An overview of Certified Management Accountant

Alina Parker
3 min readJan 17, 2022

Accountants play an essential role in keeping businesses large and small operating. This profession requires a university education, as the role they hold demands them to fully understand the in and out of the business. Based on the type of accounting (private organization, government or non-profit), the accountant’s annual salary will differ somewhat. The salaries for accountants also range widely, depending on the health of the economy and employment numbers. Another determining factor that can impact an accountant’s salary range is the highest level of education obtained as well as the certification they hold.

Certified Management Accountant is always given more priority when compared to an individual who is not certified. If one is interested in furthering their career in finance and accounting then it’s completely understandable that they would want to know the earning potential.

Let’s have a look at the salary range for the Certified Management Accountant in USD.

Management Level Median Base SalaryTop150,000Senior134,071Middle100,000Lower73,717All Levels105,000

If an individual is looking to acquire a position as a Certified Management Accountant, then they must enroll in the Chartered Investment & Management Accountant (CIMA®).

CIMA accounting certification is an excellent add-on to any finance or accounting related resume, and many employers will favorably consider applicants who list it as a part of their career achievement. CIMA® serves to enhance career opportunities for chartered accountants, by equipping them for diverse industries and roles offering them better career path across virtually in all leading accounting domains — financial accounting; management accounting and investment accounting. To summarize, from a specialist in disclosure accounting addressing merely the statutory stakeholders, the CIMA® qualification transforms a qualified CA into a prized financial intellect of high strategic business value for employers.

The perks that CIMA accounting credential offers are cannot be obtained with a standard degree. To better understand the benefits, here are top benefits that one can attain by doing this certification.

  • Faster and easier advancement in career
  • Versatility and enhancement in the career
  • More and attractive earnings
  • Well-recognized and appealed internationally

Candidacy Tracks

CIMA accounting consists of candidacy tracks that will help a professional to understand which the most suitable option they can opt for. The following are the candidacy tracks:

Standard Route

This track is for the professionals whose most recent qualification is a bachelor’s degree from a nationally or internationally recognized/accredited institution. The background or major is no limitation, though, if one has prior exposure to accounting, finance, or business, their CIMA certification journey completes a lot easier and quicker. The CIMA exam fees Level 1 — USD 950 (paid at the time of registration) Level 2 — USD 850 (paid at the time of registration)

Professional Pathway

Choose this quicker CIMA® candidacy track if an applicant wants to do a professional qualification or certification in finance, accountancy, corporate law, management accountancy, company secretary ship, cost accountancy, public accountancy or similar or related areas from a professional association or a certification body. Individuals CIMA® program journey can be accelerated by taking a single, unified exam instead of two, and they can earn exam-exemptions in 9 of the 20 standard CIMA® modules. The CIMA exam fees USD 1380 (paid at the time of registration)

Now let’s take a look at the salaries of top accounting jobs. One must in mind that bonuses, incentives and benefits are not included in the accounting salary projections.

  • Staff accountant — USD 66,750
  • Financial analyst — USD 72,000
  • Senior compliance analyst — USD 94,000
  • Chief compliance officer — USD 181,750
  • Internal auditor (manager) — USD 120,500
  • Controller — USD 125,250
  • Senior accountant — USD 84,000
  • Payroll manager/supervisor — USD 78,500
  • Senior cost accountant — USD 84,500
  • Senior business analyst — USD 95,250

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Alina Parker

Investment & management accountants Writer, Adviser, Researcher and Investor.