CMA Exam Guide
What are the CMA Exams,
and How to Pass Them
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CMA Exam Guide
2 What is a CMA?
3 Why is CMA the best accounting and
finance certification?
5 Is CMA the right certification for me?
6 Am I eligible for the CMA?
8 How much does it cost to become a CMA?
9 What is the CMA exam structure and
syllabus?
10 Is the CMA exam difficult to pass?
11 How do I prepare for the CMA exams?
13 How long does it take to prepare for
the CMA exams?
14 How do I start?
What is a
CMA?
Certified Management Accountant (CMA) is a professional
certification credential in the management accounting and financial
management fields. The certification signifies that the person possesses
knowledge in the areas of financial planning, analysis, control, decision support,
and professional ethics. The CMA is a U.S.-based, globally recognized
certification offered by the Institute of Management Accountants.
“Certified Management Accountant” (2020) Wikipedia. Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certified_Management_Accountant
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Why is CMA the best
accounting and finance
certification?
There are four main reasons that the CMA is the overall best
accounting and finance credential
The CMA Syllabus is practical and relevant to your job
Everything in the CMA syllabus is something that a business
does, or should do. Such a practical syllabus provides a lot of benefits to
you:
It makes studying easier
The content you learn is useful for your current and future jobs
The knowledge does not limit you to a specific department or career path
You only need to pass two exams
While it may seem at first that only two exams are not enough for a
professional certification, the two CMA exams cover a wide range of
topics that are all tested in depth. This means that you get a rigorous exam
that covers everything it needs to cover, but without a multi-year time
commitment. The fact that there are only two exams greatly increases the
chances that you will complete the Exams.
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You only need a Bachelor’s degree and two years of relevant
work experience to get your certificate
For the CMA exam, as long as you have a 3 or 4-year Bachelor’s
degree in any subject, you meet the education requirement. The experience
requirement to get your certificate requires only two years of relevant work
experience. Your experience does not need to be with any specific position nor
does your supervisor need to be a CMA. Additionally, your experience can be
obtained before, during or after you study for your Exams.
Your CMA certification is internationally recognized
In all likelihood, you will have a number of different jobs during your career,
which may include working for a multinational corporation, or in another
country. Because the CMA certification is internationally recognized, it will help
you get a job anywhere in the world. Being a CMA will also show others in your
organization that you are committed to your profession, and this will help you
reach higher levels in your organization.
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Is the CMA right certification for me?
While CMA is an excellent certification, the most important
factor in choosing your professional certification is which
certification will help YOU accomplish YOUR career goals.
To get the right certification, you need to ask yourself:
What do you want to be doing in the future?
If you are an internal auditor now, do you want to be the chief audit
executive in 10 years?
If you are in the accounting department now, do you want to be a finance
director in 5 years?
Or maybe, instead of dreaming about having a high position in a large
company, you want to start your business in 3 years and be your own
boss?
CMA is the certification that is often the most useful certification for someone
who is not certain about where specifically they want to be in five years, but
knows that they want to be in the area of accounting or finance, or in a
management level position in a company.
The CMA syllabus is based on how a business operates and the decisions
that a manager in a business needs to make. The CMA content helps an
individual know much more about the operations of the business, and the
needs of the decision-makers in the business. This understanding of how
management operates a business will ultimately help an individual add value to
the business.
The CMA certification will not limit you to only accounting, or only finance,
because the syllabus covers many of the areas of a business’s operations in its
syllabus.
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Am I
eligible to get
the CMA
Certification?
In addition to passing the CMA exams, there are two other important
requirements for earning your Certified Management Accountant (CMA)
Certification: education and experience.
Education Requirement
You must have a 3 or 4-year Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent from an
accredited college or university. It does not matter what the field of
study was, just that you have a Bachelor’s degree.
The list of accredited colleges and universities in the United States is here.
The list of accredited colleges and universities in other countries is here.
If your university is on one of these lists, your degree by itself will meet the
requirement. You do not need to have your education evaluated.
If you cannot locate your college or university on the accredited listing, please
contact the IMA at ima@imanet.org for further assistance.
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Experience Requirement
Candidates for the CMA Certification must have two continuous years of full-
time work experience in management accounting and/or financial management.
Four years of continuous part-time work experience will also fulfill this
requirement. Candidates who do not have the required experience when taking
the exams have seven years after completing their exams to meet the
experience requirement.
Qualifying experience consists of positions requiring judgments regularly made
employing the principles of management accounting and financial management.
Such employment includes:
Preparation of financial statements
Financial planning & analysis
Monthly, quarterly, and year end close
Auditing (external or internal)
Budget preparation & reporting
Manage general ledger and balance sheets
Forecasting
Company investment decision making
Costing analysis
Risk evaluation
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How much does it cost to become a CMA?
The total cost to become a CMA is made up of two components:
Exam Registration Fees
Exam Prep Materials
The CMA Exam Registration Fees (paid to the IMA) depends on what your
category of member is.
