Oh no!!

Okay, I've just finished the Math and Accounting prework exams for Babson. I passed the Math one but I think I failed the Accounting one (which really sucked). Basically it means I have to attend extra Accounting classes during Module I. Personally, I think the way they marked the Accounting exam was total BS (I realise this sounds like sour grapes, but it's what I think). Basically they mark you on how many specific numbers (e.g. net profit, interest expense, retained earnings, etc) you get right. Makes sense in theory, right? Problem is, you can get one key independent variable wrong (let's say interest expense, since that's what I got wrong - I put $1500 instead of $4500) and it means that every other value that depends on that number is also wrong (e.g. interest expense, total assets, retained earnings, net profit, cash balance, etc) even though you may have demonstrated clear understanding of how everything works and actually come up with a spreadsheet transactional model which also works. Basically you're shafted because your relational spreadsheet (assuming you did all your formulas and links right) cascades the miscalculation down to every other dependent variable, and so instead of getting one answer wrong you get 7 or 8 - and they're all wrong by the exact same amount ($2000) that the original (independent) variable number was wrong!

In other words my calculations were all right, but because my original base number was wrong obviously everything that was dependent on one of those original bases became incorrect.

I'll stop belabouring the point, and will raise what is probably an obvious question: why did I get such a bloody simple thing like interest expense wrong in in the first place? The answer is that I had a bloody brain explosion and divided the interest expense by three. My fault, and a stupid mistake - but geez the penalty far outweighed the crime in my humble opinion. Although the Big Four auditors would probably disagree with me. Or maybe not, judging from WorldCom - they might not have even noticed!

Anyway, it's obvious that I'm a bit annoyed with myself at the moment. I spent a couple of hours building a transactional spreadsheet on this thing, I even came up with balance sheets, income statements and cash flow statements for the next three years for it, only to be brought down by one silly mistake. I'll probably get over it tomorrow, but as of right now I'm still pissed off. What a joke!! Extra classes - there goes my free drinking time...