The Accounting Podcast

CPA Exam prep rockstars Peter Olinto and Roger Philipp join Blake and David to discuss the evolution of the CPA Exam over time, the importance of making studying entertaining, and challenges facing the accounting profession like public accounting burnout. Both Olinto and Philipp believe competition between CPA review courses drives innovation and helps students pass the exam, and they aim to make studying engaging through humor, memory techniques, and technology.


Chapters
  • (00:38) - Where did you learn to make CPA exam prep entertaining?
  • (05:18) - Do you have any nightmare CPA exam stories?
  • (10:45) - What does the current CPA exam look like and what's changing in 2024?
  • (14:33) - Do you think the CPA exam changes will help the pipeline?
  • (17:18) - Have CPA exam pass rates gone up with the 5th-year requirement?
  • (20:05) - How did you both get involved with UWorld?
  • (23:05) - Advice for accountants struggling to balance studying with their work and lives
  • (29:30) - How are you dealing with reduced attention spans
  • (36:37) - Do you tell students to diet and exercise as part of exam prep?
  • (42:11) - Peter's famous coffee offer
  • (43:07) - Why do you think young accountants are leaving the profession?
  • (51:19) - The problem with work-life balance versus billable hours
  • (59:15) - Wrap up and where to find out more about UWorld

Meet Our Guests:

Peter Olinto
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-olinto-5966586b/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/peterolinto?lang=en

Roger Philipp, CPA, CGMA
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogerphilipp/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rogercpa?lang=en

Show Notes
https://newsroom.uworld.com/story/uworld-launches-all-new-cpa-exam-review-product-to-prepare-candidates-for-the-2024-cpa-evolution/

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Transcripts
The full transcript for this episode is available by clicking on the Transcript tab at the top of this page

Creators & Guests

Host
Blake Oliver
Founder and CEO of Earmark CPE
Host
David Leary
President and Founder, Sombrero Apps Company
Guest
Peter Olinto
Global Lead Instructor, UWorld
Guest
Roger Philipp, CPA, CGMA
Chief Creative Officer at UWorld

What is The Accounting Podcast?

The Accounting Podcast (formerly the Cloud Accounting Podcast) is the world's #1 accounting, bookkeeping, and tax podcast! Join us weekly for a roundup of accounting news, analysis, and interviews. Plus, earn free NASBA-approved CPE credits for listening with the Earmark app. Learn more at https://earmarkcpe.com.

Attention: This is a machine-generated transcript. As such, there may be spelling, grammar, and accuracy errors throughout. Thank you for your understanding!

Peter Olinto: [00:00:04] I got into better law schools because I was a CPA. I had more job offers in law school because I had not only a law degree, but I had my CPA. When I studied for the CFA exam. I had such an advantage because of my background in public accounting. So it's a it's a phenomenal place to begin, but it's not necessarily your passion. Maybe you didn't grow up wanting to be a CPA. Okay. You'll move on and do other things, but you can milk it for a short time and get a return on that investment for all the time you're putting in.

David Leary: [00:00:33] Coming to you weekly from the OnPay Recording Studio.

Blake Oliver: [00:00:39] Hello everyone, and welcome back to the show. I'm Blake Oliver.

David Leary: [00:00:42] I'm David Leary.

Blake Oliver: [00:00:43] And we have two rock stars from the CPA exam Prep world joining us today, Peter Olinto, Global lead instructor at Uworld. And Roger Philip, chief Creative officer at Uworld. Roger, CPA review Peter Roger, welcome to the show.

Roger Philipp: [00:00:58] Thank you very much for having us. We're glad to be here.

Peter Olinto: [00:01:01] Thank you, Blake.

Blake Oliver: [00:01:03] I almost can't believe that I'm seeing you here in front of me, Peter, in real life, because I have seen you on camera. Like explaining CPA exam concepts, I feel like you must be probably the most well-known face in the world of of CPAs, just because we've all seen you. And I think the one thing that I really love is, you know, as, as an educator myself, is how entertaining you make the content. You actually make this stuff interesting. How did you learn how to do that? Peter?

Peter Olinto: [00:01:32] Well, Blake, thank you so much for the kind words. My mother must have gotten to you before the podcast. Thank you. Thank you so know you know what? Actually, I hate to say it, but I think I adopted a lot of my teaching technique from bar review when I studied for the bar. They were some of the most entertaining instructors that I had ever had. So it was like criminal law, constitutional law, whatever property. And like one was more funny than the next and the next. And not only did you appreciate the humor because it obviously made the time go by a little bit faster, but also the memory devices. So I know Roger's great for doing this, but, you know, people I've had people say over the years, you know, they laughed out loud during the exam thinking about something we may have said during the lecture, and they were able to recall it. And that's and really that's the most important thing, right? Getting people to remember this mountain of information. So Roger is actually the the expert at this and CPA review. I've been admiring him from afar all these years. We've A competitors. He didn't know that. But my I have a picture of him in my house. Actually, my wife has a picture of him. I'm not sure what's up with that. Wow. And I have a picture of you. So it's the whole triangle thing. Love it. I was hoping your wife had the picture of me, not you.

Blake Oliver: [00:02:45] Okay, so you guys were competitors for decades. Peter, you were at Becker for, like, 25 years. Roger. You are the Roger when I think of Roger, CPA, is that right? Yes.

Peter Olinto: [00:02:56] I started back in the late 80s. I used to work at Deloitte and Touche, stayed there, realized, you know what? That wasn't my passion for me. The passion was helping people accomplish their goals. And that's what's given my life a lot of value and meaning. And I always joke they're like, how did you become a CPA? How did you end up in accounting? You know, you don't have that personality. And I joke that when I was in college, I got in line. I thought I'd said acting and it said accounting. And so here I am. But I always figured, you know, if I could use my high energy and personality to help people get through this exam, you know, if you're a smart person and you and you do the right studying, you're going to get through the exam. Our job is just to make it less painful, more enjoyable. You know, the goal is after a long day at work, you don't go, oh, I got to go study with Peter and Roger. You go, hey, I got to study. You know what? It could be worse. Let's go be entertained and motivated. So that's where the memory aids, mnemonics and so on come from. But yeah, Peter and I have been, you know, competitors, fierce competitors for many, many years. So I'm really excited to have him on board and the two of us together just taken over the entire industry.

David Leary: [00:04:02] So so you've each done 20, 25 years then of CPA exam.

Peter Olinto: [00:04:07] 35, classes.

David Leary: [00:04:09] 30 started.

Peter Olinto: [00:04:09] When I was giving.

David Leary: [00:04:10] You credit. I was giving you credit a little bit.

Peter Olinto: [00:04:12] Yeah, I started when I was ten and yeah it's great. Yeah.

David Leary: [00:04:15] So so in the spirit I mean like and we can talk more boring stuff afterwards. But I would love to hear for each of you like in the spirit of Halloween. Right. Like this is we're recording on Halloween today like a crazy CPA exam story about some student or a nightmare scenario, like you've had to have seen so many things.

