(Posted March 2025 – Written by: Marshall Filiault, CPA, May 2024 CFE Honour Roll Candidate)
When it comes to the CPA Common Final Examination (CFE) it is important to be prepared, not if there is a curveball, but rather when there is a curveball. In my journey to become CFE ready, defensive writing was the technique that I anticipated learning about the most. How can you prepare yourself for a case required that catches you off guard, one you have never debriefed before? These defensive writing techniques helped me to successfully overcome multiple requireds on the CFE for which I did not feel prepared.
Pause
We have all experienced it, a flash of panic as we read a case required and we do not even know where to begin. I experienced this for the first time during the Capstone 2 Mock CFE Day 2 case. I was so taken aback by a financial reporting required that I lost my footing in my CFE Day 2 approach. With my momentum completely lost, I could not even attempt the other requireds in the allotted time. This experience highlighted the need to practice managing my emotional response to a case required that I was otherwise not confident in addressing.
The first advice for defensive writing is to simply pause. From the beginning to the end of your CFE preparation, you will likely experience an unfamiliar required on almost every case. When you come across an unfamiliar required, pause and take a deep breath. I found closing my eyes for a moment was helpful to take my focus off of the case and onto processing any panic. Not only does this pause help reduce the feelings of dismay, but it also allows you to revert back to stable footing in the structured Densmore case approach. Take the time during your practice cases to manage your reaction to difficult requireds. After repetition, you will be an unfaltering force during the CFE, sticking to your proven case approach.
Highlight the Specific Asks
The second part of defensive writing is to reread and highlight the specific ask in the required. Often, case requireds include specific asks of the reader which you can use to identify as a starting point for your response. The specific asks may be buried in one or two paragraphs of case facts related to the required, so ensure you re-read diligently. For example, a more complicated financial reporting required may include “the user would like to understand the accounting policy options to be applied in the future” or “how the impact to the financial statements might change based on the accounting policy applied”. The first of these specific asks prompts your starting point to be comparing at least two accounting policy options. The second is a cue that the user would like to know how each policy choice would impact the financial statements. This should trigger you, as the reader, to attempt to quantify the impact and compare.
It is always a good idea to carefully re-read the required after you have managed your initial emotional reaction. Re-reading will help you comprehend the required and once you have highlighted the specific ask, you will have identified your starting point for your response.
Handbook Searching
The third part of defensive writing is becoming proficient in searching the Handbook. Knowing how to navigate and identify relevant Handbook sections is its own skill that you, as the CFE writer, must practice.
So, how do you get better at this skill? I found that spending time navigating to the applicable Handbook section during the debrief of each assessment opportunity was beneficial in improving my navigation speed. It is also extremely helpful to practice using the search feature and search within results feature of the Handbook. Consider an exercise where you navigate to Handbook sections using the search feature. This exercise will help you hone in on identifying useful search prompts to use. Being well-practiced in prompting and using key terms will come in handy when you are faced with a required and you do not know what handbook section is most applicable.
Ensure that you set small blocks of time in your study plan each week to simply become familiar with navigating the Handbook and consider doing search exercises to improve your prompting skills. For more information on how to use the Handbook effectively, read our writing tips blog.
Stick to Your Time Allocation
The final piece of defensive writing advice that I have is to stick to your time allocation!
As you will learn during your studies, time management is a fundamental skill that you must become proficient in for CFE success. This holds true when you find yourself stumped on a required. It can be very tempting to allocate more time to a difficult required to produce a stronger written response. However, it is imperative that you do not steal precious writing time from other requireds. If you allocate a disproportionate amount of time to any single required, you run the risk of falling short on time for the rest of your responses leading you to score multiple NCs or NAs. Remember, during your attack strategy phase of planning, you should allocate a reasonable amount of time to every required to achieve Cs and RCs. Watch the clock as you write and develop the discipline to conclude on your response as you approach the end of your allocated time so you can move on to the next required.
Key Takeaway
Overall, defensive writing techniques include multiple CFE fundamental skills, such as including managing your stress, diligently reading the case, searching the Handbook efficiently, and managing your time. Ensure that you keep these fundamental skills in mind as you work through your study plan to become ready to write the CFE. You can, and you will, find CFE success!