Frog Legs

Ok, so I needed a post here so folks wouldn’t get the error message. I plan to do some writing in this area about specifically accounting-related issues. For example, I receive the FASB Action Alert emails regularly. I would like to make a habit of making a post at least once per email or once per week (which ever is less frequent) about some topic in those alerts. Or perhaps I will do reviews/opinions concerning a set of financial statements.

But for now I have been busy enough not to have the time to do either of these things. So, more to come later…

I posted recently about Google Voice. Recently an article on Lifehacker discussed using Gizmo5 in conjunction with Google Voice to make calls. I installed gizmo5 (a VOIP application) on my laptop and am now using it to make calls with Google Voice. I initiate the call from GV and have it ring my gizmo number. I’m not sure why the article specifies using gizmo. It seems like any VOIP app would provide the same functionality, but in any case I like it.

At some point in the future I believe I am likely to have a job requiring me to travel more often. I spend a lot of time on my computer (especially when I’m by myself) and while I can certainly call my wife on my cell phone, using VOIP (and of course Google Voice) to make calls on my laptop would be a nice convenience. Now if I can just figure out how to watch my own television across the internet…(more to come on that;) )

Lately I’ve been using Google Voice. I signed up for it a few months ago and got an invite a few weeks later. Since the invite I have been sort of figuring out how (or even if) I can incorporate it into my life.

At first I didn’t fully understand why I would want to use it. As I understood, it allowed you to have a phone number which could be called and the calls would then be forwarded to your “normal” phone. As a first attempt of describing the tool, that’s a pretty good start but it leaves out a lot of details.

When you sign up for Google Voice, you get to choose a phone number. They give you a prefix (or list you can choose from) based on a zip code and you have the option of choosing the last-four. During that phase, they also have a tool that searches available numbers for strings. For example if you searched for DOG it would show you the available numbers that had “Dog” embedded in the number. So I chose a number that included my last name. That was kind of cool.

But why use google voice? First, voicemail left on Google Voice is transcribed. It can be configured to then email you the transcribed voicemail or send as a text message to your phone (or neither if you prefer). This is a pretty neat feature in my opinion.

Second, Google Voice can be configured to ring multiple phones when called. For example, I have it set up to ring my cell and my work phones. One issue which I have not yet resolved is that in some cases my work voicemail system picks up before the call rolls to Google Voice voicemail. This means those calls are then on my work voicemail, which is less accessible to me. Otherwise, the ability to ring multiple phones is, in my opinion, pretty neat.

Incoming numbers can be set into groups. If you organize your contacts into say “Friends” and “Family”, you can change the behavior of each group. Perhaps when family calls it rings all phones but when friends call it only rings your cell phone. You can also have a “default” behavior for unknown numbers. Additionally, different groups can have different voicemail greetings. Perhaps a friendly greeting for family and friends and a more formal greeting for other numbers.

With the new addition to my family, I plan to include my wife’s cell and work phone in my google voice numbers and have all phones (my work, my cell, her work and her cell) ring when the call is coming from the daycare/babysitter. This will ensure the phone gets answered in case of an emergency.

There are some other neat features with Google Voice. There is a widget such as on my “About” page that allows people to call me, without revealing my number. I can also send text messages from Google Voice online or initiate calls, such as have Google Voice call me then call my friend and connect us. Overall I feel this is a valuable addition to my life and I plan to continue to use this tool more extensively.

According to this article, Arizona is considering selling capital buildings to fund immediate cash needs. The report is they are considering a sale-leasback where they will lease the buildings back from the buyer for a period of time after which they will own the property again.

Basically this is a loan. They are borrowing to cover today’s cash-flow problems. The problem with this is that in the future they will still have to cover the same expenses PLUS the additional cost of the borrowed money they spent today. The counter-argument on their part would be that “when the economy recovers” tax revenues will increase and cover the regular costs plus the additional interest expense.

This is, of course, not a healthy way to manage finances. If your income today decreases, then it is proper to modify your spending today. When/If your income increases in the future then at that time it is proper to increase spending (if you so choose, although saving may still be a better option). Many people make the mistake of thinking it is ok to borrow and spend now on the premise that future income will be sufficient to not only cover future expenses but also pay interest on those borrowed dollars. Apparently the Arizona government is run by exactly these sorts of people.

What those people often don’t understand is that regardless of future or present income it is always the case that when you borrow to spend in the present your total consumption (present and future) will have to decrease by at least the amount of interest paid. This doesn’t take into consideration opportunity cost of lost potential earnings on dollars saved (i.e. interest earned from savings or investments).

