My CPA journey

Would you believe my CPA journey started almost 14 years ago? Would you believe that it is STILL happening today?!

I know. You’re probably wondering a few things.

• What’s taking so long?
• Why are you still trying?
• Is it still going to be useful or helpful?
• Is the CPA really that hard?

Let me start at the end. I’m close. Really, really, really close. I passed all four sections of the exam (HOORAY!! This was the most challenging part.) and am now just finishing up a few more credits to qualify for the license in the state of California. In addition to completing 150 semester units, there is also a long list of additional requirements such as a minimum of X units in Accounting subjects. I won’t list out the requirements here, but you get the point. I didn’t read the fine print 14 years ago and now I’m paying the price!

Now that I’ve taken all the suspense out of the story, we can go back to the beginning. The end is not the most interesting part anyway. What’s the saying? The journey is the destination. ✌🏻

At one of my first jobs, I was a Staff Accountant at a fast-growing start-up and it was a very busy time. I was commuting over 1 hour each way, working from 7 am to 10 pm 5 to 6 days per month for month-end close, but this was when I first decided to start taking my CPA. One of my coworkers was going through the process with me and we decided to be each other’s accountability buddies. She was a very motivated young lady and I knew that this would be the perfect buddy to make sure I stayed committed to the goal.

Let me talk about the different tools that I have tried. I used a combination of a few different tools throughout my journey. Initially, I used CPA Excel. Upon a quick Google, it sounds like this was maybe acquired or absorbed by Wiley. This was a great tool for me because the focus was just on multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and self-study textbooks. There were videos too but I never had the patience to watch them. It’s important to pick one that works with your learning style. I realized that my best way to learn was just to keep churning through MCQs and try to solve them and learn along the way. I learn best by doing.

We both decided to take FAR first (Financial Accounting and Reporting), notoriously one of the most difficult sections due to the number of topics that this section covered. I thought if I could get through the toughest section, then the rest would be easy. The other reason why I picked this section was because it was the most applicable to my current job. I figured I would know a lot of the information already. I was right. Mostly. 🥲 There was a huge section on governmental accounting and I didn’t know anything. The concepts were so unfamiliar and it was difficult for me to learn them, so I spent a lot of time on it. Thank god! Because there were a ton of questions on it. The thing you have to remember is, you never know what they’re going to ask, sometimes there’s going to be more on one topic vs another. It’s important to learn some test-taking skills as well, which will probably earn you a few extra points. I was able to pass with a high score of 81 on my first try!!!! (You only need 75 to pass.)

I then was able to coast through Audit and BEC quickly over the next couple of months. Audit is mostly about memorization and BEC covered a lot of things that I learned from being an Economics major in college.

I saved the hardest for last. Regulation (Taxes) was so difficult for me. I failed 3 times in a span of 4 months. Back then there were also blackout periods where the test was not available. I think they’ve done away with that now so you can take the test year round.

The rules of the CPA exam are that you have to pass all 4 sections within 18 months of passing the first one. So if I pass my first section in Feb 2024, then the latest I can pass my last section would be in Aug 2025. I had about 1 month left to take REG one final time before my FAR credit expired. Unfortunately, I had planned a two-week long trip to Japan right around this expiration time. There wasn’t any time for me to study and feel confident about passing, but I also was not going to miss my trip. What to do? 🤔 I picked Japan and let my FAR credit expire. This was such a big wind out of my sails because I felt like all the hard work that I had put in over the last 18 months was going to waste. I didn’t feel confident that I could pass FAR a second time with limited studying so I decided I would not face the CPA exam again in the near future.

Fast forward 5 years, and I’m now an Accounting Manager and doing pretty well. I no longer had to work crazy hours since my company was not public. I decided, hey, I’m ready to start the journey again. I had bought lifetime access to CPA Excel so I could just pick up where I left off. I also decided to buy Roger CPA and Another71 flashcards to help supplement my studies. Another71 didn’t work for me as the notes were too high level and I couldn’t get a good understanding of the material. Roger CPA is very engaging his lectures are fun and he provides a lot of memory mnemonics to help you remember difficult material. I had decided, I’m going to do it!