Peter Olinto: [00:04:32] Yeah. Gosh, let me think about that. Well, first I'll tell you, David, to your question about Roger, he's being very modest. So he does have a tremendous amount of experience. Roger, why don't you share who was your first student in CPA review? He does the way he's Moses. Moses was is you didn't know Moses was an accountant? Yes. I've got these ten commandments now. Yeah. We go way back. Yeah, way, way back. So when he took the exam, now it's computer based and it was pen and paper before that, when Roger took it, it was a stone tablet and it chiseled like this. So that's how he put his answers in. But I'm sorry. On the.

Blake Oliver: [00:05:08] Missing. That's what was on the missing tablets, right? When when Moses came down from the mountain, it was the four parts of the CPA exam.

Peter Olinto: [00:05:16] Yeah, there's these eight parts. Well, four parts, but now they're going to have to count some broken pieces from years ago and said, hey, I think we can put this thing together. No, exactly. No. I remember always having nightmares about the exam as well, because when I took it, as Peter said, it was 19.5 hours, it was three days, it was five. Practice part one practice part two theory, law and audit. And you had to take all the parts and you had to pass at least two parts to keep anything. And it was, you know, and then for a while you had to get a, you know, a 50% or above on the parts you didn't pass. We had no calculators, so you had to do it all by scratch. And, and I remember I took it in California and USC at the convention center and I was joke I took it with, you know, about 6000 of my closest friends. And you'd go in there and there would be these long tables with everybody sitting in the same direction, and you would have these, you know, 90 year old proctors that would volunteer to come in and they would kind of waddle by and drop the exam in front of you, and your heart would go boom, boom. And you said, gee, I should have started studying sooner. And then all of a sudden you just jump into it and yeah, you know, you couldn't get out of your seat unless you raise your hand, you got a pass to go to the restroom and all that stuff. It was, it was. Yeah. It was quite challenging.

Blake Oliver: [00:06:32] I feel like a snowflake for complaining about my computerized exams that I can take in all separate parts. I mean, now you can take water into the exam room, right?

Peter Olinto: [00:06:41] And one part at a time, you study for a part, take apart study for where an hour a day. I mean, it was kind of I mean, we had it was twice a year, May and November. So you'd go in and take the exam in May, you'd walk out. Now, remember, because I'd be at the exam and the students would walk, I'd go, how was it? What was on the exam? And they were like, I have no idea, right? Their brain was like, mush. And then you'd have to wait three months. And if you got the small envelope, it was good. If you got the big envelope, it was a re-application. So, you know, you know, you had the, the, the arrogant people that would walk around the office with their small. Hey, how you doing? What'd you get? And then the people with the big envelope were like, I can't talk right now. So it was so everybody knew when the results came out, they all came out the same day. It was, you know, it was an interesting time. It was. So all the older partners out there, you remember these stories? Yeah. And Roger, you got the small one. The small. You passed all parts. Right. First time. There you go. Eventually.

Peter Olinto: [00:07:35] Yeah. 27 years later. But you know. But yeah. Yeah. Got the small envelope. Thanks for pointing that out. You got, you got. So. Yes. So my horror story is so I learned I learned I'm a professional test taker. So between I didn't have enough torture with the CPA. But then the bar exam different levels of the CFA. But the CPA taught me a very important lesson. So I took it up in Albany and like Roger described, hundreds, if not thousands. God only knows how many people in this armory, whatever it was rickety tables. And I remember drinking coffee before, and I was nervous. And of course I had to go to the bathroom like ten minutes into the exam, get up, rush to the bathroom. I get out of the bathroom and I'm like, oh my God, there's thousands of where the hell am I sitting? So it took me like ten, 15 minutes, I kid you not to find my seat again. So I learned my lesson. When I took the bar on the CFA exam, I started to wear a diaper because there's no time to get up and waste going to the bathroom. So I kid you not, I wore a diaper just in case I had to go. Now, do.

Blake Oliver: [00:08:33] You still advise your students to wear the diaper in the exam room? Is that a.

Peter Olinto: [00:08:37] Is that you study an exam condition? So when you go to the library, you sit down for hours uninterrupted wearing that diaper and you're looking around smiling and people think you're doing well on your on your practice exam, but you really just go into the bathroom with that big smile on your face. Well, the good news is, nowadays it's so you can actually get up and go to the, you know, so they give you breaks between each testlet and the first two. The clock keeps running. So I tell students, don't you know, unless you're really cocky and say, well, I'll take it's like running a race like you start and I'll catch up. Don't take the break there. Then after the third, you have the choice. Hey, do you want a break? And they give you 15 minute break. You can get up, go to the restroom and so on. But I always tell people, you've got to get back in line to check back in because you take it at a Prometric testing center. So, you know, you want to be careful, but Peter still wears the diaper. But that's good.

Blake Oliver: [00:09:22] Well, now he's ready for his old age, right? He's he's already prepared.

Peter Olinto: [00:09:25] Preparing for his. The difference between me and Roger. I only wear it when I, you know, don't want to get up. He just has to wear it all the time. That depends. Whenever he's. Got going on. So don't hold that against me, buddy. Roger. Be proud, be proud. I am very.

David Leary: [00:09:38] Paint a great picture of what it used to be like to take the exam or what the exam used to be. What is the exam currently before we jump into where it's headed for 2024, the.

Peter Olinto: [00:09:46] Current exam up until December, you know, the end of December 2023. There's four parts audit, FA, Reg and Bec. And the exam generally consists. They're each four hours in length. And as I said when I took it it was 19.5 hours in three days. Now it's four hours in length. You can study for a part, take one part at a time, kind of schedule your studying between that. With the audit, FA and Reg, you've got anywhere between like 66 and 76 multiple choice questions and it's broken up into two test lots of multiple choice and three test, lots of task based simulations or problems. And each part has eight problems other than Beck. And Beck is the one that's kind of getting broken up and absorbed into the others, and they're making some new disciplines as well. Beck has multiple choice. It also has some task based simulations and three written communications or essays. And those essays are disappearing as well. There's also research that's disappearing as well. So they've made changes in that regard. So, you know, when you think of audit foreign reg, those three are still going to exist as what we call the core. And then we're going to have three disciplines of which you choose one. So you're still going to be responsible for four of the six. It's just the first three are the core that everyone takes. It's up to you as far as the discipline. If you pass all four, you're done. You're a CPA and it won't necessarily state which discipline you took. It's kind of up to you as far as the disciplines are going to be bar, ISC and TCP, which, you know, Peter will probably talk more about later, but that's kind of that's where it is now versus where it's going.

Blake Oliver: [00:11:25] So we still have four exam sections for each person. It's just we get to choose. So really we're just creating a lot more work for you guys to prep us on all the six different sections.

Peter Olinto: [00:11:37] That's that's true. Although you know we're not sure yet who's going to choose what discipline because you started discipline when you pass it, then you don't have to take another discipline. If you take a discipline and go, oh, I'm not excited with it. Let me switch to more advanced tax or let me switch to more advanced intermediate. So you can kind of, you know, if you take one don't like it, you can switch that. The God forbid you switch though the goal is to I think employers are going to have some say eventually as the employers get more familiar with the new format. Obviously, if you're a tax person, it would behoove you to sit for the tax discipline, right?

