The Student CPA

Principles of Accounting ( referred as “P. Acct” from here then on) is the introductory accounting course at the undergraduate level in most US colleges and universities. Most students who have taken this course would agree that its difficulty level is about average. In fact, getting a B in “P. Acct” doesn’t require much effort at all. This is because “P. Acct” related exams only test general accounting lingo along with some customary journal entries here and there. Consequently, a good memorization of key concepts and a few hours of homework every week are all you will need to get a B or sometimes a A if the professor is nice enough to curve the grades. Unfortunately, having good grades in “P. Acct” is a poor predictor of how well one will perform in upper level accounting courses. That’s why a majority of those “P. Acct” overachievers are stunned by how challenging upper level accounting courses are. They in fact struggle to even make a C. What students don’t realize while enrolled in “P. Acct” is the fact that almost everything they are being taught will carry over to their intermediate and advanced accounting courses. Continue reading Principles of Accounting or The Alphabet of Accounting