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Effective September 1, 2024
Content Specification Outlines
Certified Management Accountant (CMA®) Examinations
The content specification outlines presented below represent
the body of knowledge that will be covered on the CMA examinations. The outlines may be changed in the future when new subject matter becomes part of
the
common body of knowledge.
Candidates for
the
CMA designation are required to take and pass Parts 1 and 2.
The three levels of coverage
can be defined as follows:
Level A: Requiring
the skill levels of knowledge
and comprehension.
Level B: Requiring
the skill levels of knowledge, comprehension, application, and analysis.
Level C: Requiring
all six skill
levels, knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation.
The levels of coverage
as they apply to each of the major topics of the Content Specification Outlines are shown on the following
pages with each topic listing. The levels represent the manner
in which topic areas are to be treated and repres ent ceilings, i.e., a topic area designated as Level C may contain requirements at the “A,” “B,” or “C” level, but
a topic designated as Level B will not contain
requirements at the “C” level.
CMA Content Specification Overview
Part 1 Financial Planning, Performance, and Analytics
(4 hours –
100 questions and 2 essay questions)
|
External Financial Reporting Decisions |
15% |
Level C |
|
Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting |
20% |
Level C |
|
Performance Management |
20% |
Level C |
|
Cost Management |
15% |
Level C |
|
Internal Controls |
15% |
Level C |
|
Technology and Analytics |
15% |
Level C |
Part 2 Strategic Financial Management
(4 hours –
100 questions and 2 essay questions)
|
Financial Statement Analysis |
20% |
Level C |
|
Corporate Finance |
20% |
Level C |
|
Business Decision Analysis |
25% |
Level C |
|
Enterprise Risk Management |
10% |
Level C |
|
Capital Investment Decisions |
10% |
Level C |
|
Professional Ethics |
15% |
Level C |
Content Specification Outlines
Certified Management Accountant (CMA®) Examinations Part 1 - Financial
Planning, Performance, and Analytics
A.
External Financial Reporting Decisions (15% - Levels A, B, and C)
1. Financial statements
a.
Balance sheet
b.
Income statement
c.
Statement of changes
in equity
d.
Statement of cash flows
e.
Consolidated statements
f.
Integrated reporting
2. Recognition, measurement, and valuation
a.
Asset valuation
b.
Valuation of liabilities
c.
Equity transactions
d.
Revenue recognition
e.
Income measurement
f.
Major differences between
U.S. GAAP and IFRS
B.
Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting (20% - Levels A, B, and C)
1. Strategic planning
a.
Analysis of external and internal factors affecting strategy
b.
Long-term mission and goals
c.
Alignment of tactics with long-term strategic goals
d.
Strategic planning
models and analytical
techniques
e.
Characteristics of successful strategic planning process
2. Budgeting concepts
a.
Operations and performance goals
b.
Characteristics of a successful
budget process
c.
Resource allocation
d.
Other budgeting concepts
3. Forecasting techniques
a.
Regression analysis
b.
Learning curve analysis
c.
Expected value
4. Budgeting methodologies
a.
Annual business plans (master budgets)
b.
Project budgeting
c.
Activity-based budgeting
d.
Zero-based budgeting
e.
Continuous (rolling) budgets
f.
Flexible budgeting
5. Annual profit plan and supporting schedules
a.
Operational budgets
b.
Financial budgets
c.
Capital budgets
6. Top-level planning and analysis
a.
Pro forma income
b.
Financial statement
projections
c.
Cash flow projections
C.
Performance Management (20% - Levels A, B, and C)
1. Cost and variance
measures
a.
Comparison of actual
to
planned results
b.
Use of flexible budgets
to analyze performance
c.
Management by exception
d.
Use of standard cost
systems
e.
Analysis of variation
from standard cost expectations
2. Responsibility centers and reporting segments
a.
Types of responsibility centers
b.
Transfer pricing
c.
Contribution margin
d.
Reporting of organizational segments
3. Performance measures
a.
Product profitability analysis
b.
Business unit profitability analysis
c.
Customer profitability analysis
d.
Return on investment
(ROI)
e.
Residual income
f.
Investment base issues
g.
Key performance indicators (KPIs)
h.
Balanced scorecard
D.
Cost Management (15% - Levels A, B, and C)
1. Measurement concepts
a.
Types of cost and cost behavior
b.
Actual and normal costs
c.
Standard costs
d.
Absorption (full) costing e Variable (direct) costing
f. Joint and
by-product costing
2. Costing systems
a.
Job order costing
b.
Activity-based costing
c.
Life-cycle costing
d.
Other costing systems
3. Overhead costs
a.
Fixed and variable
overhead expenses
b.
Corporate vs. departmental overhead
c.
Determination of allocation base
d.
Allocation of service department costs
4. Supply chain management
a.
Lean resource
management techniques
b.
Enterprise resource
planning (ERP)
c.
