Exam exemptions boost skills and career prospects for MBAs

Holders of an MBA designation looking to further broaden their competitiveness in today's challenging marketplace can widen their skills base by taking advantage of exam exemptions offered by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

As the world's largest professional body of management accountants, CIMA says an MBA and Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) qualification complement each other. The institute points out that while the CIMA is a top-level practitioner-focused finance qualification, an MBA is a high-level academic-based, general management attainment.

CIMA believes professionals equipped with both the CGMA designation and an MBA are well-placed to help their companies achieve their goals across many different disciplines. For instance, the CIMA designation provides additional avenues as a management accountant for career development and progression. Equipped with the CGMA qualification, CIMA says, management accountants are highly employable, putting their role in an organisation at the heart of the business.  In addition to strong management accounting fundamentals, the CIMA syllabus covers strategic business and leadership skills.

Peter Stewart, CIMA’s director of learning, says CIMA qualifications extend beyond the scope and knowledge of traditional accountancy programmes. For instance, he says, the CGMA is a global accreditation which demonstrates management accounting expertise in areas such as helping organisations manage change, risk and uncertainty; protecting corporate assets; and promoting operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Peter Stewart, CIMA’s director of learning

“The management finance focus of the CIMA syllabus and qualifications provide professionals with competencies that meet a wide range of employer perspectives,” Stewart says, adding that CGMA's often become the “go to” person in an organisation, whom colleagues turn to for advice and support.

Professionals with an MBA are able to join the CIMA syllabus through the Master’s Gateway route, which involves sitting five CIMA exams, starting with a management case study exam.  The Master’s Gateway route is an accelerated entry programme for those holding a recognised MBA or master's in accounting qualification. MBA holders who pass the entry exams are granted 12 exemptions from CIMA’s certificate, operational and management-level exams.  CIMA has also formed a partnership with the University of Hong Kong to provide BBA (Acc&Fin) and BBA (Law) students with an accelerated pathway. BBA students are eligible for the CGMA, with seven out of 12 examinations exempted, provided they complete all required subjects specified in the CIMA mapping guidance.