Management accountant qualification that connects the dots

While understanding and managing strategic business processes, such as striking a prudent balance between risks and rewards, have long been fundamental features of business activities a growing need for financial professionals who can offer multidisciplinary business advice is playing to the core strengths of the management accountant.

Keith Luck, president of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), says that across the diverse range of employers CIMA talks to senior managers consistently highlight the need for qualified financial professionals who can bridge the gap between business, strategy and finance. Referring to the concept as “joining the dots’’, Luck says employers are looking for management accountants to provide them with decision support information to help them drive better organisational strategies. “CEOs, CFOs and company boards are looking for quality information that gives them a clear picture of how the organisation is running and where the opportunities and risks are,’’ says Luck, adding that CIMA is committed to raising the bar of the management accounting profession to ensure consistent worldwide practices.

For example, reflecting on his nearly-completed year as CIMA president, Luck says the institute’s significant achievements include consolidating major new initiatives such as awareness, recognition and uptake to the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation. There is also the launch of CIMA’s computer-based qualification assessment platform and the global industry-wide interest in Global Management Accounting Principles (GMAP), a framework that outlines the values and qualities that represent international best practice management accounting.

Luck says GMAP is being universally applied in organisations large and small, public and private. “The principles provide a blueprint for breaking down silos through communication, producing the most relevant and reliable data and providing analysis that protects long-term sustainability, underpinned by a strong platform of ethics and integrity’’ says Luck. “The principles help organisations assess competencies and management performance and have already received widespread support from businesses worldwide and government departments, including state-owned-enterprises in China,’’ he adds.

According to Luck, refreshing the CIMA syllabus is another area that has produced positive results. The syllabus was revised following discussions with senior management and a global survey of large and small companies across different industry sectors to identify skills required providing the linkages between financial, operational and strategic management decisions.

As the world’s largest professional body of management accountants, with over 227,000 members and students operating in 179 countries, Luck says CIMA is continually building brand recognition. “Our syllabus and the CGMA designation are increasingly being viewed by employers and students in the same way as high-end hotel and international food brands’’ says Luck, who notes that a number of high-profile Hong Kong employers include the CGMA as part of their management trainee programmes.