Most candidates are Professional members of the IMA. If you are currently
enrolled as a student, you may qualify as a Student member. If you are a
professor at a university, you may qualify as an Academic. Specific details of
the Student and Academic member categories are available during the
registration process.
The fees for the different categories of membership are:
The cost of the Hock CMA Exam Prep materials depends on the
package you select and any current discounts that are being offered. The most
current prices are available on our site.
Click here to see the details
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What is the
CMA Exam
structure and
syllabus?
The CMA Exam has 2 Parts and covers 12 competencies:
Part 1: Financial Planning, Part 2: Strategic Financial
Performance, and Analytics Management
15% External Financial Reporting 20% Financial Statement Analysis
.......Decisions 20% Corporate Finance
20% Planning, Budgeting, and 25% Decision Analysis
........Forecasting 10% Risk Management
20% Performance Management 10% Investment Decisions
15% Cost Management 15% Professional Ethics
15% Internal Controls
15% Technology and Analysis
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Is the exam difficult
to pass?
No, the exam is not difficult to pass. In fact, it should be easy for you to pass
when you go to take your exam.
If you are properly prepared, the exam should be easy to pass. In other words,
if you know the material tested on the exam, then taking the exam is just the
process of answering questions you are prepared to answer. Of course, there
may be a few questions that you are uncertain about, but if you are properly
prepared, you should know that you passed when you leave the exam.
A better question to ask is,
“Is it is difficult to prepare properly for the exam?”
While this question is a bit different, the answer is similar. While not every topic
will be easy to learn because some concepts are difficult to learn and take time,
overall you should feel confident as you prepare to prepare to pass the exam if:
1. You have decided that you want to pass the exam (this means that you are
properly motivated and will actually study), and
2. You have the right exam prep materials for your learning style, background,
and experience.
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How to
prepare for
the CMA
exams?
Understand the goal, and stay focused on that goal only
Remember that your main goal is to pass the exam. To achieve that goal, there
is a syllabus of material that you need to learn. The syllabus tells you what you
need to study, and by process of elimination, what you do not need to study.
You should not get distracted by reading outside of the textbook or searching for
other sources that are not written specifically for the exam you are studying.
Overall studying strategy
The first tip that we offer for preparing for the exams is to remember that
preparing to pass the exam is a marathon, not a sprint. This means that you
need to have a long-term plan when you start studying. You should plan on
studying 1-2 hours at a time, three to five times a week, for several months. It is
OK if you miss one session occasionally.
And to make this as effective and efficient as possible, you should make a
specific study schedule of when during the week you will study. This study
schedule will help reduce the stress of the study process. Without a schedule,
you always have studying hanging over your head.
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If you know that you will study Tuesday evening, Thursday evening, Friday
morning and Sunday afternoon, it makes it a lot easier for you the rest of the
time because you know that it is OK to not be studying. Having a schedule will
prepare you for the entire process and prepare you to pass your exam when you
take it.
You must actually study
The most important thing you can do to prepare for the exam is to actually
study! Having a schedule will, by itself, not help you pass the exam. Reading
motivational quotes and books will not help you pass the exam. You must
actually have productive and quality study time (reading the textbook while you
are also watching TV at the same time does not count as study time).
Here is how you can study with HOCK CMA Exam Prep materials:
1. Skim through the textbook for a topic and look at the main points and
examples.
2. Watch the video(s) about this topic.
3. Do the practice questions in ExamSuccess for this topic.
4. If you are uncertain about any particular concept within this topic, read the
detail that is in the textbook to help you understand the topic and/or re-watch
the video(s).
5. Ask us questions! If there is something that you do not understand, ask us.
We are here to help you and we can almost always help you more quickly
than you can figure out an answer yourself.
6. After you understand the topic and can answer the questions, you should
start using the flash cards. This will put that topic’s cards into rotation so that
you can review the topic on an ongoing basis as you continue into the next
topics.
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How many hours do I need to
study for the CMA exams?
The not very helpful answer to how many hours you need to study is that you
need to study “enough.” How many hours is enough is determined by several
factors:
Your experience in the areas that are being tested.
Your education in the areas being tested.
Your level of fluency in English.
How well you study when you study.
What preparation materials you use.
As a general starting point, most people need to study at least 180 hours per
part for the CMA Exams. If you study about 8-10 hours a week, it will take you,
on average, about 5 - 8 months to prepare for one Part of the exam. If you
would like to, it is very possible to pass both Exams in a 12 month period.
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What do I do
to start?
The best way to start studying for the CMA exams is to sign up for
HOCK’s free trial. Using the materials in the free trial an excellent way to
start studying and see if CMA is the right certification for you before you
make any financial investments.
The HOCK trial includes these study materials for CMA Part 1 Section A and
CMA Part 2 Section E:
Full Textbook
Test Bank
All Flash Cards
All Videos
Sign up for the free trial now and get an exclusive discount code
for HOCK CMA Exam prep materials.
REGISTER NOW
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