License in Hand (and on Wall)!

It’s been a while since I have updated this blog, but I swear that I have a good excuse!  The October 15th tax season was killer this year.  Thankfully, that is over, as is another huge hurdle in my life: I have received my CPA license!  Yes, that means that I did pass REG back in May, and the state of CA only took two months after my finding out to send me my very exciting wall certificate.

Note: the certificate is not actually on my wall, per se.  I still have it rolled up in the mailing tube.  I am not exactly sure how I want to frame it yet!

Anyway, with that license comes a greater sense of responsibility.  That being, how do I use my license to bring about the greening of America?  The goal is so daunting, it’s hard to know where to begin.

Before even getting into that, though, I got a comment asking for advice on studying for the exam.  I used the Becker self study materials, because those were the materials provided to me by my firm.  However, I don’t think the materials are what matters.  What matters is the effort.  Let me just explain to you my life while studying:

Mondays thru Thursdays: work eight hours per day, come home to have dinner with my husband, then spend between two and three hours at the computer studying.  We have a one-bedroom apartment, so I focused by setting up a table that faced away from the television.  I used earphones when I listened to lectures, and listened to my iPod while I did study questions.  Sometimes I was able to study at work if I didn’t have anything else to do.  That is the luxury of working for a CPA firm where they want you to pass!

Fridays: took a break

Saturdays and Sundays: spent as much time as needed to “catch up” to where I felt I needed to be.  That could mean anywhere between two and six hours studying, depending on how much I procrastinated during the week.

Right before exams, I totally crunched.  I always gave myself at least a week to do the 100-question progress tests.  With Becker, you can assume you will get about 10 points higher on the actual exam than you get on the progress tests – this was always true for me.  I also took the two practice exams with the simulations.  Those exams were always much tougher than the actual exam, but really helped me stay focused.

Throughout the entire time of taking progress and practice exams, I kept a notebook next to me and made notes on all of the items I got wrong.  After a while, I started getting fewer and fewer things wrong, due to all of my notes.  Eventually, right before the exam I would be left with a list of things that I really needed to focus on.  I would rewrite those notes a few times, until I felt I had the concepts memorized.

I also used Becker’s flash cards during my crunch time.  These cards also helped me memorize the concepts I had a hard time with.

If you are working during this time, do yourself a favor and DO NOT plan to study for and sit for exams during your busy times.  You will get burned out doing that.  (Notice how above I said I worked eight hours per day.  If it had been busy season, I could not have done studied after a long 10-12 hour day.)  The most important thing is to give yourself your very best chance at passing.  That means knowing when you will have the most time to study and focus before an exam, and then actually doing the work.

Another tip is to sign up for the exam before you start studying.  That gives you a solid timeline, and will keep you focused.  I would generally give myself at least one week per chapter in the Becker book, plus one week of intense crunch time after that.  One exception was for Audit, which I studied for in only three weeks.  I chose that exam to do that with, because I felt most familiar with those concepts.  But, it was a grueling three weeks, with absolutely no days off from studying.  I also took two days off from work to study, and I took the exam the day before Thanksgiving, so I gave myself time to recuperate.  Boy, did I need it.  I actually had a pounding headache as soon as I got home from the exam, which lasted until I went to sleep that night.

In all, with busy season and everything, it was one year from when I first started studying to when I found out that I got my license.  It was a tough year – one where I had to put family and friends aside and make passing the exam my number one priority.  My husband was beyond supportive of me, and understood that I would simply not be very available to him during that time.  I truly thank him above anyone else for helping me get through all of those grueling hours, and encouraging me that I could do it.  If it weren’t for him, I am sure I wouldn’t have passed all four sections on my first try.

I also have to thank my co-workers at my firm.  They never hesitated to give me great tips for studying, and always kept me motivated to keep going.

In all, I am so thankful to have passed and have it behind me.   To anyone who is feeling the pressure of this exam, know that you can beat it and that you will pass it.  Please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email if you are feeling that you need some extra motivation.

And now, on to being the best, and greenest, CPA that I can be….