Blake Oliver: [00:12:14] I wonder if people are going to game this, like the way we game everything in accounting. Are we going to just have everybody take the easiest section when they figure out what the easiest one is?

Peter Olinto: [00:12:22] Oh come on Blake, people want to learn they're doing this because they're excited to learn.

Blake Oliver: [00:12:27] I don't know.

Peter Olinto: [00:12:28] Maybe in 2023. Blake. So in 2023 lots of people are sitting for Beck. Yeah. You know me because they want to avoid taking the discipline. So as Roger described that Beck is going away. And right now of the four parts, that's generally going to have a higher pass passing rate, a little bit less information than the other three sections. So people are gaming it in 2023, because if you get Beck out of the way, that equates to one of the three disciplines, which is of an advanced level type topic. So yeah, in 2023 they're gaming it and I get it. But Blake, I'd like to think going forward, if you were not a tax person, why would you be studying for the tax discipline. Right. If you're going to be an audit you would think either the ISC or the bar. I mean, you would think, right? I mean, if you're a tax person, you've probably taken more classes in tax. So you would think that that discipline would be a little. But isn't this going to help you in your job, Blake? Isn't that the whole reason the AICPA changed the format so it will help you in your career?

Blake Oliver: [00:13:30] That's what I want to know from you guys. Do you think this is really going to make a difference? Is changing the exam this way going to solve our pipeline problems or people in the profession?

Peter Olinto: [00:13:40] I was at several colleges recently. Roger. Get this. I really was there were there were freshman and sophomore undecided business majors. And I went up to them and I said, did you know the AICPA changed the format of the CPA exam? Did you know that now you get to choose one of the four parts? They were like, you, you got to be kidding. Let's go, major in accounting. And then like 800 people rushed to the acting I mean the accounting line. And so yeah, that's going to improve the pipeline. Yeah. Now we need to make it sexy. You know, like the old movie the accountant with what's his face is married to J-Lo.

Blake Oliver: [00:14:14] The Ben Affleck movie. Yeah.

Peter Olinto: [00:14:15] Ben Affleck. Yeah. You know, we got to make that was my role. My role? Yeah. Hip, hip.

Blake Oliver: [00:14:22] Peter, Peter. They might do a straight to DVD version at some point when they get up to, like, the account in 3 or 4 and, you know, maybe you could stand in.

Peter Olinto: [00:14:31] For that. Sure, sure. Nobody sees it. Then I get the role. Nice. Thanks, Blake. Yes, yes. No, but it's it's. Yeah. We mean. And one of the questions you asked earlier when I took the exam, you needed, you know, a degree, 24 business units in accounting, 24 in business, 24 in accounting. You'd sit for the exam and then you work for two years. And I think that two years was great because you became at least a senior. You got to see a bigger picture. So you got that actual practical hands on experience. Then they changed and said, well, we'll give you an extra year of college and one less year of practical experience. I would have loved to have seen it go back to what it was before. The problem is, all the different states have passed their laws of statutory. Now it's hard to change it back. So you know and I'm so that that's something that's always and I think that also said to people they're like, well, do I want to take a fifth year of college or do I want to get out and start working? I think that affected the pipeline. So, you know, besides making that change or making, you know, have Justin Timberlake, dude, get sexy back. We got to make it sexy again and get more people in. We just need.

Blake Oliver: [00:15:37] Peter throwing the money around on camera.

Peter Olinto: [00:15:39] More baby. Also, as the economy changes, one of the things I always tell people is being an accountant, a CPA, there's always a job for you. I mean, you know, as the economy picks up, we need more of us. So I mean, that's one of the good things about this career. And I also tell people, you know, I worked so hard to become a CPA that I'm so proud of it. I'm going to put it on my tombstone. Here lies Roger, CPA fully depreciated. Right. Because. Right. Thanks for coming out, funny guy. He's a fun guy. I'm a real fun guy.

Blake Oliver: [00:16:10] You can have the equation for how to depreciate land on your tombstone. You know, nobody ever figured it out. So, so one of the arguments in favor of the fifth year of education has been that exam pass rates have gone up. Is that true? And do you think that the fifth year is a reason for that? Because I feel like if the fifth year did that, why do we need exam prep courses like what you guys offer?

Peter Olinto: [00:16:32] Well, I think first of all, the fifth year initially started out that there were requirements that you take X number of credits that were related to accounting or finance or economics. That would make sense, right? But I think that morphed quickly into you could take those extra 30 credit hours and pretty much anything you want. So I think it's a little suspect the correlation between those extra classes and performance on the exam. But with that being said, with that fifth hour did provide, was that if you could sit at 120, but you can't get licensed to 150 while you were pursuing those extra 30 credit hours, you could simultaneously be studying for the exam. And theoretically, if you chose your electives wisely, which they should have been doing, and you took an extra class in tax or corporate finance or governmental accounting, whatever, it would not only obviously fulfill the extra 30 credit hours, but it would help you better prepare for the exam, as those topics are also heavily tested on the CPA. But like you said, you know when people are given the opportunity, do they just take that path of least resistance where they really using the extra 30 credit hours wisely in the sense of topics that would pay dividends in their career? Or were they looking for the easy A? I don't know about you guys. I would never look for the easy A. I would want that hard advanced accounting class. What I'm looking for. That's why you're you, Peter, right? We all strive to be. That's why I take medication twice a day.

Blake Oliver: [00:17:57] Well, that's why you've started this new thing, new world, which is not easy. It's not easy to start a whole new company. Is this a new company that you guys created together? Was this already existing?

Peter Olinto: [00:18:06] No. They've been around probably since about 2001. And they started these two two guys that started the company. Incredibly intelligent, ambitious. One's a doctor and the other is an expert in it. And I think he was taking the medical review and realized there were no good review courses. And he scored like the top, you know, 20 or 30 out of 60,000 or some crazy, very intelligent person and said, well, let me write my own course. And then they became number one in medical, then nursing, pharmacy. And then they said, you know, I think we want to keep broadening. Let's look into accounting. And then they approached us and we spoke. And, you know, I had been doing this for many years. And it's funny because everyone said, what's your exit plan? And my answer was death. So I had no plan on getting, you know, changing. That's the.

Blake Oliver: [00:18:55] Way.

David Leary: [00:18:56] Yeah.

Peter Olinto: [00:18:56] There you go. That's for my tombstone. Yeah. And so I realized, you know, I had competitors approached me, I had private equity approached me. And this was more of a strategic, which I liked because they really cared about exam prep. They really care. I mean, they've they've helped, you know, millions of people pass their high stakes exams. And so what I loved about it is they would keep all my people because they didn't already, you know, if I went to a competitor, they'd cut half my staff. I went to private equity. They care about the bottom line profitability and flipping your business. In five years here, they really care. And they one of the nice things is they've spent millions of dollars in hiring content people and just making the product amazing. I mean, you know, and I always encourage people to shop around, but look at our questions and solutions. You know, we we get the same questions from the CPA. We can buy them. And then they give us a letter answer. See then you have to write your solution. We've spent millions of dollars on those solutions where they've got the detail. They tell you not only why A is ripe, why B, C, and D are wrong. It has pictures, diagrams, summaries. I mean just by reading the solutions. You really learn a lot. And that's where I think you know, one of the key differences is plus obviously having, you know, many motivating, entertaining, high energy instructors such as Peter, myself and a few others really helps people to stay. You know, like I said, graduated college. You've got, you know, decent GPA. You probably got a job at a great firm. We're here to help make this, you know, two 300 hours of prep time less painful, more enjoyable. And so it really does help. So that's kind of how we how I joined Uworld. They went into bar, they went into CFA, they acquired Wiley. So they brought so many, you know, great resources together that they're taking on taking over all the online education, you know, areas. So it's pretty amazing.

