Tips on How to Teach
    The CC Certified ControllerTM Review Course

    Copyright © 2010 by Michael Schemmann
    Founder of the IICPA

    For the Joy of Learning

    I'm a "late bloomer" and didn't become an accountant and eventually a professor of accounting and finance until after a full career in private and commercial banking, starting in Germany, moving to Switzerland working for American Express Bank and Paul Erdman's illustrious United California Bank in Basel AG, and rising all the way to the top of corporate credit in charge of three Canadian provinces at the Bank of Nova Soctia on King & Bay Streets in Toronto.

    After a short time at controlling at what is now Novartis in Basel, Switzerland, I moved to the Pacific Northwest and trained for the Uniform CPA Exam, taking the Becker CPA Review Course. I passed first time down as one of the successful 32 among a crowd of 400 applicants. I passed because I had set myself the goal, because I had experienced and devoted instructors who became personal friends after I had passed.

    One notable instructor to whom my Professional Study Guide for "External and Internal Auditing" is dedicated became CFO of Microsoft and later Chief Operating Officer of the NASDAQ.  Mike Brown is a multi-millionaire, and since his retirement a busy director of a multitude of public companies.

    One instructor, to whom my "Snap Into A Slim Accounting-Finance & Banking MBA" is dedicated, who was the lead instructor, is Gordy Smith, a builder and advisor of companies with clients from teak importer, lumber exporter, to air control manufacturer, whose owners became very wealthy.  

    Professional education with certification is not only useful, it's actually a "must" because it is proof to employers and clients of competence - Trained, Tested and True - that increases with experience, not just academic knowledge that fades after the exams have been passed. 

    The lessons I learned by following Newton D. Becker's and my CPA Review Course teachers' instructions are included in the CC's course material and in my advice to you.

    For the Joy of Teaching

    You are an accounting professional or an experienced academic. You know what is intriguing, stimulating and relevant in the material when you see it. You will dig deep into your pockets of practical experience and add anecdotal teaching evidence to the sometimes dry text in the study material. It is these stories from my professors at the School of Business that I remember to this day, and sometimes pass on.

    You will enforce the need of professional certification briefly in every class, and mention to the students that they are lucky to have this course and the increased potential of passing the competency examination at the end ? "first time down" is the goal, not taking the exams in parts. It's not allowed.

    When I taught Becker CPA Review in Bangkok ten years ago, I followed Newt's methodology and it worked like clock work very well. Becker CPA runs videos, so that my input was taking in-class practice questions, motivating and counseling the student candidates. 

    The CC Review Course is not on video, not passive but very active. I do not have the resources, yet. One day it may be on video, or it may never be on video, leaving the initiative, freedom of instruction and motivation to the individual instructor. My CMA course that I subsequently gave in Bangkok before the IMA became jealous and interfered with my university on grounds of trademark infringement, followed a well-proven format:

  • One class of three hours in the morning

  • One class of three hours in the afternoon.
  • For the first two hours of each class, I would present the theoretical underpinning by referring and sometimes reading whole paragraphs from the Professional Study Guide, taking questions, and asking questions.
  • On every page of the text, I would select a word, a sentence, or a whole paragraph and ask the students: "Please go to page 121 last paragraph . and highlight for me using a yellow highlighter, not blue or red which will ruin the book:"

      "The auditor may decide to select specific items from a population. In making this decision, factors that may be relevant include the auditor's understanding of the entity, the assessed risk of material misstatement, and the characteristics of the population being tested."

  • The students hear the text when the instructor reads aloud.
  • The students read the text through their own eyes.
  • The students highlight the text using their hand and reading again while they highlight.
  • All this is reinforcement through the ears, the eyes, and the hand to aid the students' memory; is stored in the subconscious mind made available under the stress of the competency exam at the end of the course. 

      "The subconscious is there," I would comfort my students, "to help you during the final examination."

  • After the break, during the last hour of the weekend class, I would turn to the in-class multiple choice practice questions, which are online and freely available, and put them up onto the screen. Some students may have read them already and know the correct answers. What is important is the regimentation of doing it all over again in a group in class.
  • Students have two minutes reading, flipping through the text book together to find the solution, unless they know already.
  • Even if students know the answer, I would urge: "Please go to the text and EARN THE ANSWER by finding it. Then highlight it with your yellow highlighter.
  • After two minutes, whether the students were ready, or not ready, I would say: 

      "Okay, it's a little bit later now. Who is in favor of "A", please raise your hand. Everybody vote, please.. Okay. Please raise your hand if you are in favor of "B". Okay. " and so on until the answers are in for C and D.

  • Then I would click on the solution and the answer came up by way of a green tick mark if correct, or a red cross if false. 
  • Normally, the majority of the students have the right answer. 
  • Some students may object and give reasons.
  • A good way of answering is to ask the class: "What do YOU think? Is the student right?" A lively discussion may ensue with students getting excited. This is learning. This is fun!
  • If the instructor does not know the answer, I would tell the students that I will look it up to be sure, and come back to it during the next class. No false pretenses! You may, or you may not. Don't stop too long, but keep the class and the course moving. There will be more coming down the turnpike!
  • I usually voted along with the students, and. surprise! Sometimes I was wrong. Only human. The students laughed.

    For the Joy of Teaching!