Students who have partially completed programmes at
universities, recognised professional bodies and other
educational and training establishments may apply for credit,
on a subject-by-subject basis. Further, it is one of the
objectives of the Institute to accredit Graduate Conversion
Programmes offered to non-accountants to convert to
accountancy at recognised universities and educational bodies.
Holders of Graduate Diplomas in Accounting and above, will be
thus eligible for Graduate membership in the Institute.
Holders of Australian Technical and Further Education (TAFE)
Advanced Diplomas must undertake Stages 3 & 4 of the
graduate program and part-qualified accountants (i.e. those
doing the final stages of CIMA, ACCA final stages, or the
final year of university accounting degrees) need to do the
full GMA Conversion program to satisfy the requirements of
Graduate Membership (GMA status).
All Graduate members can apply for Associate membership if
they possess 3 years of relevant professional experience.
All Graduates and Associates (and those exempted from the
Graduate Membership level examinations) must, however,
complete the two-unit "CMA Programme" (as shown in
figure below) and have 5 years of relevant professional
experience, in order to fulfil the requirements of a Certified
Management Accountant.
MBA, CMA Dual Qualification
A number of universities around the world now have joint
program designed around the following core components :
The MBA Program
Many such university programs have core units and
electives. The Certified Management Accountant (CMA) program
can dovetail to this structure, such that those with an
accounting background can obtain CMA certification undertaking
two electives, and those without such a background can obtain
certification by utilizing four electives.
The CMA Program
The Certified Management Accountant (CMA) qualification is
available to both accountants and non-accounting managers who
are interested in gaining advanced knowledge in the strategic
management information and performance reporting area.
Accountants who wish to obtain CMA certification undertake
two advanced elective units in a university MBA programme:
subjects equivalent to the ‘Advanced Management Accounting’
and ‘Advanced Strategic Management Accounting’ of the CMA
program.
Those without an accounting background, who are
nevertheless interested in obtaining a professional
qualification in the area, are able to undertake the above CMA
program after they first complete a ‘conversion’ program
of 4 coursework units, two of these being core subjects in
most MBAs, i.e. the Accounting and Corporate Finance subjects.
In addition these students will need to do two further
electives, Financial Statement Analysis and Managerial
Accounting. On the completion of this ‘conversion’
program, these students will also undertake the advanced units
required by all students prior to certification.
Shown below, is a typical example of the accreditation that
ICMA members obtain in University MBA programs :
MBA students with or without an accounting background, have
an opportunity of selecting their electives in such a manner
as to satisfy the educational requirements of the Institute of
Certified Management Accountants (ICMA). Students without an
accounting background need to do all subjects in elective
groups 1 and 2, while accountants need only to do those in
group 2.
The electives are as follows :
* Relevant experience in management accounting is broadly
defined to include the gaining of experience in the provision
of information in a wide range of managerial functions
including costing, pricing, marketing, strategy, financial
analysis, logistics, information systems, etc.
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