What is CMA?

CMA is the American Certified Management Accountant, and its English translation is (Certified Management Accountant). It is the Certified Management Accountant certification (CMA certification) under the American Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). It is known as the three major accounting firms in the United States. One of the gold certifications, recognized globally by corporate finance executives. It objectively evaluates students' relevant work experience, educational background, professional knowledge, practical skills, professional ethics, and continuous learning and development capabilities in management accounting and financial management. CMA certification can help certificate holders develop their careers and maintain high standards of professional ethics. From the perspective of a financial strategy consultant, conduct corporate analysis and decision-making, promote corporate performance development, and play an important role in the corporate strategic decision-making process.

Development History

Establishment

CMA qualification certification is a professional qualification established by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) founded in 1919. The certification system is the world's authoritative certification in the field of management accounting and financial management. The Certified Management Accountant (CMA), together with the United States Certified Public Accountant (USCPA) and the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), are known as the three major international gold certifications in the U.S. accounting field.

CMA certification certificate picture

The purpose of CMA certification is to cultivate the breadth of knowledge of management accountants and financial managers, so that they can predict business needs and participate in strategic decision-making. The scope of knowledge contained in the examination content can reflect the abilities required by management accountants and financial managers in today's business environment. The CMA exam content covers almost all MBA courses, and preparing for the exam is likened to studying a Mini-MBA Program. Therefore, obtaining the CMA qualification not only means that one has complete knowledge in accounting and finance-related fields, but also demonstrates the high professional standards and ability to analyze the company's internal financial statements, assist management to understand the situation, participate in financial management, and formulate future strategies and implementation.

The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) is a leader in the fields of management accounting, finance and information management. It is the most authoritative organization in the international management accounting discipline. It has a history of 103 years. IMA has a global presence. 80,000 members, including 265 U.S. and global chapters. In December 1972, IMA held the first CMA exam for 410 candidates in 22 cities across the United States. Over the past 30 years, more than 27,000 accounting and financial management professionals worldwide have earned the CMA designation, including 11,000 international members from 119 countries.

There are 37,000 CMA certification holders around the world who are active on the world economic stage. Because American Certified Management Accountants can promote performance development, control corporate operating risks, and promote corporate financial transformation, they have always been praised as corporate As a "strategic strategist", CMA has always been known as the MBA in the international financial community and plays an important role in developing the market economy.

Development Trends

In China

2014 China Management Accounting Annual Summit

On April 11, 2014, resident at IMA On the occasion of Mr. Gary Cokins' visit, the "2014 China Management Accounting Annual Summit" hosted by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) was held in Beijing. Mr. Jim Gurowka, Vice President of International Business Development of IMA, Mr. Bai Junjiang, Chief Representative of China, Deputy Director Zheng Jie of the Training Center of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, Mr. Li Shouwu, Deputy General Manager and Chief Accountant of China Ordnance Equipment Corporation, Accounting Department of Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management More than 300 people, including Professor Yu Zengbiao, UFIDA chief accounting expert Mr. Ma Jinghao, industry experts, scholars, financial elites and media representatives from major companies across the country, attended the event.

Pictures of the 2014 Management Accounting Annual Summit

This summit aims to build a feast for the ideological collision of financial leaders in academia and practice. The theme of the summit is "Negotiating Change, Planning to Win the Future" , the participating guests fully shared their experiences and exchanges around the two major themes of management accounting's strategic role and practical exploration in China's economic transformation and upgrading, and gave in-depth interpretations on related topics such as the international strategic layout of Chinese enterprises and the wisdom of corporate value investment, providing a basis for Management accounting talents are trained to brainstorm, make suggestions for comprehensively promoting the construction of management accounting system, and provide guidance for enterprises to explore and apply management accounting. [1]

Ministry of Finance

In January 2014, the Ministry of Finance reported to the Finance Departments (Bureaus) of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and cities under separate state planning, the Finance Bureau of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and the Finance Bureau The Offices of Financial Supervisors of the Ministry of Finance in all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and cities under separate state planning, the relevant ministries and commissions of the State Council, and the financial departments of relevant directly affiliated institutions issued the "Guiding Opinions of the Ministry of Finance on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of the Management Accounting System (Draft for Comment)".

In order to comprehensively promote the construction of the management accounting system, improve the overall level of accounting work, and promote more efficient, fairer, and more sustainable economic development, according to the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan Outline for Accounting Reform and Development", On the basis of summarizing the theoretical development and practical experience of management accounting in my country, the "Guiding Opinions of the Ministry of Finance on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of the Management Accounting System (Draft for Comment)" was drafted. [2]

State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission

On March 1, 2010, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission issued "About holding Certified Management Accountant (CMA) professional qualification certification training" to all major central and state-owned enterprises under its jurisdiction. "Notice" requires enterprises to select financial management personnel to participate in CMA training, with a limit of 100 people. On October 11, the central enterprise CMA international talent training class started successfully.

