat on an ethics exam? Hey man, psssst what's the answer? "It's don't lie" Oh right, DON'T lie. Right. Thanks!
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Jun 28, 2022 18:54
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Are most state open book for ethics? Minnesota is open book and it seems pretty silly to resort to an answer key or whatever they used. Then again, I don't recall even needing to double check any of my answers because they were straight forward.
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Jun 28, 2022 19:02
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untzthatshit posted:Woo hoo, finally a CMA question! Did you think it was similar to FAR in rigor or the type of questions? FAR was just memorizing a bunch of transactions and rules, and I thought the CMA was more focused on like, actual thinking in response to situations. I know they did a big revamp of the test from 4 to 2 sections and focused it more on management stuff a few years ago. untzthatshit posted:I think the recommendation is 90 hours of study per exam and that's probably about right. I used Gleim, which I can't recommend enough. Between the online resources and the textbook its everything you need Were the questions largely focused on the financial aspects of management? Like the Performance Management and Technology and Analytics sections?
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Jun 28, 2022 19:09
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The California ethics exam was horrible and I would have gladly taken FAR again instead of that bullshit. It is the most nitpicky, easy to fail thing, and can't really be studied for. You just have to pore over the "open book" for the minute passage that supports the correct answer. And as a philosophy major the ethics exam has little to do with ethics. It's all rules gaming to technically comply with independence regulations. It's very easy for me to see why people cheat on it so much, despite the irony.
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Jun 29, 2022 03:09
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Virginia was like that too but you could take it unlimited times and you only transmitted a passing score. Much preferred to any section of the CPA. The accusation that auditors were scamming CPE is way funnier because EY must have daily courses you can take. Everyone there should be getting enough hours even by accident.
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Jun 29, 2022 03:13
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If you fail the California ethics exam (passing score 90%) you have to take the whole thing over again. Which if you are doing it honestly, is a very harsh punishment.
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Jun 29, 2022 03:34
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Apparently the cheating was emailing around the question bank over work emails, instead of the classic “I think there’s a question bank out there if you look for it.” Reminds me of a professor who heavily implied there was a question bank for his tests. It was easily google-able and you could barely pass every test if you only answered the multiple choice section. With all students essentially guaranteed to pass, the remaining 30% of the tests were hellacious open-ended essay questions.
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Jun 29, 2022 13:10
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More tax than accounting but I figured it's worth asking. I've done about 4 seasons at HR Block and am pretty finished with them. A part of my brain is deeply broken and enjoys doing tax prep, though. Has anyone here taken the leap and started their own practice? I've been doing my best to research and I think it's fairly doable for me, but there's definitely a fear of falling flat on my face. This whole thing is a second job for me so it wouldn't be the end of the world, but obviously I'd rather succeed than fold. Would love to hear if anyone else here has taken that step or has stories of anyone doing so.
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Jul 2, 2022 05:40
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Winged Orpheus posted:More tax than accounting but I figured it's worth asking. I've done about 4 seasons at HR Block and am pretty finished with them. A part of my brain is deeply broken and enjoys doing tax prep, though. Has anyone here taken the leap and started their own practice? I've been doing my best to research and I think it's fairly doable for me, but there's definitely a fear of falling flat on my face. This whole thing is a second job for me so it wouldn't be the end of the world, but obviously I'd rather succeed than fold. Would love to hear if anyone else here has taken that step or has stories of anyone doing so. What specifically are you looking to find out? There are plenty of one-man-show tax prep firms out there, it's very doable. Do you have clients that will follow you from HR Block? It'll be much easier if so. I have not opened my own firm but I intend to buy out the owner of the place I work for in the next year or so. I've been working here for over a decade at this point and my boss is looking to scale back and retire.
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Jul 2, 2022 05:59
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I guess my biggest concern is how to go about getting those first clients. I have clients that absolutely would follow me, but HR Block uses non-solicit/non-competes. The non-compete is likely unenforceable in my state (I had a consult with a lawyer to review), but that doesn't mean they can't drag me into arbitration to try and enforce it anyway, which I'd rather avoid if possible. What are some good ways to get your name out there and get those first clients to start building that referral base?
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Jul 2, 2022 13:20
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I'm at a big firm, so can't speak to the details of a one-man practice, but I get most of my referrals from existing clients, but also from lawyers - if you can cultivate relationships with area law firms, it can be mutually beneficial. They can refer you work for tax prep and you can refer clients for estate planning, entity formation, etc. You'll also get the occassional Kovel arrangement to help a client with filing back taxes. If you can also maintain relationships with larger accounting firms, we are always looking for help with clients that are realistically way too small for us to handle in a way that makes any sense. I simply can't charge less than $1,500 for a return, and even then my realization ends up under 40% when you factor in all the phone calls and hand holding you get with smaller clients. All that said, existing clients are the best source of referrals once you have a few. They will always happily refer their friends and colleagues if you do a good job. There are a ton of people out there who are looking for reliable tax preparation services with a human face. I also get some random inquiries from our website, but its like three or four a year, so not really that much. I imagine advertising might also help, but I'm way out of my depth on that one. There's those guys who spin signs on street corners?
