CMA (US) can be pursued after completing a degree like graduation or post graduation. For understanding how a candidate can complete CMA after graduation, we need to look at all the requirements to become a CMA member. These requirements are 3Es – Eligibility, Exams and Experience.
1) Eligibility: A candidate must be a member of IMA (Institute of Management Accountants, US) and also the candidate must be holding a bachelor’s degree (e.g. BCom, BBA etc) or Professional Qualification (e.g. CA, CS, CMA India etc.)
2) Exams: CMA US is a two parts exam. A candidate must be successful in both Parts exams before applying for membership. These parts are as follows:
- Part 1 – Financial Planning, Performance and Analysis
- Part 2 – Strategic Financial Management
Experience: Two continuous years of experience in Management Accounting or Financial Management or both.
Once a candidate has fulfilled all the above three requirements, he/she gets a license to work/practice as CMA US from IMA.
The above requirements are laid down by the IMA. However, for fulfilling the above requirements, a candidate needs to follow the right approach for passing the exam and should also know when to start taking practical experience.
Examination Oriented Approach:
Every professional qualification requires a different approach so does CMA US also. Each part of CMA US is a 4 hour exam the pattern of which is 100 MCQs (75% weightage) and 2 Essay type questions (25% weightage). A candidate needs a score of 360 (72%) out of 500 to be successful in each exam.
If you are pursuing a CMA course after graduation then you need to take care of following while preparing for the exam:
- Consistency: Consistency in studies will be the most important thing in preparing for a professional qualification exam like CMA. Even if you are ready to set a daily target of studying effectively for 1.5 to 2 hours, then you can be done with both parts easily in 12 months.
- Tuition Support: Do take tuition support if you wish to get the knowledge of the content in the syllabus and also want to learn the application of concepts therein. A good tutor will not only provide you with an exam oriented approach but also with the experiential learning which will go a long way in building your career. Do your research thoroughly and then join a tuition partner which does not only takes care of your exam preparation but also takes the responsibility of owning your career by providing you with upskilling as well as placement assistance. Go with a tuition provider with a strong placement record as at the end of the day, a candidate normally likes to work in a Corporate environment.
- Self Study: Tuition support is not a substitute to self study. Self study is a must and you must put at least 1.5-2 hours depending upon your other commitments. This is even possible for working professionals. You just need to channelise yourself. Candidates who are just pursuing their studies can put in more effort / more hours for self study. Tuition support provides you knowledge/experience but self study is what is required for passing the exams.
- Focus: Very limited usage of smartphone for at least 1 month before your exam: This point looks very basic but in a today’s hi-tech environment, this is very much needed for focussing on studies particularly when your entire career depends upon a qualification like CMA US. If you can do this, you can pass easily. But I know, in today’s scenario, you might find it to be the most difficult thing to do. Choice is yours.
- Mock Exam: 2nd most difficult thing after asking you to stay away from your smartphone is to give at least 3 mock exams in a simulated environment and get those evaluated. In this way, you will be knowing what you were going to face in the actual exam and you can prepare yourself for various aspects like which questions to attempt first, time management and presentation in essay type questions etc.
Experience:
If you are not working in a relevant field (like Management Accounting and/or Financial Management) or not working now, then you should immediately start preparing yourself for a relevant job. For a decent job in the relevant field, you will not only require knowledge gained through your subjects in graduation of CMA US but also the practical experience / upskilling in relevant field.
If a candidate is having relevant experience or upskilling (like financial modeling or data analytics) then not only there are better chances of selection in a particular interview but also, you could choose the profiles/package for which you wish to go. For this, you need to be aware about how a tuition provider (if taking tuition) can help you with the entire thing.
A very few institutions like The WallStreet School take care of this aspect i.e. they not only provide training for the CMA syllabus but also provide relevant upskilling (through financial modeling) and placement assistance (strong track record of placing more than 4500 candidates in India). So, if you plan to take tuition support, choose your training provider carefully after thorough research/analysis.
Conclusion:
For pursuing a CMA course after a degree, a candidate must fulfill the three Es (Eligibility, Exams and Experience) laid down by the IMA, US.
For successfully completing the Exams, take care of the aspects like Consistency, Self Study, Staying away from mobile and importance of mock exams. Take help of a tuition partner for getting to learn application of subjects in CMA curriculum. Choose a tuition provider who can take care of your entire journey i.e. from onboarding in CMA to your placement. You can also find some Free CMA Study Materials on the US CMA Website in the resource section.
You should also start taking experience as early as possible and for that you will be needing upskilling in relevant areas like finance and/or accounting.
Last but not the least, learn from the mistakes of others. You need not make your own mistakes always. Signing off with this.