Thanks to the advent of Internet and Globalization, the entire globe has become one market place. The world has effectively shrunk with the geographical boundaries losing its meaning for doing business. In this changing scenario it is important that a finance professional also is capable of playing the game with the newly defined rules than just the old ones. CMA perfectly fits to this need and is important on account of the following:
Yes. Management Accounting and Financial Management skills do not differ majorly on a global perspective. The skill sets of such professionals are in demand all across the globe and India is certainly no exception. Thus, US CMA is and will be one of the most sought-after professional qualifications not only for the Multi-National Companies in India but also for Indian Companies of repute as a qualified US CMA will be able to add a lot of value to them.
Considering the fact that the curriculum is updated every 5 years one can safely presume that what is relevant is what is being learnt and hence the CMA Certification does carry a lot of value not only in India but across the globe.
CMA is perfectly suited for the following categories of candidates: –
One should pursue the CMA immediately after Class 12 for the following reasons:-
To be eligible for earning the Certification a candidate must fulfill the following requirements:-
Eligibility for doing CMA can be divided into two components as under:-
Eligibility for taking up the exams
A pass in Class 12 or equivalent is sufficient to take up the exams. Thus, anyone pursuing any graduation can take up the exams.
Eligibility to earn the certification.
After successfully completing the CMA exams and on fulfilling certain requirements (Ref FAQ No. 6) specified by IMA, one can get the certification and is eligible to officially use the title US CMA after his or her name.
The CMA examination consists of 2 parts and the competencies covered along with the weightage for each competency is as under:-
Part-1 – Financial planning, Performance and Analytics
Part-2 – Strategic Financial Management
In addition to the above on account of a distinct possibility of employment in a MNC, the candidate can look for a global position in the years to come based on the performance during his or her career.
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is a premier Accounting Certification Program of the USA and is the US equivalent of the Indian Chartered Accountant (CA). It is a designation provided to licensed accounting professionals who have passed the Uniform CPA Examination conducted by the AICPA.
Uniform CPA Examination is a four-section exam that any student must pass to qualify as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). This is a common exam for any of the 55 U.S. Jurisdictions which includes all the 50 States apart from the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S.Virgin Islands, Guam and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. In layman terms, a Certified Public Accountant in the USA is equivalent to the Chartered Accountant in India.
Thanks to the advent of Internet and Globalization the entire globe has become one market place. The world has effectively shrunk with the geographical boundaries losing its meaning for doing business. In this changing scenario it is important that a finance professional is also capable of playing the game with the newly defined rules than just the old ones. CPA plays a major part in helping widening the opportunities for those who want to explore the world through their skills.
US CPA course might be a smart choice for you , If you are willing to invest one year of dedication, commitment and concentration to build a successful career in the field of accounting. A Great Career with an even better compensation is the ultimate result of such smart decisions. The fact that one can complete CPA within one year unlike many other courses is one of the main attractions to become a CPA.
As mentioned earlier a student has certain criteria for being eligible to take up the CPA exams and certain other criteria for obtaining its licensure. The following category of students can take up the CPA examination :
It is however preferred that you consult an expert to ascertain your eligibility before joining the program.
The following would be the indicative cost for a student from India to complete his / her CPA.The figures given here are indicative since the fee structure may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction but is not expected to be substantially higher than what has been indicated.
Eligibility for the CPA can be classified into:
a) Eligibility for taking up the exams and
b) Eligibility for getting the Licensure.
A student has to have a minimum of 120 credits to take up the CPA examination while he has to have a minimum of 150 credits to get the licensure. Eligibility requirements differ from one jurisdiction (read as State) to the other and hence requirements will depend upon the jurisdiction where a student chooses to get his licensure. Links to all Boards of Accountancy can be found at www.nasba.org.
There is no one answer for this question since this depends on each individual, their strengths and weaknesses. Generally speaking most of the students find BEC to be easiest and FAR to be the most difficult. FAR is considered the most difficult mainly on account of the volume of the syllabus and not on account of the difficulty. Between Auditing and Regulation the feeling is neutral. Both are equally easy and difficult in the sense there is very little to choose from.
Thus depending on the student’s thought process, they may want to take the easiest paper first and the difficult the last. For instance, Someone with a good Accounting and Auditing background would prefer taking up Auditing first, followed by Regulation, followed by BEC and then last FAR.
Hence, with an overall target of 12 months to complete all 4 papers a student must aspire to complete Auditing, Regulation and BEC in about 8 months time and complete FAR in the balance 4 months. However, this is only an indicative exercise and may be adjusted to the work schedule of the student.
The Online Exam is made up of 4 papers of 4 hours each. They are as under :
Each paper has 5 smaller sections called TESTLETS comprising of Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs), Task Based Simulations (TBS or Simulations) and in the case of BEC, Written Communication Tasks (WCT). The table in the following page will give a clear idea on the structure of the Exam.
The passing score in each paper is 75 and to understand what the score meansone needs to understand the exam structure and the scoring pattern in detail. Whilst a modest attempt has been made to explain this in brief from a student perspective it is felt that this may not be very relevant. A student must be prepared to score 85+ in the exams in which case the passing score must be easily achieved. The score by a student does not indicate nor can be interpreted as a percentage. Thus a score of 75 is not 75% but is a weighted combination of scaled scores from the MCQs and TBSs for Auditing, Regulation and FAR papers and a weighted combination of scaled scores from the MCQs, TBSs and WCTs for the BEC paper. The scores are calculated using formulas that take into account factors like whether the question was answered correctly and the relative difficulty of each question. Thus difficult questions have more weightage as compared to easier questions and hence a student has to answer more number of easier questions right as compared to difficult ones.
The following are the sequence of events once a student decides to pursue his / her CPA :
Generally the Institution where the student is undergoing the study program will assist the student in completing the activities listed above.
With exams administered in India in 8 locations (Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Trivandrum) a candidate from India can take the exam at the authorized Prometric test centres in these cities. Prior to testing, a candidate must first select a participating U.S.Jurisdiction (read as State), contact the Board of Accountancy in that State to obtain Application materials and submit the completed application along with the required fees as instructed. After receiving the Notice to Schedule (NTS), the student may use the NTS to apply to take the Exam in the location of his choice.