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Jul 2, 2022 15:58
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is it feasible to start an erp business without a cpa or cma? or should i go and find someone who has one
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Jul 2, 2022 19:17
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Wow, I never thought this would happen. Backstory. Four years ago, a woman came to my office saying she didn't trust her accountant and asked me to review her return for 3 years. I agreed to do it for an extremely low fee at the time. The return was the most fraudlent poo poo I have ever seen and ever seen since.
Well, four years later, she had made an appointment with my coworker. Turns out she took my advice and got a lawyer. Turns out the guy did rob her and her husband, who she is divorced because that guy was his friend. Apparently, the dude ran a racket where he'd jack up people's refunds, lie to them about how much they were getting back, give them fake refund anticipation loans out of his own pocket, then pocket the extra money when the inflated refund went into his bank account instead. Needless to say, the dude got shut down by the government when she blabbed and she now wants my office to do her returns. What a rollercoaster. Not 100% sure how to feel, but at least this guy isn't robbing old ladies anymore. Covok fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Jul 7, 2022 |
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Jul 7, 2022 20:26
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Covok posted:Wow, I never thought this would happen. That's all wild. They're not entirely wrong about the NYS auditing everyone part though, since IRS audits have been so scaled back the last 5ish years NYS had to step up their own enforcement since they couldn't just sit back and wait for IRS audit changes to come in and make adjustments in their favor.
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Jul 7, 2022 20:59
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That's loving crazy. I've seen some aggressive positions taken by other preparers that I wouldn't sign off on personally, but nothing I would classify as outright fraud. I did have a fun one where a guy got a form from Coinbase because he'd been liquidating his 401k and turning it into Bitcoin to help out his "female friend in Russia", but it was totally okay because she was coming to the states soon and going to pay him back! I filed a report with IC3, but never heard anything after that. I doubt he'll ever get anything back, but maybe he'll at least have enough to live on afterwards. They'd already gotten him for about $90k by then
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Jul 7, 2022 21:15
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Epi Lepi posted:That's all wild. They're not entirely wrong about the NYS auditing everyone part though, since IRS audits have been so scaled back the last 5ish years NYS had to step up their own enforcement since they couldn't just sit back and wait for IRS audit changes to come in and make adjustments in their favor. I mean, yes, but the way she told me it the guy was saying New York ran out of money and had to claw it back from people and she had to pay the money and there was nothing he could do but if she came back extra early next year that they could avoid it." So, the guy, who probably pocketed a lot of this refund for himself, told them to pay it all back by making a cock and bull story up about NY going bankrupt when in reality he knew his shut was bs and he couldn't survive an audit of it.
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Jul 7, 2022 21:32
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Has anyone dealt with the California FTB online bureaucracy before? I tried calling the phone line and got stuck in the loop, sent them a fax, but can’t login into the website for reasons that could probably be cleared up with a 30 second phone call.
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Jul 7, 2022 23:03
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I've seen fraudulent returns like that before. It seems like a very stupid racket to get into. I know IRS enforcement is down because of budget cuts but like... it would just take one to get you shut down and lose all the money you stole. There's got to be smarter ways to steal old people's money than being a fraudulent tax preparer.
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Jul 10, 2022 16:56
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Love 2 sign up for an 8 hour CPE year in review class and the first two hours are basic explainers of standards we implemented years ago Who the gently caress still needs an hour on the basics of 606?
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Jul 14, 2022 16:05
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Im getting half my CPE this year learning abt weed accounting
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Jul 14, 2022 19:27
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black.lion posted:Im getting half my CPE this year learning abt weed accounting I tried a couple times to get into that field, but they wanted me to talk about my passion for pot and I was like, uh I don't really like pot for myself personally, I just think it's a really complex fun emerging field with a lot of legal complications. Right but like, what's your favorite strain? It was a really loving Bizzaro world version of a Big 4 interview.
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Jul 14, 2022 19:38
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black.lion posted:Im getting half my CPE this year learning abt weed accounting So is this like, how to launder money, legally. or?
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Jul 14, 2022 20:36
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pseudanonymous posted:I tried a couple times to get into that field, but they wanted me to talk about my passion for pot and I was like, uh I don't really like pot for myself personally, I just think it's a really complex fun emerging field with a lot of legal complications. Hahaha what company was it, I'm curious to know for a laugh haha there's so many companies haha
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Jul 14, 2022 20:59
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Epitope posted:how to launder money, legally. or? pseudanonymous posted:Big 4 interview. 