Blake Oliver: [00:20:44] So you're making education entertaining, which is really important when like Peter said, you got to go home after a long day at work at the office and you got to put in those hours. It's got to be entertaining for you to retain anything. Do you have any advice for candidates who are struggling to maintain their life, their work, their study balance? It's really hard to fit all the hours into the day and get sleep. What is your like setup for that? Like my schedule? What should my schedule be as a.

Peter Olinto: [00:21:16] The number one tip I have as a professional test taker. So you've heard a jack of all trades almost because of Pete. So as a professional test taker, what I found is the more senses you engage when you study, the more likely it is you're going to retain that all these exam CPA the bar different levels of the CFA. It's the volume of information any little piece of the puzzle not so bad trying to put it all together and retain it for exam day. That's the big challenge. So you know it's great to watch lectures and to read the text. But having somebody read PowerPoints to you is not, is not going to really educate you the way you need it. And also you've got to be an active learner, right? So you've got to occasionally and more often than not put the pen to the paper. You know, I like to make the the analogy is like, if you're watching me on the treadmill, that's not going to do much for you in terms of losing weight. You've got to get on the treadmill with me. So what you write, you will remember. I mean, Roger tells me all the time when he was a little kid, he used to make these incredibly small cheat notes. He could write really, really small. But then he said, rarely did he have to pull out those cheat notes, because by taking the time to write it, you're more likely to remember it, obviously speaking it as well. So there are times where if you have a study group and you ideally would like to put two people together with, you know, you're the audit person, I'm a tax person. I'll help you with the audit. You help me with the tax. That's very helpful because when you're educating somebody else and explaining it to them, lo and behold, you're really reinforcing it for yourself.

Peter Olinto: [00:22:41] And I always tell people dedication. So you know what you got to explain to your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, your significant other that for many, many hours, unless you're a CPA, a doctor, a lawyer, most people can't appreciate, right, Blake? The number of hours you have to put in to study, they think, oh, you're exaggerating. You're a boring account. I tell people, if they're telling you you're a boring accountant, and they're going to let them go out and find somebody else, because after you get your CPA, you're going to be making so much money. Chances are you're going to upgrade anyway. But they David, seriously, they need to support you in that. I was dating a girl when I was studying for the CPA. She broke up with me because she say on Friday and Saturday all you do is go to the library. I said, do you think on a Friday night I want to go? Is that what you think? Because I'm hoping on the drive to the library, my appendix burst so I can go to the emergency room instead. It's not what we want to do, it's what we have to do. But for a short period of time and stay off those dating sites, none of that hinder Tinder. Tinder will hinder your performance. But should you be out on a date and you want to see. Did you find your soul mate? I want you to explain to them. Governmental accounting. The government funds proprietary if they're still there. At the end of the day, you know you found your soul mate or somebody in serious need of mental health, one or the other, I don't know.

Blake Oliver: [00:23:55] Hey, you know, there's an idea. Maybe you world could create, like a Tinder for CPAs. So, you.

Peter Olinto: [00:24:00] Know, Roger would be the expert. Did you know he was on the dating game? No, no, no, the love love connect and dating game. Really? How did you do? I was picked, I was the chosen one. Wow. So yeah. It was. Yeah. They picked two couples and a chaperon, and we were supposed to go to the Samoa in the South Pacific Islands. And anyway, it was on the same episode. He was on the same episode as the as the serial killer guy. I'm not joking. There was a serial killer in California. That one. But thank God the girl sent right away there was something wrong with him, so she chose Roger instead. I don't know the serial killer Roger. That's crazy. She went with Roger.

Blake Oliver: [00:24:43] So it was you? Roger and a serial killer were the contestants?

Peter Olinto: [00:24:46] We were. Yeah. Yeah, I think at some point he was on. Not luckily, not on my episode. Okay.

David Leary: [00:24:53] These were the choices presented to this poor girl. Here's a serial killer or a CPA. And her choices.

Peter Olinto: [00:25:00] Yeah, yeah, I won. Yes. Yeah.

Blake Oliver: [00:25:03] Well, if I learned anything from watching Dexter, it's that serial killers have a lot of free time on their hands. So they're definitely not CPAs, right? Yeah. Because, like, it's like you got to set up that room. That's a lot of work. I don't know how he, like, had a family. You know, once I had a kid, I'm like, where does Dexter get all this time?

Peter Olinto: [00:25:21] So they could learn time management from us?

Blake Oliver: [00:25:24] Exactly, exactly. Yeah.

Peter Olinto: [00:25:25] No. But getting back to your question, too, I always tell people the same thing. Tell your loved ones I love you. I'll see you in a few months. You do need the support. You need to set up a steady schedule. You need to stick to that schedule. And on our website we have you put in your exam date what you want to do, what part, and we'll kind of help you with, you know, do you want to study two days a week, four days a week, five days a week. And we have all these. You know what, back in my day, you know, I had a video camera would fill my class, then I would take the video home. I had 25 VCRs for those kids that don't know what they are in my living room, and I would copy them. And that's the product. I became like Blockbuster Video and would rent.

Blake Oliver: [00:26:01] You were making copies of your tapes on my onto the in.

Peter Olinto: [00:26:05] My living room. This is like a startup story, but had 25 VCRs and had the little master from the cast, you know, the camera and then would put it in the. First one and that's how I would duplicate them, you know. Then we went from VCR cassettes to CD ROMs to DVDs to hard drives to flash drives, and then thank goodness the cloud was created. But that's, you know, from 2001 through 2023, that's how we created that. And let me tell you how good Roger was. And I mean this sincerely, because technology wise, Roger, I mean, he would write on a whiteboard behind him, like old school teaching, like, you know, but he was so incredibly entertaining and engaging. And even though he was turning, like breaking all the rules of, like, you know, doing a podcast or a video was turning his back. He's writing on the board the formulas, but that's how outstanding his instruction was and why he was able to build such a successful business and why every competitor wanted him on board, looked to buy his course, the private equity, as you mentioned. But really, when you combine that teaching skill but with the technology that you world have, that's why it's going to be a dominant product, really, because the guy was unbelievable in presenting that information in a way you were likely to remember. Second to none.

Blake Oliver: [00:27:22] Now the whole world of like Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts and TikTok videos has arguably reduced our attention spans as a society down to like a minute. How are you dealing with that in exam prep when you've got these complex topics right? Great question.

