The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), a professional
qualification combining accounting and management skills, becomes more and more
recognizable and popular on the mainland.
Charles Tilley, chief executive of the institution, told China Daily that
apart from the recent setting up of the first branch in Shanghai, the
institution has ventured with mainland multinational corporates to offer CIMA
training for the students.
Compared to about 10,000 Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
members on the mainland, CIMA is still in an embryonic stage. "Our history on
the mainland is short, but more and more students are coming for registration,"
said Tilley.
According to Shanghai Morning Post, the number of CIMA students is increasing
by 800 every year.
Most of the members with CIMA qualifications are senior management of
multinational corporate such as Adidas and Unilever and their average annual
salary exceeds 350,000 yuan, which is considered among the top-notch
professionals on the mainland.
"We are running partnership training programmes with mainland branches of
multinational corporates and we hope to further promote them to indigenous
companies over the coming five years," said Tilley. CIMA currently forms similar
kind of partnerships with about 30,000 corporate houses worldwide.
Currently, CIMA focuses primarily on strengthening the partnership with the
mainland branches of multinational corporates. "But indigenous companies could
also benefit since the CIMA-trained staff will bring their expertise to local
firms as they moved to indigenous companies," Tilley said.
CIMA recently received licence from educational department and set up its
first representative office in Shanghai. "We will recruit up to 10 staff by the
end of the year," he said.
Tilley said the CIMA-trained professionals are on high demand because of the
growing need for accounting professionals with management skills.
He pointed out that examination of conventional accounting institutions
provided insufficient management training to fulfil the demand.
Founded in 1919, the institution currently has 69,000 members and 85,000
students. CIMA examinations are available over 100 countries and regions.
The other reason behind CIMA's popularity on the mainland is that many CIMA
candidates see the certificate as a shortcut to getting MBA from overseas
universities.
A CIMA candidate said: "The CIMA certificate is widely recognized, especially
for internationally acclaimed universities."
"For instance, Henley Management College, one of the top 20 business colleges
in UK, offers many exemptions for CIMA holders, which could save a lot of time
and money," said the candidate.
Cranfield University School of Management awards allowance for CIMA members
studying its MBA.
Although Tilley did not specify how many hours a candidate has to devote for
the examination, he pointed out that the course was not easier than any other
professional examination.
Speaking about the course details, Tilley said: The programme is divided into
three levels. For getting the qualification of chartered management accountant,
candidates should complete nine papers with a minimum three-year practical
experience, of which at least 18 months should be related to management and
accounting role.
