By Diane Ngomsi
Diane is an Accountant at Aurora Cannabis. She passed the CFE in 2020 and is currently completing her practical experience requirements.
My first case in CPA PEP, which was on the second day of the Core 1 workshop, left me thinking I may not make it through the program; I had barely typed a paragraph while all my peers sharing the same table had more than a page done. On my next trial, even when I knew what to write, I was far from done when the time was up. I tested myself online and researched about typing speed, and realized I was typing at about 20 words per minutes (wpm) with 85% accuracy—I was a slow typist!
In my opinion, typing at a speed of 25 wpm or less, even with 100% accuracy, puts a candidate on the slower side; as does typing at 35 wpm with an accuracy below 70%. Nonetheless, you can pass the module exams and the CFE, if you apply certain tips and tricks.
Why does typing speed matter?
As a professional, your typing speed will impact your productivity and reduce the time you spend at work.
During module exams and the CFE, time management can make the difference between failing and passing. You’ll be in competition with hundreds, if not thousands, of writers, and you want to make sure to give yourself at least a fair chance to fully develop your ideas in writing, as any competitive edge can put you on the right side of the curve. What is the point of studying if you can’t write what you know when it matters?
According to a conversion done on www.wordstopages.com, about 450 words would fit on a one-inch margin Word page typed in a 12 point Arial font with single spacing (recommended formatting as per the CPA Candidate Guide). For someone with a typing speed of 30 wpm, an additional 10 words per minute could mean between six to seven minutes saved on a three-page long submission. Have you ever wished you had a minute more to plan, complete an assessment opportunity, conclude, or finish a quantitative analysis?
Here are my tips that made the difference for me.
Practice
Have you heard that practice makes perfect? Well, I don’t believe it. In my opinion, practice makes better for sure. I worked my way up from a typing speed of 20 wpm to 30 wpm before the CFE by practicing regularly on www.typingclub.com. Many free websites offer basic to advanced training; try a couple and pick one that best meets your goals. I do not recommend practicing on websites that focus on speed testing because they lack guidance on steps to take to reach your goals. For slower typists, these tools may be a constant reminder that they are not good enough, which can be discouraging.
Learn the concepts; know your stuff
Taking the time to understand the concepts in each chapter will ensure you don’t waste time overthinking or writing a wrong response, no matter how different the same assessment opportunity (AO) is presented from one case to another. Knowing the concepts will also allow you to quickly connect AOs to other relevant competency areas that should be addressed. For example, if a case mentions the age of the inventory, I would think about:
- measurement of inventory and recognition of allowance of doubtful accounts for financial reporting;
- testing for inventory (balance sheet ) and bad debts (income statement);
- the proper procedures for an income statement vs balance sheet account;
- acquisition costs vs fair market value for the purpose of computing income for taxation;
- the customer and internal process perspective on the balance scorecard for performance management; and
- working capital management for finances.
Debrief
I can’t emphasize enough the importance of debriefing. Debriefing allows you to assimilate the concepts you have learned, and provides you with a clear understanding of what is important to address for a given AO. Throughout my modules, I tracked the key elements of each AO in the marking guide. This enabled me to commit to heart patterns I used to successfully approach frequently asked AOs and quantitative analysis, therefore shortening my thinking time and keeping my writing focused.
Engage in the work review of peers
Reviewing my peers’ assignments during the program enabled me to adapt my writing style, and learn how to use just enough words to communicate key points and be more efficient.
For example, for Core 1 candidates, instead of writing this conclusion, “According to case facts listed above, we can conclude the PPI risk of material misstatement is high,” you could say: “The risk of material misstatement is assessed as high.” The second sentence gets the same point across while buying you more time.
Use a WIR template
Using a WIR (weakness, implication, recommendation) table such as the one below, or doing a balance scorecard analysis helps you cut out clutter and provide only the required information.
| Weakness | Implication | Recommendation | |
| 1 | |||
| 2 |
If you are a slow typist, knowing yourself—how best to leverage your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses—and the material will help increase your typing speed and fine-tune your exam strategy in CPA PEP. Ultimately, this will increase your chances of success.
The views expressed in this post are those of the guest writer, Diane Ngomsi. Please refer to cpawsb.ca for the latest guidelines from the CPA Western School of Business.