Peter Olinto: [00:27:38] Blake. It's very simple. Right? So you tell them when you show up to to the exam, you might say, you know, my attention span about ten, 15 minutes. So I'm going to work one task based simulation. I'll do pensions and then I'm done guys because my tic tac tac, tic tac, whatever the hell it is, I'm of that generation. So I've got to be done for the day. I'll come back tomorrow and do it. Don't work that way. So it's more incumbent upon us today to teach endurance. Mental endurance you can't afford to get imagine fail in this exam with a 73 or 74 because you made silly mistakes at the end of that exam, when you were 3.5 hours in and you start making silly, you can't afford to have that happen. So great question. Nobody practices for a marathon. You're going to run a marathon. You don't practice the day before months in advance. You need to not only practice the concepts, but also sitting down for hours, uninterrupted and concentrating. So today, that's so incredibly important. That's why somebody's reading PowerPoints to you. Forget it then you can only sit for five minutes at a time. You know who wants to watch that. But when you're engaged and it's back and forth and you're writing and you're asked to solve problems and say, okay, look at the way I did it, now let's do it together and solve it.

Peter Olinto: [00:28:50] All of a sudden it's very engaging and four hours flies by like this. But you've got to build up that mental endurance, and that's something that takes time. The first week you start studying, you might be hard pressed to sit down for a half hour or 45 minutes, but then in the second week, you're 45 minutes to an hour, hour and a half, and it's got to build up so that in your final two weeks of preparation, it's no problem for you to sit down, work a practice exam for hours uninterrupted, and practice your timing between those five slots. The first two being, as Roger mentioned, the multiple choice, the last three the task based simulation. But to sit down for four hours, you need somebody who's going to keep your attention. A handsome guy like Roger. Well, you know, one of the nice things too is we've taken this, you know, over I mean, I used to lecture for four hours straight, and then what we realized is now you're right, the attention span gets shorter and shorter. So we're taking our our lectures and breaking them down into like, 6 to 10 minute bite sized lectures. So you're going through it, seeing it. We're talking about the material giving you memory aids, going through practice problems then with the software that we've created. Because back in my day, we didn't have all this technology, right.

Blake Oliver: [00:29:58] We had a book and a video. Right.

Peter Olinto: [00:30:00] Exactly. That was it. You phone, tablet and a chisel. Yeah. Well, that was your day too, but. And now what? We have this amazing software that we also found that, you know, we've got thousands of practice questions, past exams, created questions and so on that you don't have to do 100% of the questions to get a 75 or above. I mean, 75% is what in college it feels like a C. That's an average. That's what C stands for. Average, right? No. So it's not an IQ test, but it's a test of discipline. If you study you're going to pass. And our job is to keep you studying. So what we did is we have this software that's amazing where it goes through. And it'll say, okay, here's a section with how many questions. Here's what percent you should get right based on our past students success rate. So it says you don't have to do 100%, 100%, right. Maybe you need to do this number of questions and it keeps track of how you're doing. And it says, hey, you understand accounts receivable percentage, credit sales, aging of direct right. You understand that. Time to move to the next section. Because we tend to spend too much time on areas we understand because we feel good. I'm getting it right and not enough on deferred taxes where it's a little trickier. So that's what the software helps to do, which I didn't have back in my day. It keeps track of how you're doing and says, hey, time to move to the next section because you know, on.

Peter Olinto: [00:31:15] Your certificate. It doesn't say if you got a 99% or a 75%. Both of you are CPAs. Most people just want to join what they call the 300 club 75, 75, 75, 75. You know, you get a 90, you go wasted. I could have partied Friday night. I studied too hard. So the key is that's where technology has come in. That's how we have to compete. Like you said, with all these bite sized things that are so. But the good thing about having Pete, myself and the others is we've got that energy, we've got that entertaining entertainment value, but we've been doing it for so many years that we know what works to help you accomplish that goal of passing the exam. Yeah. So Blake, it's a it's a back and forth. So logically it makes sense to break it down into manageable subtopics so you can build your foundation, one piece of the puzzle at a time. Start with your current assets, work your way up. And then it's a back and forth approach because there's nothing more frustrating than to watch a professor do it. You think you got it, then you go home and try it on your own and you don't even know where to begin. So the goal is to say, okay, we're going to walk you through the subject matter. Now let's practice together. Now you practice on your own, then you come back and repeat that process.

Peter Olinto: [00:32:20] So it's a great way to make it more manageable and processing that information. But the other thing that's key too is that with the with the software and the technology that you world has developed, look, we don't force, as Roger was mentioning, we don't force you to watch every lecture to earn a, you know, a free repeat or something like that or so why would you work every question like Roger said, well, once you have it mastered, it's time to move on. So the technology will tell you that. And in addition, you know, there's topics where you might feel really strong. Hey, I just took a class in, you know, individual tax. I got an A. Do I really need to watch Peter Roger lecture on it? Absolutely not. There are certain topics where you can start with the questions, and then you know what the software is going to tell you. You're either as good as and proficient as you thought or you're not. And then if you're not doing as well as necessary to pass that, that sub topic, that part of the exam, then go back and watch the lecture. But we don't have a blanket approach that says, you have to watch every lecture and you have to do every question. It's dependent upon your level of expertise. You know, your knowledge. You might have gotten a C, you might have gotten an A, you might have taken that class six weeks ago. You might have taken that class 16 years ago.

Peter Olinto: [00:33:30] We have candidates with all different kinds of diverse backgrounds, but it's there that you can take it. And no matter what your background is and whether you were a C student or not, you can get through this exam and efficiently. Exactly. And there's you know, I remember in college we had electives and, you know, advanced accounting was an elective. And I elected not to take it. So the only way I was exposed to it was through the review course, which gave me what I needed. So same kind of thing there. Stuff that you're proficient in, their stuff you've never seen their stuff. You know, most of us start college or or start the semester the same way we go this semester is going to be different. I'm not going to fall behind. I'm going to study right away. And you get your syllabus and your book and then toga party and you forget about studying. It's the night before the exam and you cram, you take the exam, blow it out your brain. This is the comprehensive final you've never seen in school. And there's stuff on there you may not have seen or don't remember. That's where we come in to review it. We call it a review course, but we don't expect you to know much. Right. You know, debits on the left, credits on there. If we can do that, it's a good start. We'll get you through the rest. Yeah.

David Leary: [00:34:30] So thinking about. Preparing that mental endurance. You said being able to sit there for four hours to take a test, but immediately go to the physical part of this. I think you're both gym rats. I think I listened to an interview, you both both hit the gym pretty hard. Do you recommend or is there a guide? You tell students what your diet should be. How should you be exercising? Like how do you keep your body healthy while you're studying? Preparing for the CPA exam so you can actually sit through it successfully?

Peter Olinto: [00:34:54] David, it's funny you mentioned that because, you know, really I mean, most people are pressed for time. So whether you're going to school and studying for the exam or you're working full time and studying for the exam, right time is of the essence. So, you know, you've got to make choices. So this is probably not the time you're going to be putting three hours in at the gym. But you know it's good. So you got to blow off that steam right. So you're going to do an abbreviated version to keep yourself healthy. But by the same token, you know, you can't afford to be in the gym for three hours. You know, you got to you know, you got to make choices. Like, do you want to smell good or be a CPA. You got to shower less, right? Who has time? A half hour. Rodger's got to do his hair. There's no time for that. So, Peter.

