There are all kinds of strategies and memory hacks you can use to help prepare for the CPA Exam, but there’s nothing like seeing firsthand what you can expect. Our CPA SkillMaster video tutorials guide you through the most complex portions of the exam. Imagine someone sitting in front of you with a task-based simulation question and visually working it out for you step-by-step, explaining everything in detail along the way. That’s exactly what Becker’s SkillMaster videos do. And there’s one made especially for how to tackle the task-based simulation portion of the CPA Exam. You can watc ..read more

Keep an eye on a new proposal that came from the White House this month, because its future could really cut back on the powers of important auditing board. Part of President Trump’s budget plan wants to roll the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) into the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2022. Essentially, the board that was created in light of the Enron and WorldCom scandals to protect the interests of investors may get swallowed up by the SEC, no longer making it an independent watchdog group. So what would that mean? It would mean future auditing standards an ..read more

Excel’s conditional formatting capability allows the user to format cells based on the contents of a cell. In our June-August 2017 newsletters we discussed the built-in conditional formatting capabilities of Excel (Top Bottom Rules, Highlight Cells, Data Bars, Color Scales, and Icon Sets.) In the next few newsletters we will show how you can use Excel formulas to create complex formatting rules.             To utilize Excel’s Conditional Formatting with a formula option we proceed as follows: Select the range where the formatting will be applied. After selecting Conditional Formatting fr ..read more

Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) 135: Omnibus Statement on Auditing Standards—2019, expands an auditor’s responsibilities for identifying, evaluating, and communicating related party relationships and significant unusual transactions, as they are more conducive to fraud or error.  Significant unusual transactions are those outside the normal course of business for the entity or that otherwise appear to be unusual due to their timing, size, or nature. Required procedures include specific inquiry of management, those charged with governance, and others (such as predecessor auditors) who ..read more

In late January, the IRS released updated tax forms for calculating the global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) tax under section 951A and the transition tax under section 965.  Form 8992, GILTI Tax Form 8992, US Shareholder Calculation of Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (GILTI), has been updated to reflect final regulations issued by the Treasury Department in June 2019. Background The GILTI rules were created by the TCJA and operate as a worldwide backstop to the territorial-style rules adopted by the tax reform legislation. The GILTI provisions piggyback on the long-s ..read more

So, your goal for 2020 is to increase your CPA Exam score on one or more parts of the exam. Trust us, you are not alone. And don’t get discouraged that you may have to take one or more parts of the exam more than once. If your first go-around didn’t meet your benchmarks, use it as a great learning tool: where did you struggle and how can you improve? We asked the CPA subject matter experts at Becker for tips on regrouping and tackling the CPA Exam once and for all in 2020: From Angeline Brown, Senior Director of Product Management and Instructor: Passing the exam is all about being co ..read more

Technology’s impact on the business world is both broad and deep, and that’s changing the way CPAs do their jobs. That’s why there will be an update to the content tested on the CPA Exam.  In its most recent Practice Analysis, the AICPA has issued an Exposure Draft in which it proposes revisions to the CPA Exam to take into account the impact of technology, analytics and process automation on newly licensed CPAs (nlCPAs). The AICPA also proposes certain topics that they believe are no longer relevant to the profession. Pending the feedback they receive on the Exposure Draft, the AICPA expec ..read more

For many accounting students, certification is a big question! Do I pursue a certification? Is it necessary? If so, which one? Two of the most popular accounting certifications around the world are the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license and the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) certification. Your choice of certification may have a tremendous effect on your future, so it is important to carefully consider the details before making a decision. Certification may require a significant investment to acquire in terms of both time and money. The good news? You don’t have to figure this ou ..read more

Most spreadsheets have inputs and outputs. Spreadsheet inputs are assumptions that we make. For example, the price of a product might be a spreadsheet input.Spreadsheet outputs are quantities of interest that depend on the value of the spreadsheet’s inputs. For example a company’s annual profit might be a spreadsheet output. In this article, we explain how to use a two-way data table to explore how changes in two inputs affect a single spreadsheet output. The worksheet Coffee of the workbook BeckerJanuary2020.xlsx contains a simple model that computes annual profit at the Central Perk ..read more

On December 20, 2019 the President signed into law the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Act (SECURE Act). The new legislation contains the most significant changes to retirement plans that we have seen in years. This article explores 10 key provisions of this new law. Expansion of 529 Plans: Distributions from 529 plans are allowed for registered apprenticeships and for up to $10,000 of lifetime qualified student loan repayments.Repayments of student loans can be made to the siblings of the designated beneficiary. Effective for distributions made after December 31, 2019. Stre ..read more