Writing the CPA Exam

1. Writing the CPA Exam Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011

2. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Essay Exams • The key to doing well on writing prompts in an essay exam is organization. • First, because in a timed exam, you don’t have the luxury of revising and tinkering with a draft. • Second, exam graders are looking at your exam in a very cursory fashion. The responsive details should be crystal-clear. • Develop a consistent method to attack essay exam questions that helps you focus in on the relevant details.

3. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Essay Exams • I faced similar questions on the bar exam. The method I was taught involved sketching out a brief outline of your response before you start writing your response. • The idea is to resist the urge to do an information dump. • Just write some quick bullet points that help you organize your thoughts. • I think this is a good method for a number of reasons. • First, it makes your slow down and think. • Second, it helps you organize your answer. • Third, it helps you remember your answer.

4. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 First Reason • Sketching an outline makes you slow down and not simply write whatever pops into your mind. • An outline makes you think through your answer and all the possible issues raised in the question. • Sometimes when you read a question, the most obvious issue will immediately come to your mind. Resist the temptation to begin writing on the basis of that issue alone.

5. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 First Reason • There may be other issues that won’t become obvious until you have read the entire question and had a moment to think about it. • Also, giving yourself a moment to relax and breath before formulating your response can help clear your mind. • This does take time, but I think it is worth it.

6. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Second Reason • Sketching out an outline helps you organize your answer. • The exam instructions emphasize organization and paragraph development in your responses. • What they don’t want to see is someone frantically spitting out accounting principles. • Rather, they want a professional-looking document. • They want to see developed paragraphs with topic sentences that move to a logical conclusion. • So you have to know the content of the paragraphs before you write them, not as you write them.

7. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Second Reason • For example, suppose there is a writing question on the CPA exam that asks about the potential for fraud in a given scenario. • After thinking about the given facts, you decide that there are three different risks for fraud presented in the case. • Therefore, you might write a paragraph that begins with a topic sentence stating that there are three risks. • Then, subsequent sentences describe each of those risks in turn and explain why each of them constitutes a risk. • You wouldn’t be able to write such a topic sentence if you had not sketched out your outline first. You would only realize that you are discussing three risks by the time you finish.

8. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Third Reason • Sketching out an outline is also helpful because it allows you to get your ideas on paper so that you don’t have to remember them. • Thus, when you begin writing, you will not forget any of them. You have them written out in front of you. • You are already stressed out enough in the middle of the CPA exam. You don’t need the additional stress of thinking of four responses, but then forgetting your last one. • Can you imagine the frustration??

9. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Writing Issues • The question prompts all have these general instructions: • You will be graded on technical content and writing skills. • Technical content is graded for information that is helpful for the intended user and clearly relevant to the issue. • Writing skills are evaluated for the development, organization, and appropriate expression of ideas in professional correspondence. • Use a standard business memorandum format with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Do not use a table, bullet point list, or other abbreviated presentation.

10. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Spotting Issues • The idea behind these writing questions is to show that you can apply your accounting knowledge to real-world problems. • So you should think about your answers in terms of accounting principles. • In many cases, the question tells you what issues to look for, but in some cases, it may be very broad, requiring you to decide what principles are relevant. • You will have to know what principle or rule is relevant. The exam prep classes will probably help you do this. • Mental checklist? • A series of questions you can ask yourself about the transaction?

11. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Spotting Issues • My point is that you want to discuss the accounting issues in a very concise and obvious way. • Make it easy for the graders to see that you know which accounting issue is involved and how it is relevant. • Concise means don’t talk about anything other than how the accounting principle relates to the question. • Don’t try to show the reader that you know the history of GAAP or the reasons it is a good idea to have GAAP. • Those ideas will probably be totally irrelevant. • Just identify the relevant principle or rule.

12. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Analyzing Issues • Many of the sample questions I have reviewed ask you to discuss a particular practice (usually something like advantages and disadvantages). • Others ask you apply principles to a given scenario. • The model answers use a consistent pattern: • Briefly restate the question or topic of discussion. • Discuss the advantages in one paragraph and disadvantages in another paragraph. • Conclude with a brief statement if the question asks for your recommendation. • Include a polite closing inviting follow-up.

13. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Analyzing Issues • Be sure to stay on topic. If the prompt asks about the purpose and limitations of a particular practice, make sure everything in your response is about the purpose and limitations. • Good idea to treat each issue individually. • Also, they are testing your ability to respond to a particular audience. • If the audience is a non-technical person, you may be expected to explain technical accounting concepts or define terms. • So don’t skim over the recipient of your memo. You should make note of it in your brief outline.

14. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Other Writing Issues • The test writers also want you to demonstrate your ability to compose professional communications. • They want responses that have a professional tone. • Word choice: use the technical terminology correctly. • Formality: Refer to people as Mr. or Ms. So and so. Don’t use first names. • Complete sentences and punctuation count.

15. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Other Writing Issues • They don’t say this in the writing prompts, but I think plain language also counts. • It gives your writing a feeling of directness and clarity. • Avoid those long, convoluted sentences we talked about. Favor shorter sentences. • Favor sentences that have subject close to the main verb and object of the sentence. • Favor active voice. • Favor subject actors and verbs that express the main action. • Be careful about ambiguous pronoun references.

16. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Other Writing Issues • No: Mr. Frank performed an examination. • No: The decision was made by the Board of Directors. • Yes: Mr. Frank examined the ledger. • Yes: The Board of Directors decided that … • Being concise also means that you waste less time writing.

17. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Other Writing Issues • The test writers emphasize developed paragraphs with a clear beginning, middle, and end. • Just be mindful about how your are organizing your paragraphs. • I don’t think they are asking for one particular paragraph formula. • But they want paragraphs that are organized with • transitions and • paragraphs that develop the idea. • Remember our discussion of paragraph styles in the plain language presentation?

18. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Paragraph Styles

19. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Paragraph Styles • Illustration paragraphs: Topic sentence states a claim. Subsequent sentences illustrate, showing that the claim is true.

20. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Paragraph Styles • Classification paragraphs: Topic sentence divides the topic into sub-parts or species. The body paragraphs explain and contrast each one. • Sometimes the topic sentence will list all the species.

21. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Paragraph Styles • Compare and Contrast paragraphs: Develops the paragraph topic by using similarities and differences. • Used when you want to highlight a change.

22. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Paragraph Styles • Compare and Contrast paragraphs: Also notice how the paragraph is organized. • The first sentence expresses the “before” condition. • The second sentence provides evidence or explains the “before” condition. • The third sentence provides evidence or explains the “after” condition. • Then the fourth sentence expresses the “after” condition.

23. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Developing the Idea • The model answers develop and idea rather than just state a conclusion. • Like the B&E Concrete paragraph shows the reader how we got to the conclusion. • Sometimes this means a paragraph that explores the effects of a given procedure or policy. Sometimes this means showing evidence for the claim. • Topic sentence. • Claim sentence. • Evidence and elaboration sentences. • They also like obvious transition words • First, second, etc. • References like this • Contrast words like however, on the other hand,

24. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Practice Question • Let’s work two writing questions that appear in the Wiley’s CPA Exam Review 2011. • Formulate your response to the sample questions. • We’re not testing your accounting knowledge, so use whatever resources you want, including the Internet or each other. • Our focus is on practicing the form of essay exam questions. • Then we will compare responses. • And look at a model answer from the book.

25. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Practice Question

27. Advanced Business Communication Fall 2011 Practice Question