The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) is the world’s largest professional body of management accountants. For the last 100 years, we’ve guided thousands of professionals to become finance business leaders.
What is CIMA?
The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) – is a leading membership body that offers an internationally recognised professional qualification in management accountancy. The CIMA qualification provides an ideal foundation for finance professionals who want to work in the business arena. In essence, CIMA provides the foundations for the business leaders of the future.
Besides producing a syllabus that is designed to keep students at the cutting edge of business developments, CIMA upholds high ethical and professional standards. Members and students must adhere to CIMA’s ethical guidelines, byelaws and regulations. Globally, the institute has 195,000 members and students in 176 countries.
CIMA’s history and values
CIMA began life in 1919 as the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants. Lord Leverhulme, the founder of Unilever, was the first President of CIMA. The institute recognised that traditional accounting methods used at the time of the First World War were unsatisfactory and saw considerable benefit in forming a new institute which would focus on the innovative concept of cost accounting.
The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants grew to become CIMA and Unilever grew to become one of the most successful fast moving consumer goods brands in the world. Unilever has maintained its ties with the institute and currently employs more than 300 CIMA members and students.
In 1976, CIMA was granted a royal charter which acknowledged that CIMA is among the top professional bodies in the UK and is permitted to qualify people as members. As a chartered body, CIMA is also responsible for observing UK government standards.
What do they do?
CIMA helps businesses and individuals to succeed by harnessing the full power of management accounting – not just accounting for the balance sheet, but accounting for business. The CIMA Professional Qualification is based on the CGMA Global Management Accounting Principles© the world’s first and only management accounting standard and the CGMA Competency Framework. It leads to earning the globally recognised Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation.
The Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation is held by 150,000 finance professionals globally, making it the most widely held management accounting designation in the world. Created by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), it launched in 2012 to provide a global benchmark for quality in competency in management accounting.
Click here to read more about the qualifications CIMA has to offer.
Why should I choose to study with CIMA?
Completing the CIMA Professional Qualification and earning the CGMA designation allows you to join a distinguished group of professionals who have advanced proficiency in finance, operations, strategy and management. Based on extensive employer and practice research and tested using business role-play, it covers the skills and competencies that employers are demanding now and in the future.
Becoming a CGMA designation holder additionally offers up much more than earning a certificate. There is access to extensive life learning resources to help professionals stay ahead; a global network of like-minded professionals spread across 184 countries and territories; and a worldwide CGMA jobs board to help with the next career move.
CGMA designation holders come from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. Some are experienced professionals while others are just starting their careers. Through the process of completing the qualification, students gain the knowledge and insight demanded by employers and needed for a successful career in finance and business.
On 31 January 2019 we updated the CIMA Professional Qualification to embrace digital competencies and close the gap between core technical skills and the modern world of finance and business. This was the result of research with more than 2,000 employers and over 5,500 finance professionals from more than 150 countries around the world.
Studying CIMA and becoming a CGMA will help you ‘go beyond’ in your career and make sure you become one of the most able, sought after and valued employees in the world. Being CIMA qualified gives you critical knowledge and skills employers are looking for. Once qualified you will be ready to work in any business – large or small, public or private – all around the world.
All this requires hard work and dedication but, once you start on your journey to become, you won’t be alone – we’ll support you every step of the way. Whether you decide to study with a tuition provider, online using CIMAstudy.com or, with official CIMA textbooks and study material – or, a mixture of all three, it’s up to you.