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Jul 14, 2022 23:14
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Hellblazer187 posted:Hahaha what company was it, I'm curious to know for a laugh haha there's so many companies haha I couldn’t say I had a couple interviews in Seattle about 3-4 years ago with pot companies.
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Jul 15, 2022 07:04
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I went to a legal cannabis conference in Panama just before the pandemic. Weird experience, but a lot of good weed at the afterparty lol. Section 280E and banking issues are still a problem, but there's always COGS and intentional inversions into Canada.
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Jul 15, 2022 15:28
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I remember our case for the (then-) CGA case competition was about someone investing in a dispensary back in 2014.  .
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Jul 15, 2022 16:19
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pseudanonymous posted:I tried a couple times to get into that field, but they wanted me to talk about my passion for pot and I was like, uh I don't really like pot for myself personally, I just think it's a really complex fun emerging field with a lot of legal complications. Yeah I'm the opposite - highly enthusiastic about the product, but not in a legal state; hoping that if (fingers crossed) it gets legalized here before I retire (die at my desk) I'll be poised to snap up all the companies that get established and can make myself a fun lil' niche I do a lot of taxes for farmers and they're always bringing me paper bags full of freshly picked okra and arugula etc etc... now if i can get clients that grow weed.... e: lol who names these things 
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Jul 15, 2022 16:52
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WHEW passed my Assurance exam. Wasn't sure how it was being graded given it was my first in-person PEP exam (Core 1, Core 2 and Taxation were online case-only), which meant it was 4 hours for 15 multiple choice plus practice cases. Now I need to plan when I'm going to take Common 1 and 2 before the CFE. From what I understand, CPA Canada needs you to take them in a specific schedule as they build on each other for the CFE.
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Jul 15, 2022 17:07
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mojo1701a posted:WHEW passed my Assurance exam. Congratulations on passing. Best of luck on your other stuff. I hope to reach your levels of success someday. On some good news for myself, I have been able to get CMA member scholarship. In terms of what I can do, should I go for my California CPA first or CMA? I am graduating in Fall 2022 so I am trying to see what should I put my focus on other than getting a job and doing good to myself and coworkers. untzthatshit posted:Woo hoo, finally a CMA question! Oh okie, CPA it is then. Thank you for the advice and congrats on getting into a near decade into your career path. Is there a sticky post for an extensive goon recommended guide on all things accounting related? Annointed fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Jul 25, 2022 |
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Jul 25, 2022 21:15
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I’m hoping someone in this thread can help, as I struck out on the Tax Pros subreddit. I’ve recently started a job (in Canada) that requires me to have oversight of US tax compliance and planning. We have external advisors but I dislike relying on them all the time for relatively routine questions (plus they’re B4 and $$$$ for the simplest questions or phone calls). I’m a Canadian CPA and have been in tax for a long time and have dealt with a lot of cross boarder planning, so I’m comfortable with tax in general and can navigate a 1065/1120. That said, I’d like to increase my US tax knowledge and skill set. Any suggestions for resources to look at or CPD? Ideally something a bit more in-depth than a few one our survey courses or updates. In Canada we have the Canadian Tax Foundation which is an industry group for tax practitioners that publishes a journal quarterly, conference reports etc. I’m curious if there is anything similar in the US?
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Jul 26, 2022 17:16
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Of course, but before I give you some resources, I have to say, you are going to get yourself into a lot of trouble if you try to do cross border US tax yourself as a Canadian trained practitioner with no experience in US tax, much less US international tax. But no harm in educating yourself, I'd just still run things by your external advisor. Tax Notes is an excellent way to stay up to date, especially for good articles on recent changes or proposals and new regulations. Kuntz & Peroni is a very good treatise, if somewhat out of date (they keep updating it, but it's better on stuff that hasn't changed). BNA US International portfolios are a great resource. Andersen is still the best resource on tax treaties, but I would advise checking the treaty itself and the commentaries. The OECD commentaries are also terrific for treaty research. For CPE/CLE, there is a joint IRS/GWU international tax conference in DC every December that is terrific. Big4 all do free webinars, some on international tax. NYSBA and ABA also publish great commentaries on international tax topics and have great CLE sessions. Strafford have webinars pretty regularly on international tax topics, in fact I'm giving one on subpart F and reporting in August. International Tax in a Nutshell is a great single volume introduction to the topic, probably the best place to start for an overview, I'd use BNA to dig into specific questions, then confirm with the primary sources.
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Jul 27, 2022 00:58
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