The Institute of Management Accountants is rolling out a new Financial and Managerial Accounting Associate certification with no prerequisites like a college degree, as a way to help with the shortage of talent in the accounting pipeline.
The FMAA can provide a stepping stone to the IMA’s traditional Certified Management Accounting credential but is less rigorous than the CMA exam. However, it too is based around multiple choice questions. It’s designed to provide an accessible credential on the fundamentals of the accounting profession in less time, with a recommended 50 hours of preparation for a two-hour exam with 80 multiple-choice questions. It’s aimed at people who want to take advantage of the burgeoning demand for talent in the accounting and finance field.
“The ultimate goal for us is to advance the management accounting profession,” said IMA vice president of certification Ella Suponitskiy. “We’re doing really well today with our existing product offerings. We have a CMA that’s our flagship certification, and we have a strategy credential, CSCA [Certified in Strategy and Competitive Analysis], but it’s not available to everyone. The CMA has education barriers where it requires a bachelor’s degree. The CSCA has additional entry barriers, and we felt we’re not really reaching with our existing products the audience that wants to learn management accounting and that exists today.”
The FMAA will build knowledge for candidates in five content domains: general accounting and financial management, financial statement preparation and analysis, planning and budgeting, cost management and performance metrics, and professional ethics.
“The FMAA provides a flexible and practical path for individuals who want to prove their ability to speak the language of business with current and future employers,” said IMA president and CEO Mike DePrisco in a statement. “As knowledge of accounting fundamentals becomes more critical for businesses and coupled with the shortage of professionals pursuing accounting and finance careers, the FMAA minimizes traditional barriers to entry and opens opportunities to others from across other professions and industries.”
The certification is global and will be available next year in the U.S., as well as abroad in countries such as India and China at Prometric testing centers.
“There’s a huge population and demand for financial and managerial accounting,” said Suponitskiy. “We were thinking for a long time about how we can have something that would satisfy this audience where we can educate them about management accounting and prepare them to enter the business world. It’s targeted at individuals who want to start their management accounting career, but do not have a bachelor’s degree, or it could be for early-career professionals who are working today in accounts payable and accounts receivable but feel that they can do more. The certification will show that they are fluent in the language of business, which is accounting.”
The program could be appropriate for students who are pursuing associate’s degrees and for students in four-year degree programs who are still in their sophomore year of college and have already covered financial and managerial accounting, she noted. It could also be for students who want to pursue the CMA but are missing some of the foundational knowledge that they can obtain through the new certification.
The certification can open up jobs in positions such as junior accountant, specialist, analyst and manager. The two-hour multiple-choice exam tests basic knowledge and comprehension, and the ability to apply the knowledge.
“It will be at a lower level than the CMA exam, but it will be rigorous enough to have credibility in the market,” said Suponitskiy. “For someone who is in their second year of college, or for someone who has an associate’s degree, it could be 50 hours of prep time. But if we’re talking about a candidate from a vocational school in China or India, they may require more hours. It could be 100 hours. It really depends, but it’s a much shorter amount of time that they would need to prepare and it’s also very reasonably priced.”
The certification will also be available to those who don’t wish to go into the accounting field.
“It doesn’t have to be accounting,” said Suponitskiy. “They may have any business aspirations, but everybody needs to know how to interpret financial statements, how to record journal entries, and how to practice in an ethical manner. This exam is not just financial and managerial accounting. We will test them on professional ethics. We’ll test them on cost management and performance metrics. We’ll introduce them to planning and budgeting. It’s going to be at a lower level but a rigorous enough credential.”
The new certification could help with efforts to address the pipeline issues in accounting.
“The other day we were talking to our Small Business Committee, and they’ve been saying to us, ‘We need talent, but we may not necessarily need high-level advanced professionals. We need them to have basic fundamental knowledge necessary to fulfill many staffing needs that small businesses have,'” said Suponitskiy. “It definitely will help with the shortage at the small-business level, and at the same time, it will help multinationals and accounting firms because they have jobs for which they don’t necessarily need someone with a degree.”
She sees it as a way for the IMA to stay involved with students as they progress. “We’re envisioning a career path,” said Suponitskiy. “We want our members to be engaged with us throughout their careers. When they start their careers, we will be providing them with financial and managerial credentials and as they advance in their career journey, then they would consider our CMA certification. As they get heavily involved with strategy, we have a strategy credential for them. We really want to offer what’s necessary for our members to succeed, and that’s why we’re very excited that we were able to create a product where can reach early-career professional students and offer them something that they will absolutely use, no matter what career they ultimately choose for themselves.”
Registration for the FMAA will open in January 2024 for the initial testing windows of March 2024 in English and May 2024 in Chinese. Exams will take place globally at Prometric testing centers. More information can be found at https://www.imanet.org/FMAA-Campaign.