Alas, it was not meant to be. Shortly after this decision, I decided to switch jobs and take on a bigger role which required a lot of long hours and dedication from me. I had to constantly learn new skills and the CPA fell by the wayside once again. I would like to say this is the only start and stop that I’ve had over the years, but over the next 8 years, I would decide to take the CPA exam and then end up quitting more than 4 times. There were usually good reasons for not pursuing it, but sometimes I just didn’t feel like I needed it to further my career and didn’t want to put in the effort. I was young and enjoyed having a social life.

I never judge people for not having their CPA, everyone has to choose for themselves. It is a huge time commitment and a lot of stress. At the same time, it is a way that people use as a shortcut to see your dedication to your craft. They can see that you are a skilled accountant familiar with GAAP and have the appropriate education credits and work hours. They know that you have the perseverance and ability to tackle 4 very difficult exams within a set amount of time.

Once I became a Controller, I started to see that the lack of a CPA was going to get in my way. Mostly because of all the reasons I listed above. Jobs generally listed CPA as a requirement, BIG 4, or public company experience. I was starting on the backfoot by not having any of those. Once I decided to move forward and throw all my energy into passing the CPA, I was off. My friends would always ask me, so how is this going to change anything? My answer….? Not much, other than I will have 3 extra letters behind my name to let other people know I’m smart. 😂 All jokes aside, it does not make me more skilled at my job nor does it make me better at accounting. I’m the same person I was before the exam.

I was 3 months pregnant when I started and I took my time. I would study 2 hours each night, and methodically work through all the sections. I again would just do MCQs until my eyes bled every night. I gave myself 3 months to pass the FAR which was a pretty slow and easy pace to get back into it. I was still able to go out on the weekends and see my friends once in a while. Of course, taking the test this time around was very different, we were still at the tail end of Covid and I now lived in the suburbs with my 2-year-old and my husband. I wasn’t trying to go out to happy hour every night and I was not taking weeks-long trips abroad anymore. The pace of life allowed me to hunker down and focus with limited distractions. Additionally, I was pregnant and couldn’t drink anyway. Haha.

I passed FAR, BEC, and AUD by the time my son was born 6 months after I started. I took a break for 4 months to spend time with my newborn where I didn’t study at all. Then I studied for a month and took REG. Once again, big fat FAIL. I couldn’t believe it. I thought this would be the time!!! The difference this time? I had 9 months left to take and pass REG. I was ready to study and take it as many times as I needed to pass. The only thing that I was losing was money and time. Let me tell you, I had a lot more of both at 35 than at 25.

I studied and failed again. REG: 2 Jenn: 0. I decided I had to change my strategy for studying. Something wasn’t clicking for me. I spent every night doing 20 -30 MCQs for a month instead of reading textbooks or watching lectures. All I did was master the MCQs. I took the test again, and I finally passed! With a 76!!!!!!! A PASS IS A PASS. This was probably one of the most joyous moments in my life. It felt like the end of a 15-year journey that was always weighing on my shoulders. I could now take a deep breath and watch Netflix for a week straight again. Woo!

This brings me back to the beginning of my post. I found out I need to take 8 more units of ethics courses and 4 more units of Accounting courses. If everything goes well, I should have my license in 3 months!

I really can’t begin to explain the number of hours I’ve put into this process. And looking back, I realize I just didn’t want it enough. Things were going really well for me and I didn’t feel like I needed a CPA to move forward with my career. There was no reason to do it. And that’s the only thing that was holding me back. If at some point, someone told me, “If you don’t pass the CPA this year, you won’t be able to get a job.” I would have gotten it done.

It really is a big commitment and I would say, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. If you don’t really want it, it will be really hard and maybe a waste of time and money (unless maybe you are an accounting genius). But it’s also never too late to start! Look at me. 🤓 If I can do it, you can too.