Let me introduce myself. I’m a 28 year old married, full-time working, mother of two, and I am taking on the CPA exams. You can just call me Mrs. Crazy. Oh, and we are buying a house and moving this month. Mrs. Crazy it is.
Originally I went to school and got a Psychology degree. In other words, upon graduation, I was faced with the same question as when I started school, What do I want to do? I got my first job in the “real world” working at a brokerage firm, after a year with the company I transferred to their accounting department. I decided I was hooked on Accounting and should head back to school for another degree and more student loans. The more the merrier right?
So 5 months after getting married I went back to school. January 2007. Fast forward one month and I find out I’m pregnant. Yikes! Not exactly part of the “plan” but we were still happy. After one semester school was put on hold. We welcomed our daughter in October of 2007, and 6 short months later made a big move from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest. Fast forward another month and I was pregnant again. This time on purpose. An accounting degree was the furthest thing from my mind. My son was born in February of 2009 and when he was just a little guy of 10 days old, we moved back to the Midwest. Six weeks later I went back to school. I finally graduated with an Accounting degree in December 2010.
The CPA exams were always part of my plans. Being 4 credits short of the requirements to take the exams I landed an internship at a public firm during Busy Season 2011. I had a great experience at the firm. Loved the piles of work and the overall business. Didn’t like Partner’s breathing down my neck, and hated the fact that I only saw my 2 kids a handful of hours each WEEK. However, I decided I would go back to the firm in the fall, and we’d just make due during busy season. However in July, just 2 months ago, I landed a Corporate Accounting job at a large, highly respected, corporation, and quickly accepted. So far, I am loving the work-life balance.
So now, the CPA exam. I started studying after busy season. I took Audit on July 6th 2011, and I am STILL waiting on the score. Overall I think it went okay, you never can tell. I thought the MCQ’s were okay, but didn’t get more difficult as the exam went on. The SIMS were okay too. I felt great about 3, okay about 2, and clueless on about 2. We’ll see what happens. Audit was never my strong point.
BEC is scheduled for October 1st. I rescheduled my original test date of August 18th, since starting a new job and buying a house was stealing time away from studying. (Heck, who am I kidding, working full-time, being married, and having a 2 year old and a 3 year old take time away from studying)! I study during my lunch hours and after the kids go to bed. I study Sunday afternoons as well, and I actually even study a bit at work during slower times (don’t worry, cleared with my boss). Do I study as much as I should? No. But I do the best I can and try to be as balanced as possible. I depend on a lot of coffee to keep me motivated.
Please join me as I blog weekly about my frustrations, my studying, my exam taking, and my victories as I work towards putting those 3 little letters after my name.
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