CIMA is the most relevant international accounting qualification for business today. The career path towards becoming a Chartered Management Accountant involves clear exit and entry points certified by CIMA, offering you a CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting and CIMA Advanced Diploma in Management Accounting on your way to becoming a fully-fledged Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

CIMA - The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants - is a leading membership body that offers an internationally recognized professional qualification in management accountancy, which focuses on accounting for business. As an organization, CIMA is committed to constant improvement, and our reputation as a professional and regulatory body has never been stronger.  CIMA is increasingly the first choice for students and employers. CIMA upholds high ethical and professional standards to maintain public confidence in management accountancy. CIMA members and students must adhere to CIMA's ethical guidelines, byelaws and regulations.

CIMA has partnered with CTPD to offer the CIMA programmes in Namibia through the Centre for Professional Studies division. CTPD is a registered CIMA tuition and CBE centre, delivering evening classes, distance learning, weekend, and evening revision classes throughout Namibia. Our courses are aimed at preparing you for your CIMA exams.

Why CIMA is different from other qualifications

The University of Bath School of Management recently completed comparative research that explains the advantages of the CIMA qualification. Benchmarking CIMA against eight other accounting bodies, the report explains how the unique skills of CIMA professionals give our members a fundamental understanding of all aspects of business so that they can make key decisions and manage risk. You can compare CIMA against other institutions at http://www.cimaandme.com/#/iscimaforme/different.

Choice and flexibility as you study

Choice and flexibility are key to the CIMA qualification. You can co-ordinate your training, career and lifestyle. You can study full-time, or part-time or through distance learning. You can even choose when and where you want to sit your exams. Our flexible approach will allow you to work in any organization. Unlike other professional accounting qualifications, you will not be tied to a training contract. You can move organizations if you wish.

What's in it for you

The CIMA Professional Qualification will give you the power to help accelerate your career. CIMA is not just about getting your career off to a good start. If you're looking to rise rapidly through the ranks, CIMA will give you the skills to succeed at a senior level.
The skills that you develop through your CIMA study will give you a wide choice of career options. They will allow you to work in a range of different industries. CIMA members work in diverse areas such as business analysis, management consulting, operations management and project management to name a few. Many of the world's top Finance Directors and Chief Executives are CIMA members.

Qualification process

The CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting
This is CIMA’s own entry route to the Professional Qualification. If you are new to accounting then you must complete the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting before moving on. It will introduce you to the concept of management accounting and give you the basics of accounting and business.   We have recently launched a new 2006 CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting syllabus - this consists of five subjects and is examined by computer based assessment.  
If you have already studied a relevant qualification - such as a degree or a professional qualification in accounting or business - we may grant you exemptions from some (or all) of the five papers at the Certificate level.

The CIMA Professional Qualification provides more strategy, more management accounting, more management and more project management than other professional accountancy qualifications. It will give you the key skills to succeed in your career plus the relevant experience to be a success.
This specializes in accounting for business and is recognized by employers around the world. There are three learning streams:

• management accounting
• business management
• financial management

CIMA members are at the forefront of some of the world’s most successful organizations. A career in management accounting will ensure that you are at the cutting edge of business decision making. It will give you the opportunity to take your career in any direction you choose.

Life-long learning

CIMA is the first UK professional accounting body to give its commitment to promoting the life-long employability of its members as part of a life-long learning agenda. CIMA's Life-long Employability Framework is relevant to all individuals within and beyond the finance community who wish to develop competence and knowledge in financial management. CIMA offers development to everyone with differing ambitions: those aspiring to a professional qualification, members wishing to update knowledge or develop further expertise, and non-finance managers wishing to develop a secure grounding in financial management.

CIMA offers career development routes to all these individuals by providing access to life-long learning opportunities and resources. The CIMA Life-long Employability Framework supports individual requirements for continuing professional development at all levels:

• CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting
• CMA Diploma in Management Accounting
• CIMA Advanced Diploma in Management Accounting
• CMA Professional qualification

Today’s marketplace demands a qualification that is desirable by employers. CIMA qualified people bring more than basic accounting skills to the table. They have an innate sense about the future; what it will look like, the demands it will present and what it will take to achieve success. The CIMA qualification is becoming the chartered qualification of choice. CIMA has a total business focus – 99% of CIMA members and students work in business and not in accountancy practices.  This has enabled CIMA to deliver a new professional qualification with double the focus of any competitor on business management and strategic management accounting. Overall CIMA provide more management, more management accounting, more project management and more strategy than any other UK accounting body.

Our syllabus is both practical and innovative. The unique blend of academic training and practical experience continues to provide employers with what they want - Chartered Management Accountants who have the leading edge skills to drive business growth.  This combination perfectly matches the needs of modern organizations. Unlike other accountancy qualifications, TOPCIMA (the case study and final test of professional competence) tests for business awareness and higher level cognitive skills such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation. This requires students to take account of business, financial, ethical and human resource strategy issues – all taught through the syllabus.

There are other unique elements of the CIMA syllabus that make the CIMA Professional Qualification stand out from its competitors as the chartered qualification of choice for business. CIMA has a major focus on ethics throughout the new syllabus and CIMA is the only body to focus on interpersonal skills as a requirement of the new Professional Qualification. 