If the hypothetical person would instead delay spending until such time that the expected income increase happened, then his total capacity for consumption (present + future) will be increased by the amount of interest saved. An additional benefit to this way of thinking is that in the event the expected income increase doesn’t happen, you aren’t stuck with a bunch of debt you can’t handle.

Credit transactions are in fact nothing but the exchange of present goods against future goods. — Ludwig von Mises

Since January 2007 I have been in school pursuing the education I need to shift into a career in accounting. Since my goal is to be an accountant, it was a requirement for the CPA exam I take all the undergraduate accounting courses (and some other various business courses). Additionally, I decided to pursue a Masters of Accountancy as I felt having a degree in the field would be beneficial so I also have taken (and am still taking) the graduate-level courses required for this advanced degree.

During this time, my grades have been good. All the classes I have taken since January of 2007 can be categorized into either undergraduate or graduate level. At the undergraduate level my gpa since I started this process is about 3.9. At the graduate level, with two classes remaining, my gpa is 4.0.

This has been a lot of work, I’m not sure I can overstate how involved the whole process has been. The education by itself wasn’t so bad, but combining with a 40 or more hour work-week and the pace at which I was taking courses, my life for the last two and a half years has mostly consisted of studying, working and sleeping. This past spring I took 4 graduate courses (12 hours). Nine hours is normally considered “full time” in graduate school. I also took 4 classes the previous fall and 3 classes in the summer before that. I tend to understate my achievements. However in this case, I am very proud to have completed all that with such excellent grades.

So now the fruits of my labor are starting to become tangible. One of the local accounting firms is scheduling interviews in September. I was notified by email from the head of the accounting department and signed up to participate. Starting in approximately a few weeks I will seriously begin job hunting, so this interview session comes at an appropriate time.

I’m not sure what the future holds. In addition to the Master’s degree, I have a large (both deep and wide) knowledge base in the area of information technology. I believe this could be very valuable to either a small or large firm. Additionally I believe I have a lot of potential in the area of IT auditing and/or IT governance in general. Clearly my knowledge base (including a CISSP security certification) would serve me well in that area.

So what does the future hold? I don’t know but I am excited to find out!

So far I have taken 3 of the 4 CPA exams. I passed two of them, FAR and BEC. The third, AUD, I have not received results for, but I feel ok about the test. Not great, but I think there is a reasonable chance I passed it.

I am scheduled to take the 4th exam in six days, this coming Saturday. I think I should do ok and pass the test. After that, I won’t have anything to study at all for a few weeks until school starts again.

For study materials I chose to use Gleim. I reviewed a number of them and felt Gleim to be the best option for me. My main criteria was a study system which would provide plenty of tools for self-study. I did not want to take any classes. Gleim offers self-test software, books, an online learning system and audio lectures. There was another company who I was also leaning toward for self-study (don’t recall the name right away) but I chose Gleim because the other company didn’t publish their own books, Gliem does. Finally, Gleim was competitive on price, an important point for me.

So far of the results I have received, I passed 2/2 tests. I feel the Gleim books have been very representative of the three tests I have taken (recall: I have taken 3 but only received two results so far).

So for anyone else looking for a good self-study course, I highly recommend using Gleim whether you buy the books only or the other tools they offer.

I have recently been working on applying for the CPA. The state board has received all my material and evidently is “reviewing” it. Hopefully I hear back from the within a week or so. I would like to take two of the tests in May.

I’m debating which study review material to use, right now I am leaning toward either Gleim or Bisk. One of my professors who I respect recommended Bisk. Gleim gets lots of good reviews online.

UPDATE: I’ve settled on Gleim. Overall considering the reviews, cost and features it seems like a better fit for me.

I decided to make a post to track real estate for sale. I will update this post when I find some piece of RE that is of particular interest and which I want to keep track of for posterity’s sake. Read the rest of this entry »

The thesis being considered here is that the current credit cycle started in about 1983. The question I am attempting to answer is what exactly changed from pre-1983 to post-1983 that moved us from a relatively more stable and natural economic growth model to a more volatile boom/bust cycle as we currently have.

First I will begin with a discussion of monetary policy currently practiced by the Federal Reserve.
Read the rest of this entry »

I thought I would post some quotes that I find interesting.

“Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.”
Benito Mussolini

“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”
Thomas Jefferson

Of course, private banks do, more or less, control our currency. And the govt has long since been in bed with corporate and financial interests. Perhaps the worst of this is the complicity of the American people, it’s disgraceful frankly.