In order to implement the spirit of the "National Medium and Long-term Talent Development Plan" and strengthen the construction of international talent teams in central enterprises, in January 2011, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission once again issued a red-headed document requiring central enterprises to select outstanding employees to participate in the 2011 Central Enterprise Certified Management Accountant (CMA) training course. Based on the successful holding of the first CMA training course for central enterprises in 2010, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs will continue to organize CMA international talent training for central enterprises in 2011. This is another major measure aimed at the talent development plan of central enterprises after the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China launched the public recruitment of senior managers of central enterprises in 2010. It is expected that three sessions of CMA training courses for central enterprises will be held in 2011, and at least 240 outstanding accounting staff from central enterprises will have the opportunity to participate in the training.

The Association of Chief Accountants

In 2010, it issued a red-headed document on CMA learning and training, and at the same time established a CMA certification project training management coordination office to recommend its local member units across the country to select outstanding candidates. Employees attend CMA training.

Bank of China

In 2010, Bank of China Sichuan Branch issued a notice on the "Measures for the Management of Employees' Spare Time" to actively support employees in obtaining CMA certification. According to the notice, all employees who have worked or served for two consecutive years and whose annual performance appraisal grade last year was B (basically completed performance targets) can apply for this plan. Employees who pass all exams and obtain CMA certification can receive a cash reward of 8,000 yuan and have priority opportunities for promotion.

In-group training

IBM has supported CMA certification for "decades" and has invested in in-house CMA review courses every year since 2002. The company Bear all costs of courses and exams for employees. Over the years, the size of this class has been adjusted from an initial 12 people to about 20 people. All employees participating in the course came from all levels of IBM's financial department.

As a global leader in advertising, marketing, and corporate communications, Omnicom Group began cooperating with IMA in 2007 to launch on-site CMA coaching courses as a company-wide Internal career development programs. The costs of courses, textbooks and exams are borne by the company, and employees who participate in the courses are recommended by their managers. This program has been extended to its subsidiaries worldwide.

In addition, well-known domestic and foreign companies such as Motorola, Johnson & Johnson, Caterpillar, China Telecom, and China Nuclear Power have organized employees to participate in CMA training and certification.

Related Quotations

“We hope that through the efforts of China and the United States, we can create a situation where IMA-trained students will become a ‘hot commodity’ in China’s talent market and become a ‘well-known Brand'. We hope that through exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States, we can learn from IMA's relevant knowledge system and add Chinese content to jointly build an internationally renowned brand."

——Speech by Wang Jun, Vice Minister of Finance of China, when he met with Paul Sharman, former CEO of IMA

“Many companies are becoming more and more internationalized and need to Introducing the world's advanced management concepts and experience, and doing a good job in corporate cost accounting. I believe that IMA's entry into China can help China cultivate the management accountants and senior management talents in financial management that we urgently need; through the cooperation between China and the United States, We will work hard to promote the further development of management accounting and financial management on a global scale. This is not only beneficial to the economic cooperation and development of our two countries, but also to the revival and development of the global economy."

—— Fu Ziying, Assistant Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, met with former IMA CEO Paul Sharman

China is currently the most stable growth point of the global economy, and its potential Unlimited, with the best development opportunities and rich human resources. China's industries are also slowly transforming from basic to high-tech. During this transformation process, every professional financial person needs to enrich their knowledge system. Such supplements should be able to solve the practical difficulties they encounter in their work. CMA provides them with a broader perspective, allowing them to break through financial constraints, proactively contact and understand the business, and provide decision-making support for the enterprise.

——IMA President Jeffrey C. Thomson

CMA certification tests professional skills in the fields of management accounting and financial management, and we are not testing your language skills. So we just don’t want language to be such a barrier for everyone to understand the knowledge and skills in the field of management accounting.

——IMA International Certification, Dennis Whitney, Senior Vice President of Knowledge Integration

CMA talents have become the “hot meat” in the financial market

The accounting market is facing Due to the imbalance between talent supply and demand, many large and high-paying companies are increasingly looking for CMA management accounting types in their demand for accounting talents. Enterprises now need not only accountants who can keep accounts and make reports, but also CMA management talents who can use their learned skills to create value for the enterprise and provide constructive opinions to the enterprise.

The American Certified Management Accountant (CMA) is the world's top authoritative management accounting certification. It has become the gold standard for measuring the management accounting and financial management level of financial personnel. As a rigorous and rigorous professional evaluation system for financial personnel, CMA is deeply Favored by major central enterprises and multinational enterprises, CMA has also been widely adopted by Fortune 500 companies and has become the main human resources evaluation standard.

