CA Program - Ask questions, get answers! (new and improved) (3 Viewers)

[immabee]

During the days back in high school (or the past 8 years), I was well-disciplined when it comes to study.

However recently I've realised I am somewhat lacking of academic motivation.

I procrastinate really badly and I found that I don't have a big, realistic & solid goal at the moment (can't find any). This is really bad if I am doing this when I am going for CA qualification (this goal is not huge enough to convince me).

Have tried the method of "afraid of failing/screwing up exams" and it is not so effective to me (5-10% effectiveness).

A gap year would be useful but I am about to finish my degree real soon.

Any advice on putting me back on track?

 

[seremify007]

You need to have some bigger picture end-goal though. Whether it be wanting stability, balance, materialistic, etc... you need to have something which drives you. Through that, you'll find motivation to pursue something and embark upon the journey. I know this doesn't help much but try to think of what you want in maybe 10 or 15 years, and then figure out what steps you need to take to get there.

 

[RDX]

immabee -> I'm the same, in uni I used to procrastinate but ended up cramming hard in the last few days and did very well results wise. Now with CA, same thing but since I'm much busier I just have no motivation to study at all, and since it's mainly self-directed learning you really have to stay on top of the things.

 

[RDX]

Results for MAA came out today, I passed comfortably -> Happy

 

[Drifting95]

Is their a certain amount of work experience needed in an accounting firm after you graduate uni to then start the CA? eg 1-2 years etc

 

[RDX]

Is their a certain amount of work experience needed in an accounting firm after you graduate uni to then start the CA? eg 1-2 years etc

No, if you have done all the pre-requisite subjects for CA in your uni degree, you can start pretty much straight away.

 

[seremify007]

No, if you have done all the pre-requisite subjects for CA in your uni degree, you can start pretty much straight away.

That's typically a firm policy though- you'll find some of the Big 4 for example specify a 6 month minimum before they will sponsor your CA.

Don't forget though that even if you finish all the subjects you may not be eligible for the CA qualification/designation until you've met minimum work experience requirements.

 

[seremify007]

Results for MAA came out today, I passed comfortably -> Happy

Congrats mate. I was at a work lunch and quite a few people slipped their phones under the table to check results including my seniors

 

[RDX]

Was 2 marks off merit, wish I didn't get like 6/10 for participation in Focus Sessions (Facilitator gave everyone between 5-7 in my FS)

 

[stevey6404]

Just looked up core knowledge requirements area for UNSW and there's 10 of them, 8 of which can be done in an accounting major, one course of finance and there's an extra course titled LEGT2751 (Business Taxation) which is not under the UNSW accounting major course handbook, does that mean I'll have to overload LEGT2751 in order to not extend my university study just to complete that final course to do a CA? (My university schedule is quite tight already as I'm planning to complete 3 majors in 4 years)

Source:
http://www.charteredaccountants.com...ogram/Entry-requirements/Core-knowledge-areas
http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/plans/2012/ACCTA13502.html

 

[halapenyo]

is your penultimate year of uni the only time where you can get internships?

 

[KidDang]

@halapenyo nah, but it is recommended and most big firms require you to be in your penultimate because the idea of an intern is applying theory to practice, would you be able to learn that much in your first year?

@Stevey Actually in the CA website you only need to do 10 subjects but if you look at the handbook carefully, everyone needs to do 11 since you have to do three elective and two of them have to be level 3. So you can pick Auditing, Business Entities and maybe Management accounting 2.

 

[seremify007]

is your penultimate year of uni the only time where you can get internships?

For 99% of people, yes. What KidDang said is right, but also it's to enable the firms to make you an offer for a graduate position which you can start in within 12 months or so.

 

[seremify007]

is your penultimate year of uni the only time where you can get internships?

For 99% of people, yes. What KidDang said is right, but also it's to enable the firms to make you an offer for a graduate position which you can start in within 12 months or so.

 

[immabee]

For some unknown reason, I am now back on track. Academically motivated again =) .

Just another question, how did you guys tackle Auditing in both uni and CA exams? Is there a particular study method for that?

I personally find Auditing quite theoretical and it is not as interesting as company accounting and advanced corporate finance (as they are quite quantitative).

 

[seremify007]

For some unknown reason, I am now back on track. Academically motivated again =) .

Just another question, how did you guys tackle Auditing in both uni and CA exams? Is there a particular study method for that?

I personally find Auditing quite theoretical and it is not as interesting as company accounting and advanced corporate finance (as they are quite quantitative).

Good to hear. I found auditing at uni to be very poorly taught and very theoretical/dry. It assumed that all businesses had similar risks and the approach to auditing them was to follow a checklist of procedures. There was no reward or recognition of answers which were creative, encouraged efficiency (e.g. dual purpose testing) and took into account the risks associated with mitigating factors or controls. I didn't do very well as you can imagine (got 75- which is shocking given I actually am an auditor).

Thankfully CA was a bit better and required a bit more creativity in interpreting the scenarios and the approaches. I did quite well (merit) in this partially because I was able to link it to what we do in the real world and also answer questions with reference to the rules/standards (something which didn't seem to be encouraged at uni).

 

[immabee]

Good to hear. I found auditing at uni to be very poorly taught and very theoretical/dry. It assumed that all businesses had similar risks and the approach to auditing them was to follow a checklist of procedures. There was no reward or recognition of answers which were creative, encouraged efficiency (e.g. dual purpose testing) and took into account the risks associated with mitigating factors or controls. I didn't do very well as you can imagine (got 75- which is shocking given I actually am an auditor).

Thankfully CA was a bit better and required a bit more creativity in interpreting the scenarios and the approaches. I did quite well (merit) in this partially because I was able to link it to what we do in the real world and also answer questions with reference to the rules/standards (something which didn't seem to be encouraged at uni).

Cheers mate. 75 is pretty good, considering you're in a huge cohort that doesn't have massive scaling.

 

[Bobbo1]

Just wondering could CA be worth pursuing if I'm not an accounting major?

 

[halapenyo]

Just wondering could CA be worth pursuing if I'm not an accounting major?

can you do that? i thought you needed to be an accounting major to do CA.

 

[Bobbo1]

Yeh, apparently you could do some bridging course and catch up the relevant accounting subjects, then do CA. But this would be worth? - thinking about majoring in finance/eco.