1. Who is KnowledgEquity?
KnowledgEquity is a training, education and consulting organisation, specialising in accounting. Most of our staff are professional accountants – you may have come across Courtney, Russell, Chris, Michael, Theashen, Gina and Patience already – and we also have a network of subject matter experts that work with us to deliver our products and services. Our staff live and breathe by one of our core values: ‘mastery’. It’s what we aim to achieve ourselves, as well as what we want to help others develop.
2. What experience do you have with the CPA Program?
Our experience with the CPA Program® includes:
• Providing expert forum responses for all subjects in My Online Learning.
• Authoring a number of modules across multiple subjects.
• Reviewing and updating modules in all Australian subjects.
• Authoring training materials and presenting workshops and webinars.
Our co-founder, Russell Clowes, was the winner of the CPA High Achievers Award, with the highest mark in six segments of the CPA Program, and Courtney Clowes has authored or updated a number of modules of the CPA Program. We have now built a team of CPAs who achieved exceptional performance in post-graduate studies, so they know what it takes to do well. To find out what our previous students think, you can read their testimonials here.
3. Who are your teachers?
We have in-house Subject Owners for each subject and we also have a network of subject matter experts and guest presenters that assist us with development and review of our training materials.
Courtney Clowes is our subject owner for Ethics and Governance, Strategic Management Accounting and Financial Reporting. Courtney has been an author, reviewer, expert forum responder and examiner across multiple subjects of the CPA Program, and loves to bring these subjects to life with his engaging story-telling and relating theory to case studies and news articles.
Russell Clowes is our subject owner for Australia Taxation and Australia Taxation Advanced. Russell has been an author, reviewer, expert forum responder and examiner across multiple subjects of the CPA Program.
Michael Kehio is our subject owner for Advanced Audit and Assurance and Financial Risk Management. Michael is a passionate educator with extensive experience in Big 4 accounting firms and in industry, with roles in audit and risk management for listed global entities. He also assists with the development of helpful resources in Financial Reporting, especially in the tricky areas that cause candidates the most pain.
Chris Thomas is our subject owner for Global Strategy and Leadership, Contemporary Business Issues and Digital Finance. Chris has a number of years’ experience in senior strategy and change management roles, and he is also a serial entrepreneur, giving him a broad perspective from both large corporate/government bodies and start-ups.
Rebecca Nowak is a business and financial management expert with many years’ experience in business and education. Rebecca provides expert forum responses and develops helpful educational resources in a range of subjects.
Suzannah Andrews is a taxation expert with many years’ experience with the CPA Program, including as author, examiner and expert forum responder. Suzannah presents our tax webinars with a lively smile that can only come with a deep passion for the subject matter and for helping candidates.
Theashen Vandiar is an audit and financial reporting expert who develops educational content and handles a range of technical queries – he is a passionate accounting educator and thrives on seeing candidates learn and improve.
You can view all of our profiles here.
4. Which subject(s) should I enrol in?
This is a question we receive quite a lot, so we have written a detailed blog on it here.
It’s important to note that there’s not one correct answer here. Different people will have different opinions. It really depends on your goals, motivation, the complexity of the subject being undertaken and your previous education/experience.
5. How do I regain access to Guided Learning if I fail or defer my subject?
Fails and ‘Did not sits’:
If you failed or did not sit your exam, you will receive access to Guided Learning once you re-enrol in your subject with CPA Australia.
Deferrals:
If you deferred, you will receive access to Guided Learning once your re-enrolment for the subject is confirmed with CPA Australia.
6. What learning resources are available?
We focus on the pain points that candidates face, typically linked to complex or tricky areas of the study guide.
Video Tutorials (or ‘Knowledge Clips’ as we like to call them) are short videos (1 – 5 minutes) that cover technical content and address complex areas and candidate pain points in each module.
PDF Downloads are provided for key pieces of content including flowcharts, case studies and assumed knowledge primers. Additional downloads may be in spreadsheet, presentation or document form.
Module quizzes are practice tests available for each module, consisting of multiple choice questions with detailed solutions to reinforce your learning.
The Exam Preparation Webinar provides an opportunity for you to hear study and exam tips from experts, including techniques for obtaining maximum marks.
Practice Exams are timed and provide you with real exam experience, including the format, length and difficulty level.
Weekly Webinars are one hour each and provide an opportunity for you to keep on track during semester and revise each of the modules.
Please note: CPA Australia do not provide past exam papers and therefore KnowledgEquity has no CPA Program past exam papers.
7. Are the questions in the practice exams different to the module quizzes?
With regards to the module quizzes, the first set in each module are usually pitched at an easier level so that we can obtain a baseline for each candidate.
Subsequent sets build upon this as we take candidates on a journey to meet the learning objectives…and then go beyond them.
With regards to the practice exams, we are aiming to make these as ‘real’ as possible – this includes the time, length, format, module weighting, and ensuring questions are aligned with the content and learning objectives. This is all based on the available information provided to candidates. In terms of the level of difficulty, all of our questions are rated on a difficulty scale as well as a taxonomy scale (e.g. understand, explain, evaluate, etc), and we aim to provide a good blend of each.
We also create questions from scratch, so everything is tailored and there’s nothing ‘off the shelf’.
8. What are the system requirements for using the KnowledgEquity online platform?
To ensure your systems are set up for optimal performance, please read the system requirements here.