Filed under: About the Greenest CPA, CPA Exam

Wanted: One Green CPA

Can there be a correlation between passion and utility?  Between inspiration and perspiration?  Is there a way to make your dream job the same as your day job (and still earn a living)?  These are the questions that have been plaguing me as of late.  Until recently, I have been focused more on the utility, the perspiration, than the “dream”.  As the title of this blog might suggest, that focus has been to become a Certified Public Accountant, and have those three elusive little letters after my name: C.P.A.  Now, as I am (hopefully) almost done with that journey (one exam left, and then the long wait for the state of California to grant me my license), I am beginning to realize that I am actually only at the beginning of  a long career.  And, while I enjoy the general activities of my job, I have started to wonder what I will actually do with that license once I receive it.

Of course, I think that the majority of us would like to serve the “greater good”, in some capacity, throughout our lives.  And I am no exception.  But, what does that mean: serve the greater good?  It sounds so broad, so huge, so impossible to achieve.  So, many of us are left stagnant, wondering what one person could actually do to help anyone or anything.

To me, serving the “greater good” would somehow benefit society, whether that is local or global, in either a small way or a large way.  (Yeah, that narrows it down, doesn’t it?)  But, how does one choose a cause?  I think most of us don’t just have one cause that we are passionate about – I know that I don’t.  Just to name a few things I wish I could do something about right now: help the poor learn about nutrition, save the polar bears, fix the terrible practices in recycling electronics, solve America’s health care crisis, keep our green spaces from turning into sprawling subdivisions, remind people that they don’t need an SUV to drive to the office….well, I guess the list goes on and on.  But, each of these causes all have something in common: the environment.

I can’t help but think that the majority of America’s current, pressing problems are all interrelated.  It’s no coincidence that the economy, the health of our citizens, and the environment are all crashing at the exact same time.  And, I don’t think we can all sit around and wait for our politicians to get their acts together and fix this.  First of all, they need to know it’s something that the voters care deeply about before they will ever make any real strides.  Second of all, it really is up to individual responsibility, because it’s going to take a complete change in the mindset of the American people to make any real strides in fixing our myriad of problems.

This brings me back to my original question – can I be both a CPA and work to solve (on any level) the global environmental crisis that we face today?  Can business (dare I say it?) actually help the “greater good”?  Can I afford a decent standard of living while bringing up the standard of living for others?

This is the question that I will explore in this blog.

As for the title of this blog – The Greenest CPA – do I really consider myself to be the greenest CPA out there?  Of course not, not even close.  It’s something I would like to aspire to, and like any great goal, is actually much bigger than myself.  To me, the idea of the Greenest CPA is an idea of business working with the environment, aiding in the greater good, to create a more sustainable way of life than the one business has been promoting for at least the past thirty years.

Today, on this Earth Day 2009, we stand at the beginning of a change in both thought and attitude, as young and unformed as my career as a CPA.  It will be hard for us to make these changes, but I don’t think we will have much of a choice.  As our incomes sadly shrink, we may come to see that conserving the environment also helps us conserve what little is left in our savings accounts.  As our medical bills become impossible to pay, we may find that eating organically grown fruits and vegetables can stave off so many of the chronic diseases that have become all too prevalent in our lives recently.  As our way of life continues to crash around us, we may find that another, more sustainable and healthier way of life, while less grand, is actually a better way to live.

Too optimistic?  I hope not.  For me, it’s my vision of the future.  But, like the majority of Americans, I have a long way to go to get there.  In the past two years, my husband and I have been making small steps to try to decrease our impact on the environment, but we have many more small steps to take.  I plan to use this blog to help me stay committed to our cause.

I also plan to use this blog to explore how I can make an impact as a CPA, as well as as a citizen.  I know that there are ways accountants and business can hurt society and the environment, but I want to make a commitment to be on the other side.  I want to use my newly gained technical expertise to make a difference in the right ways.  How will I do that?  I am not sure yet.  But, as I write in this blog, I think that I will get closer to figuring that out.

I hope that I will have enough readers, as time goes by, that people will be able to help me out in my cause, and that I can help and inspire others.  I guess you could call this my mission statement.

Happy Earth Day!

Filed under: About the Greenest CPA, Earth Day, Green Philosophy