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IFRS 15 Will Not be Tested on the CPA Exam Any Time Soon

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez

As all of you should know, any new pronouncements are usually eligible for CPA exam testing 6 months after their effective date. So, for example, if a new rule comes into play on December 15 (which they do often for companies that have a year end of December 31), it can appear on the CPA exam as early as the third testing window of the following year.

Considering how anxious the Board of Examiners was to shove IFRS content into the exam long before the U.S. actually decided to use those standards (which, as of 3:04 PM today, isn't happening unless Satan ice skated to work this morning), this development is interesting:
 

The International Accounting Standards Board issued IFRS 15, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, on May 28, 2014. IFRS 15 is effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2017, and earlier application is permitted. Under the CPA Exam Policy on New Pronouncements, IFRS 15 would become eligible for testing on January 1, 2015, in the Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) section of the CPA Exam.

Given the scope and significance of IFRS 15, the AICPA Board of Examiners has decided that the standard will not be tested in the FAR section of the CPA Exam prior to January 1, 2016. The BOE will re-evaluate its decision during the second quarter of 2015 to determine whether an additional deferral of IFRS 15 is necessary. All other accounting and auditing pronouncements, including amendments to the FASB Accounting Standards Codification in Accounting Standards Update 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, will continue to follow the Policy on New Pronouncements.

Now, this could mean the BoE is seriously considering a little heel dragging on stuffing more IFRS into the exam. Or it could mean nothing at all. All you need to know is that IFRS 15 will not appear in FAR until at least 2016, if then.

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Today’s CPA exam question from the mailbag has to do with a familiar topic to many of you: failure.

Hi Adrienne,

I slaved for an HOA audit firm and our busy season just officially ended. I found out last week that the very last day I can schedule to sit for REG is on 5/27 so that give me approximately 3 weeks to cram for the materials. I sat for that section in January and failed at 71. I am planning to spend 4 hours studying during the week and 8 hours to cram on Saturday and Sunday so I can study at most 36 hours per week. Should I go try for 5/27 or postpone the exam until July when I am more prepared?

Also, I am using both Becker & Gleim to review. In the past, I watched the Becker lectures, completed MCs and simluations on both Becker & Gleim and using Becker book to review. Due to not having enough time, should I just work on MCs and simluations and forgo re-watch the lectures?

Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Our candidate has also sent in her score report, included below:

We should point out here that our candidate admitted in a follow-up e-mail after very little badgering that she had, in fact, done poorly on the simulations as she suspected, telling us “I went into Regulation knowing that I was weak on simulations and as you can see on my score report, not making an effort reviewing and re-doing the simulations led to my failure.”  And yes, it’s pretty clear to us that’s exactly what happened here.

With only three weeks to study before the new test date, it wouldn’t make sense to spend much time reviewing lectures or even entire chapters as a 71 shows an excellent command of the information and her score report confirms that suspicion. Unfortunately, the days of “kind of blowing the simulation part of the exam” are over with the advent of CBT-e, meaning you’re obviously going to have to do better in that area if you want to pass.

The good news is you get it, overall, except maybe for that federal tax process area. Check the CSOs (page 25 of the PDF) for more detailed info on what is tested in that area (naturally it has a lot to do with federal taxation) and practice problems in those areas. If you feel particularly lost in any one area, go ahead and read the chapter or watch a lecture over again but since time is of the essence, try not to use the lectures at all. Don’t get too focused on your one weak area, though, since you presumably haven’t studied any of this stuff for months. You’ll need a good once over (that means all your MCQ at a minimum) before exam day, so try to set aside at least three hours a day, more if you can fit it in. If you have more than three hours a day to study, try not to study for more than three hours at a time, break it up to some in the morning and some in the evening if you can.

As for the simulations, practice working through simulation problems while timing yourself. Set your cell phone alarm or an old school kitchen timer to work out 10 – 15 minutes per problem and start blasting through them on whatever software you still have access to in hour-long intervals. Work towards finishing each simulation in no more than 10 minutes as that will allow you time on exam day to review your sims once you have finished.

Good luck!