Blake Oliver: [00:35:30] Peter, I want to know, what are your workout routines? How do you get how do you stay in shape?

Peter Olinto: [00:35:35] I live CPA review books. No, I live Roger. I'm not. You know, I got to tell you, for me, my whole life, it's the thing that keeps me somewhat normal. I mean, truth be told, if I didn't do it, God, I'd. I'd be a dangerous person. I mean, it helps me to blow off, you know, that. You know, a lot of that energy. I blow off positively when I'm teaching. But it's it's a great release. So it does a lot for you physically, but I think it does a lot more for me mentally than it does physically. Although my wife might disagree, I don't think she does. It does enough for me mentally. Roger, what about you? What do you do? Roger? Look at look at those pecs. Give me a little. Give me a little. Flex those pecs. Come on, man, you know, when I was younger, when I was your age, you know, I mean, it was great because when I was in public accounting, when I started teaching and so on, I would get into regular routines. I'd go to the gym three times a week, and it was more on, you know, bodybuilding and getting buff. And, you know, I was single till my 40s. So I had a motivation to, to look good. Then as you get older and married, kids get older. So now it's changed to instead of getting buff, it's trying to stay flexible, healthy, you know blood pressure low and heart rate good.

Peter Olinto: [00:36:42] And so you try to. What was your personal trainer back in the 60s? Jack LaLanne. Jack LaLanne started I actually trained Jacques-alain. Yeah. For those who don't know, he lived to be like 90. But yeah, he would like swim across the channel towing 20 boats and stuff like that. Yeah, that and Richard Simmons. So. But no, you know, the key in life though is to find things. You know, I still snow ski, I still swim, I still go for hikes. So you change as you get older. It's not about you know how much weight I can lift. 20s and 30s. It was about that 40s, 50s, early 60s. Not that I'm there yet, but it's just a matter of kind of staying healthy. And I think one of the things, too, that Peter and I were both blessed with is a lot of high energy and probably a fast metabolism, which keeps it going too. And that's I think that's important. But but in life, it's important to find activities you enjoy so you can continue doing them later in life. But but getting back to studying for the exam, I would get up and I would sit down and do 20 or 30 or 50, and you can work up to 50 to 100 push ups pretty quickly, pretty easily. And the push ups are great. They're working all you see. You do 100, but who are you kidding? You can't do 100 push ups in a row.

Peter Olinto: [00:37:49] No, I can't, but when I was studying for, like, that big fish you caught too, right? Yeah. Right away it got away. You should have seen it. But anyway, we start with David. Go to think he could do. If you do 100 push ups in a row, he ain't doing no 100. You never did 100 push ups in a row. I did, I did, I could, I could do pull ups. I can't do them anymore but I could. But these are my point being. You're studying. You need a break. Get up, do five push ups and then then do seven then. And by the time you get to the exam, you'll be in good shape mentally and physically, and you'll be up to 25 push ups and sit ups. So those are the little things, and those are the kinds of exercises that you can carry through. You know, when I was in prison. I'm just kidding. But you need it. Yeah. I helped my kids with their homework, their algebra homework. And when they get one wrong, I make them drop and give me 20 that I do do. No doubt. So yeah, if you get a problem wrong while you're studying, drop and give me 20. Let's go. That's why if you're their coach, that's why your kids can do 1000 push ups.

Blake Oliver: [00:38:47] So can you guys do a deal with like peloton, where you have a peloton and you do a review at the same time? This could be, I don't know, maybe we solve this problem.

Peter Olinto: [00:38:56] It already comes loaded with videos of Pete, so we're all good. There we go. Yeah, we'll work that out.

Blake Oliver: [00:39:02] So Peter, you are famous for having this coffee offer. Like, if you pass the exam, I'll buy you a coffee. Is that right? You used to do that. Yeah.

Peter Olinto: [00:39:11] So, so so what I did was when I structured my deal at that other company and with Uworld. So I'm mostly variable pay so I don't get a big bass like Roger. I'm a very small bass, but I want that I want to be compensated based upon pass rates and people succeeding. Right. So so that's why I'm so passionate to help these people, but I'm really there to help them. To help me because without them passing I don't get my bonus. But if you work hard and you pass and you helped me get my burn bonus, I'm going to kick you back part of that bonus by buying you that cup of coffee. That's that's my generosity for you. And I buy you coffee.

Blake Oliver: [00:39:46] It's an excellent example of.

Peter Olinto: [00:39:48] Yeah, he bought stock in coffee company. So yes, it costs some money, but it's a little bit less. So he's not as dumb as he looks. It's incentive.

Blake Oliver: [00:39:55] Based compensation. It's really smart. There you go. That's right. So, Peter, as a result you have talked to a lot of young accountants after they pass the exam. Also while they're, you know, working on it, but also after you came to my firm when I was in public accounting and did a happy hour and people were coming out and getting to meet you and having a great time. So I'm wondering, given that you have your ear, you know, to all these young accountants, what are they saying about the profession? Right? What, because we're losing a lot of them in the early years, they're going into public accounting and then they're burning out after like 2 or 3 years and they're not staying in accounting. They're going somewhere else. That's what's happened over the last few years. Do you have any insight as to why that is?

Peter Olinto: [00:40:40] Well, and first I got to I got to embarrass Blake a little bit. So when I did meet him at the firm and now I remember, he came up to me, Roger, he had he wanted me to sign a picture, you know, an autograph. But unfortunately, it wasn't my picture. It was your picture. I don't know what that was all about, but I did sign it. But. Yeah, so, so so when I tried to. In his room. Yeah, yeah, I think it was his bathroom, but it was in a room somewhere, so. No. So when I tell kids, listen, as somebody who's dabbled in different professions, you know, I don't know anybody that's making money and and succeeding at a very high level that that's not cranking the hours. Right? Unless you're inheriting money or inheriting a business. If you're a doctor, think about the four years of college, four years of med school, then the residency where you're not making much, you're on call 24 hours. If you're a new law school graduate, the hours you're cranking. So, you know, accountants are no different. So I try to first of all say, you know, it's part of the price you pay for success in general. So I know the reputation. But lots of successful people are working hard. You know, I would teach CFA down on Wall Street.

Peter Olinto: [00:41:46] People would come to class 6 to 9, and then at 9:00 after class, they're going back to their desk to work. So it's it's not just us. Right. So that's number one. That's fair. And number two, you know, I think you look at public accounting as the opportunity a big buffet, right. All the different things you should try while you're at this buffet. So yes, they use us. They're going to get a lot of hours out of us. But by the same token, you could use them right in return. But you know what I want to get? I want to be educated in all these different industries. I don't know which one I like. If you're an intern, I don't know if I'm going to like audit or tax. I think I'd like to see both. And if I'm in tax, I don't know if I'm going to like individual corporate partnership. So you can milk that in return and make that work for you. Right. So you know, the working hard and the long hours. Yes, that that does happen. But it's not your entire career. I mean, if you want to get your education, get your experience and then move on, you could certainly do that. But you will never regret having those three letters.