Capacity management
and analysis
5. Business process improvement
a.
Value chain analysis
b.
Value-added concepts
c.
Process analysis, redesign, and standardization
d.
Continuous improvement concepts
e.
Benchmarking and best practice analysis
f.
Cost of quality analysis
E.
Internal Controls
(15% - Levels A, B, and C)
1. Governance, risk, and compliance
a.
Internal control structure and management
philosophy
b.
Internal control policies for safeguarding and assurance
c.
Internal control risk
d.
Testing methods
for internal controls
e.
Control deficiency remediation
f.
Corporate governance
g.
External audit requirements
2. System controls
and security measures
a.
General accounting system controls
b.
Application and transaction controls
c.
Technology controls
d.
Backup controls
e.
Business continuity planning
F.
Technology and Analytics (15% - Levels
A,
B, and C)
1. Information systems
a.
Accounting information systems
b.
Enterprise resource
planning systems
c.
Enterprise performance management systems
2. Data governance
a.
Data policies and procedures
b.
Life cycle of data
c.
Data management
d.
Controls against security
breaches
3. Technology-enabled finance transformation
a.
System development life cycle
b.
Process automation
c.
Innovative applications
4. Data analytics
a.
Business intelligence
b.
Data mining
c.
Types of data analytics
d.
Data visualization
Part 2 - Strategic Financial Management
A.
Financial Statement
Analysis (20% - Levels A, B, and C)
1.
Comparative financial
statement analysis
a.
Common size financial statements
b.
Common base year financial statements
c.
Financial trend analysis
2. Financial ratios
a.
Liquidity
b.
Leverage
c.
Activity
d.
Profitability
e.
Market
3. Profitability analysis
a.
Income measurement analysis
b.
Revenue analysis
c.
Cost of sales analysis
d.
Expense analysis
e.
Variation analysis
4. Special issues
a.
Impact of foreign exchange rate changes
on financial statements
b.
Effects of changing
prices and inflation
c.
Impact of changes
in accounting treatment
d.
Accounting and economic
concepts of value and income
e.
Earnings quality
B.
Corporate Finance (20% - Levels A, B, and C)
1. Financial risk and return
a.
Calculating return
b.
Types of financial
risk
c.
Relationship between risk and return
2. Long-term financial
management
a.
Term structure
of interest rates
b.
Types of financial instruments
c.
Cost of capital
d.
Valuation of financial instruments
3. Raising capital
a.
Financial markets
b.
Financial institutions
c.
Initial and secondary public offerings
d.
Dividend policy and share repurchases
e.
Lease financing
f.
Debt financing
4. Working capital management
a.
Net working capital
b.
Cash management
c.
Marketable securities
management
d.
Accounts receivable management
e.
Inventory management
f.
Types of short-term credit
g.
Short-term credit management
5. Corporate restructuring
a.
Mergers and acquisitions
b.
Other forms of restructuring
6. International finance
a.
Fixed, flexible, and floating exchange rates
b.
Managing transaction
exposure
c.
Financing international trade
C.
Business Decision Analysis
(25% - Levels A, B, and C)
1. Cost/volume/profit analysis
a.
Breakeven analysis
b.
Profit performance and alternative
operating levels
c.
Analysis of multiple
products
2. Marginal analysis
a.
Sunk costs, opportunity costs, and other related concepts
b.
Marginal costs
and marginal revenue
c.
Special orders and pricing
d.
Make vs. buy
e.
Sell or process
further
f.
Add or drop a segment
g.
Capacity considerations
3. Pricing
a.
Pricing methodologies
b.
Target costing
c.
Price elasticity
of demand
d.
Product life-cycle considerations
e.
Market structure
considerations
D.
Enterprise Risk Management
(10% - Levels A, B, and C)
1. Enterprise risk
a.
Types of risk
b.
Risk identification and assessment
c.
Risk mitigation strategies
d.
Managing risk
E.
Capital Investment
Decisions (10% - Levels A, B, and
C)
1. Capital budgeting process
a.
Stages of capital
budgeting
b.
Incremental cash flows
c.
Income tax considerations
d.
Evaluating uncertainty
e.
Discount rates
2. Capital investment
analysis methods
a.
Net present value (NPV)
b.
Internal rate of return (IRR)
c.
Payback
d.
Comparison of investment
analysis methods
e.
Sensitivity analysis
F.
Professional Ethics (15% - Levels
A,
B, and C)
1. Business ethics
a.
Ethical decision
making
b.
Types of business fraud
2. Ethical considerations for management accounting and financial management professionals
a.
The IMA Statement
of Ethical
Professional Practice
b.
Fraud triangle
c.
Evaluation and resolution of ethical issues
3. Ethical considerations for the organization
a.
Organizational factors
and ethical culture
b.
Ethical leadership
c.
Legal compliance
d.
Responsibility for ethical
conduct
e.
Sustainability and social responsibility
f. Data ethics
