how certified management accountants cmas work
the certified management accountant cma certification which is issued by the institute of management accountants ima builds on financial accounting proficiency by adding management skills that aid in making strategic business decisions based on financial data oftentimes the reports and analyses prepared by certified management accountants cmas will go above and beyond those required by generally accepted accounting principles gaap for example in addition to a company s required gaap financial statements cmas may prepare additional management reports that provide specific insights useful to corporate decision makers such as performance metrics on specific company departments products or even employees unlike the certified public accountant cpa certification cma certification is not mandatory for many jobs in finance as with other financial designations such as certified public accountant cpa or chartered financial analyst cfa certifications certified management accountants cmas are subject to a strict code of ethics 2 to obtain the cma candidates must have a bachelor s degree or a related professional certification as well as two years of continuous work experience in a related field 3 candidates must also pass a rigorous exam which typically requires over 300 hours of preparation according to the financial industry regulatory authority finra cmas must also hold active membership in the institute of management accountants 4real world example of a certified management accountant cma dorothy is an entrepreneur who manages a small construction supply company recently she was invited to bid on a contract that would require her to significantly increase her number of employees although she felt that the project would be a great opportunity for her business she wondered whether she would have the financial reporting capacity to effectively manage that increased headcount to help address this problem dorothy decides to hire dennis a certified management accountant cma to obtain his designation dennis had to pass a two part exam covering subject areas such as budgeting and forecasting performance management cost measurement and internal controls in interviewing for the position dennis argues that these skills would allow him to support dorothy in assessing the costs and benefits of this new project while also effectively managing the costs and logistics involved in servicing new customers with dennis s expertise dorothy is able to increase her team size without losing oversight of her internal costs and procedures on the contrary dennis s skill set provides newfound transparency to her business allowing dorothy to better assess the performance of individual team members and the profitability of specific projects in the future dennis s combination of accounting skills and fluency with managerial decision making puts him in a good position to adopt executive positions within the company or at another employer special considerationscertified management accountants cmas and other accountants are expected to be in growing demand over the coming years between 2019 and 2029 the hiring of accountants is projected to grow by 4 due to the absence of standardization this growth is expected to continue in the management accounting sector because companies have considerable freedom in designing management accounting systems 5 