Peter Olinto: [00:42:43] That's short term sacrifice for the hours you got to put in to get your experience requirement pays you back your. I got into better law schools because I was a CPA. I had more job offers in law school because I had not only a law degree, but I had my CPA. When I studied for the CFA exam. I had such an advantage because of my background in public accounting. So it's a it's a phenomenal place to begin, but it's not necessarily your passion. Maybe you didn't grow up wanting to be a CPA. Okay. You'll move on and do other things, but you can milk it for a short time and get a return on that investment for all the time you're putting in. And, you know, I always tell students to the longer you stay, the more valuable you become, because some people will start out and they're saying, well, I feel like I'm not getting paid enough compared to my friend who's doing tech, and I'm starting at half what they are. But long term, if you're staying and you continue up, it's like that merry go round. The longer you stay, the higher you jump out. Some people have friends that I started with that are partners at big four firms and doing quite well. A lot of people that started maybe got to senior manager and said, you know what, let me try something different.

Peter Olinto: [00:43:45] Maybe they're at a smaller firm, maybe they went to government, maybe they're entrepreneurs. I mean, I started in public. I had no idea where I would end up. I had no idea that I would be starting my own business and so on. But I never could have done what I did without having that CPA. So I looked at my first few years as an extension of my learning, my extension of my college. So I said, I'm not going to sit and think about, do I love it or hate it or what are my opportunity costs? I'm going to stay here long enough, get my CPA, and then I'll reevaluate and say, do I, do I stay or should I go, you know, Mr. DJ? So I decided I stayed a couple of years, three years. And then I said, you know what, let me try something else. And I was going to just go into, you know, real estate marketing, whatever. I said, well, let me try teaching. And I started and I loved it because I could take the accounting and. Acting and put it together. And like I said, helping people to accomplish their goals has made my life to me much more valuable and much more enjoyable and meaningful.

Peter Olinto: [00:44:40] Yeah, I think part of the problem, what I do here, though, is the frustration with that fifth year, right? That fifth year of academics. And I think I would love to see that fifth year become more of a work study. Right. So that how do you choose between audit or tax if you've never had the opportunity to do both? You know, I mean, just because somebody loves something, just because Roger's wife loves him doesn't mean every other woman on the planet is going to love it. I mean, it's very rare, right? She's unique in that regard. So I think it's important that that fifth year, if it's going to be a fifth year. Right. I think it should be a work study. I think quite honestly, there's a value in some additional credits, no doubt. But I was frustrated too, like, you know, graduating law school, I couldn't fill out a summons and complaint. It was too academic. They didn't teach me how to fill out. How could that be? Right? So I think of that fifth year was, you know, six months in audit, six months in tax, and you get to sample these things before you have to choose. I think people would be more satisfied with their choices if they had that opportunity.

Blake Oliver: [00:45:41] I wonder if. This reluctance of the younger generation to work the long hours to do the grind at the beginning has something to do with remote work, because I feel like it's a lot easier to grind when you're with a bunch of other people, like in a study group, which essentially is what, you know, being in the office at your public accounting firm might be, or being in that audit boiler room might be like, it's easier to stay 12 hours when you got a bunch of other people also doing the grind. But when you're at home on your laptop and there's just people on Microsoft Teams, it's not the same, right? You don't have that same culture.

Peter Olinto: [00:46:17] And same camaraderie. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, getting back to studying, when I studied for the exam, I studied with a friend. We'd meet at the library, do our own topics, as Pete had mentioned earlier. But if I didn't understand something, I would ask him. If he didn't understand it, he would ask me. And the best way to see if you understand something is trying to teach it to someone or explain it to them, because they'll say why, why, why? And all of a sudden you're like, well, that's a good question. Let me find out. And that was also motivating to know that on a Friday night or Saturday, I wasn't alone. And I think that's the same mindset. I mean, especially since Covid where everyone's let's be remote and it's hard to get people back in the office. Plus, with the newer generations, it's like, well, I want more of a work life balance and so on and so forth. And I think the firms are hearing that and trying to figure out a way to do that. You know, they want to make it so it's, you know, a little bit more balanced.

Blake Oliver: [00:47:03] I just wonder, is it possible to create work life balance when these firms are incentivizing staff based on billable hours? And so it's the people who work the most. Hours are the ones who rise to the top. And to do that, they are making big sacrifices. They're sacrificing their health, they're sacrificing their family life. And I totally agree that it's okay to do that for like six months to a year while you're working through the exam. But we can't ask accountants to do that and CPAs to do that for their whole careers.

Peter Olinto: [00:47:32] It's like that in other in law as well. Mean have a lot of family members that are that are partners of big firms. It's up to you to have your work life balance.

Blake Oliver: [00:47:40] Nobody of them are divorced.

Peter Olinto: [00:47:42] You.

Blake Oliver: [00:47:42] How many of them are divorced? Roger.

Peter Olinto: [00:47:45] Actually not. No, not, you know, not too many. No, because I think they, you know, don't get married at 21 because you don't even know who the heck you are. So that's my advice. So the longer you wait, the higher the probability is going to last. But I think it's having a work life balance. But it's interesting too, because as I get closer to retirement age, not that I'm going to retire. That's the big question is, you know, I have some friends that can't wait to quit working, and I have others that really enjoy their careers and their CPAs, their accountants. They've done things like that. They're lawyers and they just are parents, even doctors. My brother's a doctor, family, friends. And they're paring back a little because they don't want to just go to nothing. They really enjoy what they do. So that's part of the passion, too, because some of you are going to get into public and go, this is my passion. I love this. And some of you say it's not, but I have such a great foundation. Let me now use it somewhere else like I did or like others do. And as Pete said, you have those letters CPA. It gives you a certain amount of credibility that you have the rest of your life. So I think it's worth, you know, whether it's, you know, the 1 or 2 or three extra years to get that foundation. But I said, like I said, for the first few years, I'm not looking at it.

Peter Olinto: [00:48:49] Do I love my life? Do I like my job? It's like I look at it like extra education, you know, extra university. I'm learning practical experience. I'm now applying the practical application of what I've studied for the last five years. Now I'm learning more. So now it's helping my marketability, whether I stay, whether I go. But it's up to you in life to say, you know what? I'm not going to work seven days a week. I'm not going to work 12 hours a day, you know, because at the end of your life, it's family. It's friends. Those are the things that really make but your career too. But it's also nice to have a nice lifestyle during those 35, 40 years of work, too. And average makes $1 million in their lifetime more than a non CPA that can, you know that that helps you quite a bit. Sorry Pete. Yes. You know I was just going to say that, you know, I think you can help that first or second year burden by not having to work in public accounting and try to study for the CPA exam simultaneously. That is brutal. Yeah. I mean, so you're going from the frying pan into the fry. It makes no sense. You have the opportunity to at least get the exam out of the way, if not all of it. Most parts before you start working full time. This way you can devote your time and attention to the job, and then it's more manageable than working the typical hours that you would work in public accounting, and then you get a free moment, and then you got to study for the CPA exam.

