By Fahim Sahray CPA
Fahim’s CPA journey wasn’t easy. He wrote Day 1 of the CFE three times while dealing with challenging family circumstances. Through it all, he remained resilient; he knew he could pass the CFE since he had already successfully completed six CPA PEP modules and come so far. Fahim is currently a Senior Tax Specialist at TELUS, and in this blog post, he discusses how keeping an eye on the prize—the CPA designation—kept him going.
I started my CPA journey in 2013 while working at a firm. The following year, I lost my job because of the downturn in oil and gas and moved to industry, where I had no support as a CPA candidate. In 2015, my spouse and I had our second child who, unfortunately, wasn’t blessed with good health. Needless to say, juggling a fulltime job and family, as well as preparing for the CFE, was not easy.
My first and second attempts
After writing the CFE for the first time in 2016, I moved to public practice where I had full support from my manager and mentor. But I knew I wasn’t focused enough to pass all three days of the exam, so mentally, I prepared myself to pass Day 2 and Day 3, and rewrite Day 1. On CFE Results Day, I learned I had failed Day 1, but it felt like a successful result because it was what I anticipated.
During my second attempt, I took three weeks off to study, but on two occasions during the mock CFE exam, I had to rush to the hospital because of my daughter’s health. Once again, I wasn’t focused enough, and I failed Day 1.
A few things kept me going during these challenging times: first, deep down, I knew if I could pass Day 2 and Day 3 in one attempt, I could pass the CFE. If the reverse were true, I might have lost hope. Secondly, I couldn’t see myself working in junior accounting roles for the rest of my career; my goal was to move up into leadership roles, and the only way I could accomplish this was to become a CPA.
My mistakes on the exam
Every day of the CFE is a different beast and needs to be approached differently. Overall, though, planning is key, and I didn’t do this during my first two attempts; I dove into reading and responding to the case as soon as I started the exam—not a good idea.
Another mistake was that after identifying the issues in the case, I did not make a connection between the issues and the pros and cons in my qualitative and quantitative analysis. For example, if I identified declining sales as an issue within an organization, I needed to state in my analysis whether this was due to competition or other factors discussed in the case.
My third attempt and eventual success
Going into my third attempt, I finally had time to regroup and study the feedback reports I had requested after my first two attempts. I experienced a light bulb moment once I figured out my mistakes and how to correct them; this increased my confidence and Day 1 became a breeze.
The moment I found out I passed the CFE—all three days—will be forever engrained in my memory. I remember turning on my computer, logging into the CPA Western School of Business’s portal, and hitting refresh until the PDF appeared. Then I saw my candidate number, screamed at the top of my lungs, and shed a few tears. For three months after that, I was euphoric; I had an internal happiness and a constant smile on my face. My persistence and resilience had finally paid off.
If you are a repeat CFE writer, do not be discouraged. Likely, there are flaws in the way you approached the exam. Go back and identify those flaws, and rectify them. It is very important to request a detailed exam feedback report. It tells you if you did not recognize enough assessment opportunities, whether you recognized them but couldn’t connect the dots, and other areas for improvement. Finally, move on. You cannot change your past results, but by picking yourself up and strategically applying yourself to your studies, you can ace the next CFE.
The views expressed in this post are those of the guest writer, Fahim Sahray CPA. Please refer to cpawsb.ca for the latest guidelines from the CPA Western School of Business.
