Certified Management Accountant

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IMA’s CMA® (Certified Management Accountant) certification is a professional credential that can be earned in the advanced management accounting and financial management fields. The certification signifies that the person possesses knowledge in the areas of financial planning, analysis, control, decision support, and professional ethics, the skills most in demand on finance teams around the world. The CMA is a U.S.-based, globally recognized certification offered by The Institute of Management Accountants.

CMA-certified professionals work inside organizations of all sizes, industries, and types, including manufacturing and services, public and private enterprises, not-for-profit organizations, academic institutions, government entities, and multinational corporations. To date, more than 45,000 CMAs have been certified in more than 100 countries. To obtain certification, candidates must pass a rigorous exam, meet an educational requirement, experience requirement, and demonstrate a commitment to continuous learning through Continuing Professional Education (CPE).

The Certified Management Accountant Exam

The Certified Management Accountant Exam is two part exam that must be passed as a prerequisite to earning the CMA designation. Prior to 2010, the CMA exam was organized into four parts: Business Analysis, Management Accounting and Reporting, Strategic Management. Since 2010, the exam has been condensed into two four-hour parts covering the largely the same material as the former four part exam with added emphasis on financial planning, analysis, control, and decision support. The CMA exams are given during three testing window periods: January/February, May/June and September/October at Prometric centers. Each exam consists of 100 multiple choice questions and two 30-minute essay questions. Candidates are given 3 hours to complete the multiple choice section and one hour to complete the essays. Candidates must show their work for the essay questions in order to receive credit. Parts 1 and 2 of the CMA exam are scored on a scale of 0-500 with a candidate's raw score converted to a uniform scaled score against all exam candidates. On this scale, a score of 360 represents the minimum passing scaled score. Candidates are given three years from registering to pass both parts of the exam.^[1]^[2]

Exam Content

Part 1 – Financial Reporting, Planning, Performance, and Control

External financial reporting decisions (15%)
Planning, budgeting and forecasting (30%)
Performance management (20%)
Cost management (20%)
Internal controls (15%)

Part 2 – Financial Decision Making

Financial statement analysis (25%)
Corporate finance (20%)
Decision analysis (20%)
Risk management (10%)
Investment decisions (15%)
Professional ethics (10%)

Pass Rates

The CMA exam is considered very rigorous and pass rates for the CMA exam have historically been low for both parts. Worldwide, the exam had a pass rate of 35% for Part 1 and 49% for Part 2 in 2014. Pass rates for the two part exam are as follows:^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

CMA Exam Part 1 Pass Rates
Region	2010	2011	2013	2014	2015
Worldwide	40%	35%	35%	35%	35%
Asia Pacific	44%	42%	41%	41%	N/A
Europe	55%	51%	50%	53%	N/A
Middle East & Africa	20%	20%	21%	21%	N/A
Americas	54%	53%	51%	53%	N/A

CMA Exam Part 2 Pass Rates
Region	2010	2011	2013	2014	2015
Worldwide	40%	43%	42%	49%	52%
Asia Pacific	47%	51%	45%	55%	N/A
Europe	53%	50%	52%	63%	N/A
Middle East & Africa	25%	28%	29%	37%	N/A
Americas	47%	53%	54%	57%	N/A

The IMA discontinued region breakouts of exam pass rates starting with the 2015 results

Additional Certification Requirements

In addition to successfully passing the exams, to become certified, CMA candidates must fulfill education and experience requirements in order to be certified:^[8]

1. Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university

2. Two continuous years of professional experience employing the principles of management accounting and financial management including:

Preparation of financial statements
Financial planning & analysis
Monthly, quarterly, and year end close
Auditing (external or internal)
Budget preparation & reporting
Manage general ledger and balance sheets
Forecasting
Company investment decision making
Costing analysis
Risk evaluation

3. For certified CMAs, 30 hours of CPE credits, including two hours of ethics, and annual IMA Membership are required to maintain active status.

Notes

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