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A REVIEW OF IMA'S CERTIFIED MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANT (CMA) AND CERTIFIED FINANCIAL MANAGER (CFM) PROGRAMS AND AN EXAMINATION OF THE CHANGES TO THE CMA EXAM SHOW THE RELEVANCE OF THESE CERTIFICATIONS TO ACCOUNTING EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONALS.
The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) offered the first Certified Management Accountant (CMA) exam to 410 candidates at 22 U.S. locations on December 6-8, 1972.1 The exam was a pencilandpaper test consisting of five separate 3.5-hour parts. In December 1996, IMA added its second professional designation, Certified Financial Manager (CFM).2
Recent indepth studies conducted by IMA resulted in major changes to the CMA exam. In addition to changes in the exam's structure and content, the new, revised CMA exam is designed to test candidates about material that was determined to be most relevant to the career needs of individuals who aspire to become accounting professionals.
Right now, two different CMA examinations are offered. Those who entered the CMA program prior to July 1, 2004, have until December 31, 2007, to complete the "current" CMA exam version. The current version has four threehourlong parts and consists of objective, multiple-choice questions. The exam is computerized and offered at more than 400 testing centers throughout the world.
The new, revised CMA examination was first offered on July 1, 2004. The content of the CMA exam was reorganized and updated minimally. Over 90% of the "new" CMA exam content remains unchanged from the current version, and the rest has been updated to reflect relevant business practices. While three of the four parts of the new exam version are still presented in the multiple-choice format, the fourth part now consists of business-oriented essays and problems. CMA candidates are required to pass the first three parts before sitting for this new capstone part.
This article reviews the progress of IMA's professional certification programs since the CMA was first offered and focuses on the changes made to the exam's structure and content since its inception as well as the relevance of the CMA exam content to professional accounting careers, as highlighted by several prominent studies. While the bulk of the discussion addresses the CMA exam, the CFM program is also covered. The CFM designation is still relatively new, and only Part 2 of the CFM...