The CIMA New syllabus

The CIMA certificate in business accounting is CIMA's own entry route to the CIMA professional qualification. It provides grounding in the basics of business and financial accounting for those new to the field of study.
Its aim is to ensure you understand the regulatory framework for accounting, how formal business relationships are established and the economic environment in which organizations operate. The Certificate level will also introduce you to the concept of management accounting and cover quantitative statistical analysis methods that will be used by a Chartered Management Accountant. You may be exempted from some or all certificate papers if you have a relevant degree, have completed the AAT technician stage, or have studied another professional accounting qualification.
Your degree or accounting qualification may also exempt you from some operational and management level papers.
There are 5 subjects as follows:

•  C1: Fundamentals of Management Accounting
•  C2: Fundamentals of Financial Accounting
•  C3: Fundamentals of Business Mathematics
•  C4: Fundamentals of Business Economics
•  C5: Fundamentals of Ethics, Corporate Governance and Business Law

Upon completion of the Certificate level exams you will be awarded the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting. As part of the chartered syllabus, this qualification provides students with an entry level accounting qualification which is recognized and respected internationally.
The Certificate level is assessed by Computer Based Assessment.(Link to Computer Based info Page) This means that the Certificate level subjects can be completed flexibly, and can enable you to fast-track to the Operational and Management levels at a pace that suits you.

Exam sequence
We advise students to pass the operational level paper before attempting the management level paper in the same pillar. However, it is possible for students to study and sit an operational paper in one pillar and a management paper in another pillar. Students must pass all operational and management subjects before attempting the strategic level.
SUBJECTS:

•  E1 Enterprise Operations 
•  P1 Performance Operations
•  F1 Financial Operations

SUBJECT CONTENT:

• E1 Enterprise Operations
  The global business environment (20%)
  Information systems (20%)
  Operations management (20%)
  Marketing (20%)
  Managing Human Capital (20%)
• P1 Performance Operations
  Cost accounting systems (30%)
  Forecasting and budgeting techniques (10%)
  Project appraisal (25%)
  Dealing with uncertainty in analysis (15%)
  Managing short term finance (20%)
• F1 Financial Operations subject breakdown:
  Principles of business taxation (25%)
  Regulation and ethics of financial reporting (15%)
  Financial accounting and reporting (60%)

Award
Students who pass all three operational level papers will be awarded the CIMA diploma in management accounting. By completing this level you will develop decision making and management skills, as well as an expertise in technical accounting matters required to operate effectively as a management accountant.

Entry requirements

We can offer you various entry points on to the CIMA Qualification, depending on your previous academic qualifications.
Mature Student Entry Route (MSER)

• Normally over age 21
• No academic qualifications required

Minimum entry requirements

• Two A Levels or LCCI level 3 courses and three GCSEs or equivalent in five separate subjects, including English and Mathematics.
• Full information on the minimum entrance criteria for each country is available in the 'related documents' section.

Graduate-entry route

• Relevant degree holders from CIMA-accredited institutions may be exempted from all the Certificate exams. Degrees with some relevance may also qualify for exemptions (see http://www1.cimaglobal.com/cps/rde/xchg/SID-0AE7C4D1-C9C1841E/live/root.xsl/1325.htm).

Exemptions
Some qualifications may offer you exemptions and enable you to enter at an advanced stage of the syllabus. Refer to http://www1.cimaglobal.com/cps/rde/xchg/SID-0AE7C4D1-C9C1841E/live/root.xsl/1325.htm or ccontact CIMA for further information.

CIMA student registration and exam entry deadlines

Student registration can take place at any time, however if you wish to take part in specific paper-based exam sessions, the following deadlines apply:

CBA System - CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting

The first step towards becoming a Chartered Management Accountant is the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting. The qualification is open access – meaning that no previous knowledge or experience is required. It provides the ideal foundation for further study, but is also recognized in its own right. If you are studying for the Certificate in Business Accounting, you will be assessed by computer based assessment (CBA). CBA uses the computer to deliver questions and receive answers.  Each of the five assessments can be taken flexibly when you are ready.

The CBA system can ensure that a wide range of the syllabus is assessed, as a pre-determined number of questions from each syllabus area (dependent upon the syllabus weighting for that particular area) are selected in each assessment. You can therefore be confident that you have a solid grounding in business and accounting in preparation for the Managerial Level subjects.
 Assessment times

All assessments for the Certificate syllabus subjects are 2 hours. The pass mark for each subject is 50% and you will receive your results and Certificate of Achievement immediately after the assessment. If you are unsuccessful, you will receive feedback on your performance in the assessment.

Types of questions
Computer based assessments use objective test questions. The most common type of question is multiple choice, where you have to choose the correct answer from a list of possible answers, but there are a variety of other objective question types that can be used within the system.

These include true/false questions, matching pairs of text and graphic, sequencing and ranking, labeling diagrams and single and multiple numeric entry. Candidates answer the questions by either pointing and clicking the mouse, moving objects around the screen, typing numbers, or a combination of these responses.