‘Agreement with AICPA will start to yield concrete benefits’

This article is being written on my iPad as I overlook the harbour in Mumbai from the high-rise hotel where I’m staying.

We’re in India’s commercial capital to stage a CIMA lecture on business sustainability with Tata, one of the rising stars of the corporate world, and the think-tank Tomorrow’s Company.

In this wireless world, communication is easy – if never quite as seamless as the technology promises. Businesses are certainly global and the issues they face are increasingly common too.

Problems such as water scarcity have become mainstream business concerns, not least for those in the beverage and extractive industries. It has become commonplace that we humans need to restrain our use of natural resources if we are to survive.

I am delighted that CIMA has been able to establish itself effectively in this new world, where so much is changeable. It energetically disseminates the basic principles of management accounting, showing how well the core skills of the management accountant equip him or her to handle what can seem daunting challenges for organisations.

Moreover, CIMA has established itself as an effective organisation in Africa, Asia, Australasia and Europe and, more recently, the US.

The joint venture agreement that CIMA came to with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) last May will start to yield concrete benefits for members at the end of January.

It is then that the new joint designation, the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) is launched. As you know, all CIMA-qualified members will be entitled to use the CGMA letters without extra cost or exams.

There will be a new website hosting valuable tools, CPD materials and a new magazine – the latter will be sent out in a print version for an inaugural edition.

CIMA and the AICPA can then begin to marshal their combined resources to elevate the profession of management accounting around the world.

We will attract new people to the profession who are seeking a passport to a successful career in all sectors, commercial or not-for-profit, and will help leverage the know-how of management accountants for the public good.

Combined, those who qualify for the new CGMA designation will form an expert community, one that is able to debate common solutions, solve problems jointly and advise one another.

I hope that you will enjoy the new CGMA materials designed to both inform you and be of practical value in your job, that you will begin to use the new designatory letters widely and, above all, that you will be excited to be part of this big step forward for the management accountancy profession.