If you choose to practice accountancy within commerce and industry, you could find yourself in a management accountancy role. This can ultimately set you down a career path that leads to working as a finance controller or even CFO of a company. In this article, we look at the role of a management accountant.

What’s involved?

Management accounting combines accounting, finance and management. It’s concerned with the provision of accounting information to management within a business. Accountants produce regular and specially requested reports to help managers monitor current performance and plan future activities. Unlike financial accounting, management accounting is very future orientated, with an emphasis on achieving financial goals and forward planning, as opposed to summarising a company’s current position.
Chartered management accountants:

• Advise managers about the financial implications of projects.
• Explain the financial consequences of business decisions.
• Formulate business strategy.
• Monitor spending and financial control.
• Conduct internal business audits.
• Explain the impact of the competitive landscape.

What skills do you need to become a management accountant?

Management accounts need to have strong analytic and strategic skills as well as good time management and communication skills in order to explain financial concepts to non-financial managers.

Can I become a management accountant without a degree?

The simple answer is yes you can, you do not need a degree to become a management accountant.

In fact, CIMA have teamed up with select universities so you can have the opportunity to earn a degree while you are studying towards your CIMA professional qualification. You can find out more about that here.

Alternatively, if you choose not to go down this route, you will start with their entry level qualification, the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting, which will help you build your business and financial knowledge.