Joining the CMA study is a practical need for financial requirements in the development of the times

As we all know, in the field of accounting, certificates are essential, and for financial professionals, learning CMA is the right choice. time, adapt to market demand, and greatly improve employment competitiveness.

With the CMA certificate, you have the golden key to open the door to brilliant career development. CMA's influence in China is also growing. Mainland Chinese CMA certificate holders serve as senior financial and management leaders in Fortune 500 companies such as Motorola, GE, PepsiCo, and NIKE, with annual salaries reaching as much as 800,000.

Central-owned enterprises spare no effort in cultivating CMA talents

China's major central-owned enterprises are enthusiastic about cultivating CMA talents. Since the implementation of EVA assessment by central-owned enterprises, the assessment and evaluation system of central-owned enterprises has undergone essential changes. More and more senior executives of state-owned enterprises feel that traditional financial personnel cannot assist in EVA assessment. They need more management accounting talents who focus on enterprise performance growth to promote enterprise performance growth. Central enterprises take the lead in cultivating CMA talents to provide deep insights for the entire society and various types of enterprises. Deeply embedded in the concept that management accounting CMA talents are rare, they have extended an olive branch to offer high salaries and high-level positions to CMA talents, but they have never been able to recruit CMA talents. CMA talents are really hard to find in China. .

Recognition from the corporate world

The CMA certification program helps us identify accounting talents who have strong professional skills and high standards of professional ethics. Johnson & Johnson has never hesitated to invest a large amount of money to motivate financial department employees of Johnson & Johnson's 200 companies to take CMA training and examinations, and use this as an important part of Johnson & Johnson's employee leadership development plan

—— William L. Brower, CMA, Vice President, Commercial Financial Analysis, Johnson & Johnson

“At Microsoft, we are eager to find employees who possess financial skills, strategic thinking, and a strong work ethic. If If someone holds the CMA certification, we can confirm that he has all of the above enviable advantages.”

——Bob Laux, CMA, Financial Director, Microsoft

The CMA certification can. Help accounting professionals think about problems from different perspectives. The CMA exam not only involves financial accounting knowledge, but also covers the entire management knowledge system, especially in helping management decision-making and analysis, which can play a very good guiding role. This is why Caterpillar supports its employees to obtain CMA certification.

——Irene He, CMA, Asia-Pacific Strategy and Financial Analysis Manager of Caterpillar (China) Investment Co., Ltd.

Examination

"National Medium and Long-term Talent Development The "Planning Outline (2010-2020)" clearly states that it is necessary to cultivate a large number of outstanding entrepreneurs with global strategic vision, market development spirit, management innovation ability and social responsibility, as well as a high-level enterprise management talent team. Among them, the popularization of management accounting theory and its application has unquestionably become the biggest trump card in improving the core competitiveness of enterprises' international management.

In July 2007, the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) launched the Chinese CMA exam, which immediately triggered a strong response from the society. Many financial managers of local companies expressed that they had been looking forward to a highly internationally recognized certification exam to help them achieve professional qualifications. level of growth and improvement of personal value. The emergence of Chinese CMA precisely meets the needs of these financial managers.

On December 1, 2012, the CMA Chinese exam was successfully launched across the country. Most candidates generally recognized the difficulty of the new Chinese syllabus exam. It was not too difficult, and there were no partial or strange questions. However, you still need to have a very solid grasp of basic knowledge. Some questions are still very flexible, and a certain speed is required. Therefore, you should still read books diligently and practice test questions to ensure that you are in the best exam condition in the official examination room.

Eligibility conditions

1. Graduate degree or above (Master's or doctoral degree recognized by the Ministry of Education are acceptable)

2. Undergraduate degree (only undergraduate degrees recognized by the Ministry of Education will be accepted. Academic certificates without degrees will not be accepted)

3. College degree (only full-time 3-year college degree certified by the Ministry of Education, other forms of college degree will not be accepted)

After the candidate passes the general examination, IMA will send a work experience certification form to Candidates fill in. IMA will send the qualification certificate after reviewing the candidate's work experience.

Work experience

1. CMA exam results are retained for 7 years, which means that candidates must complete two consecutive years of management accounting work experience certification within 7 years.

2. The verification of professional experience is to see whether you have held a position that requires you to use the principles of management accounting and financial management to make judgments at work. Such positions include financial analysis, budget preparation, management information systems analysis, financial management, and auditing in government, finance, or industry, management consulting, public accounting auditing, and research, teaching, or consulting work related to management accounting or financial management.