Peter Olinto: [00:50:09] No wonder people hate it the way they do because it's too much. It's that that's the overkill. That's what's the straw that breaks their back. So do yourself a favor. Get all four parts or at least three parts out of the way before you start working full time and choose the order in which you sit for the parts wisely. Certain parts of this exam are very academic and lend themselves well to studying for while you're still in school. So the financial accounting no brainer. You're not going to be doing an income statement, a statement of cash flow. You're not going to be doing a bond amortization schedule in the real world. So you know what? Get financial accounting out. The way first. And then if you're going to do audit for a living. Sit for tax next the tax core regulation because you're not going to see that in practice. Right. But if you're going to be an audit professional well then you know what your work experience and your new hire training will actually make that part of the exam a little bit easier. Because now all of a sudden, this this analysis and application, they want to get away from just the remembering and memorizing. Right now, your work experience in that new hire training will actually pay dividends to for one with the CPA exam. So there's ways to make this more manageable.

Peter Olinto: [00:51:20] You know, and I also think a lot of people waste a lot of time. Like, look, I've never been a morning person, but when I've had to study and do end work or whatever, you know what? Monday through Friday, get up an hour earlier, get it out of the way first thing. It's like the gym you mentioned before. If you wait till the end of the day, it's on your mind all day and you've like, worked out ten times before you've even got to the gym. Yet because you've worked out in your mind. Get it over with first thing in the morning, right? And then you know what? The rest of you feel better about yourself. But yes, as professionals, lawyers, doctors, CPAs, we've got to be more structured. We've got to have better planning. And if you don't plan to succeed, you know you're going to fail. So yeah, we've got to be more regimented. But I still work six days a week, a lot of time. But I like what I do. I love what I do, so I don't mind teaching a class on a Saturday or a Sunday. So if you're passionate about it, it's not so brutal. My brother flew F-16s in the Air Force. He never worked a day. He loved flying more than doing anything else. Like, you know, I get it, but it's part of the process. And see the glass half full. If you don't have such a. Well, you're making good money, right? There's got to be something about it.

Blake Oliver: [00:52:24] It's a great point, Peter. If you love what you're doing, you won't feel like you're working, and I. I wonder if that is really the root of the problem. When the staff go into big firms and they're given really boring work, and they did all this hard work to study for the exam and get there. And here they are auditing cash. Right.

Peter Olinto: [00:52:43] But that's going how are you going to do analysis? How are you going to be a consultant? What are you going to consult on when you've got no experience. Like what? I mean, people make me laugh like you want to start at the top. Every profession starts at the bottom. But it's not when you say it's where you start. And little by little, that pyramid, you start to build on that body of knowledge. I get it, Blake. Well, I'm just wondering maybe part of that process.

Blake Oliver: [00:53:08] Why do why do we have people going into audit who have never actually put together financial statements before and have only learned it in theory? They should be going to work at companies and making financial statements.

Peter Olinto: [00:53:19] The fifth year. Let's use that fifth year and let's have practical application of these skills. Let's take an internship. Let's touch it. Stop reading in the books, get on the treadmill, stop watching me go work.

Blake Oliver: [00:53:30] At Nike and help them put together their financial statements, and then go audit Nike at Deloitte or whatever.

Peter Olinto: [00:53:35] The fifth year doesn't even have to be in public accounting. Let it be in corporate so they can see internal audit. Let them see the process of putting the financials together and just observing that. It's like, wow, now I saw you. You're absolutely right.

Blake Oliver: [00:53:47] For me, that was the most valuable thing was I was freelancing as a bookkeeper while I was studying for the CPA exam. And so I got to take everything I learned from you guys and put that into practice in the in the financial statements. I could, like, make the journal entries and test it out. And like that was hugely valuable. Like I've learned more.

Peter Olinto: [00:54:06] Accounting became so much more valuable and understandable to me when I started studying for the exam. And I saw how the finance people on Wall Street use the income statement balance sheet statement of cash flow to determine value, creditworthiness, operating risk, financial risk. It was like it finally dawned on me, right? What's the significance of life versus Fifo? Straight line versus accelerated US GAAP, IFRS. You're right. Maybe that fifth year should be something in the corporate world where you see what it is they have to give to the investing. But why are we doing the audit to protect who? What do they need protection from? What are they. What the hell is going on with these? What do they use for. So you kind of see that big picture. And then when you go into the firm, you understand your role in the SEC, your role in the big picture in capital markets and how you quote unquote, protect those investors. You're right. But there's got to be that work experience. Enough with the books already.

Blake Oliver: [00:54:58] I love it. We are at the top of the hour. We're out of time here. No.

Peter Olinto: [00:55:02] Don't go. We've only just begun.

Blake Oliver: [00:55:06] I would love to continue this discussion some other time. Like, let's fix this problem. Let's get people working in corporations. Let's go. Yeah, we'll.

Peter Olinto: [00:55:14] Have us back and we'll chat some more. No problem.

David Leary: [00:55:16] I think that's a summary. Takeaway I'm hearing here is you have the education, you have experience, you have the CPA exam, the exam prep, and they're not working together in concert. And I think I'm hearing Peter correctly, like they should be asking each other to help people hit the finish line and become successful, but it feels like they're just in little silos. And then people are just swimming around out there.

Peter Olinto: [00:55:35] Yeah, disjointed. It should not be disjointed.

Blake Oliver: [00:55:39] If people want to take the best CPA exam review course on the. Planet. Where should they go? Roger.

Peter Olinto: [00:55:45] I would definitely recommend you, world. But I tell people, you know, look at our. Yeah. There you go. Hey. Right. But you'll you'll see a huge difference. I mean, they've put like I said, they a lot of the companies haven't really changed or updated the way that they've done their questions, solutions, presentations. We've redone everything from scratch. And as I said, they've invested millions in the solutions, which really helps to, you know, explain why we're doing what we do, why answer is right, but why the others are wrong, and all the technology that they put into the product. I mean, when when we joined forces, I gave them an amazing product. It's so much better. I was joking, I was I was too cheap to put the millions of dollars in that they put in. The product is amazing today. Cool. And you know, you shop around for the silliest of things cars, clothing, everything else. We we have all the confidence in the world in our product. Put it side by side. Watch the way Roger teaches pension accounting. See how the competition teaches it, which one's going to resonate with you and encourage your firm's choice is good. Let them give you the opportunity to figure out what is the best course that fits your style of learning. We we welcome that. We're not saying, oh no, don't let anyone else in. Just just show us. Just make us available. What are they so afraid of? Encourage your firms. Give us the opportunity to put those products side by side. Better price, better product. Whenever there's competition. Yeah, competition. It keeps the quality up and the price down. Totally agree.

Blake Oliver: [00:57:14] We have been speaking with Roger Philip and Peter Olinto of Uworld. Thank you both so much for your time today. It was a pleasure.

Peter Olinto: [00:57:21] Thank you so much, everybody. Appreciate it and good luck out there. Yeah, I was a little nervous. Sorry. Didn't talk enough Blake and Dave. But next time.

Blake Oliver: [00:57:29] Next time work on.

Roger Philipp: [00:57:30] That.