‘The venture is a significant landmark in CIMA’s history’

After the game-changing launch of the new Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation at the end of January, each of our members is getting used to having additional letters at the end of their name and new associates in the US. If you missed the coverage of the launch on 31 January, you can see the highlights online at www.CGMA.org/launch. It was a day that heralded a new era for CIMA. The venture between CIMA and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) is one of the most significant landmarks in CIMA’s history. This alliance combines the strength of the AICPA in North America with CIMA’s presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australasia and Asia. The AICPA is the largest professional accountancy body in the world and CIMA is the largest institute representing management accountants – so we are in good company. As a result, the CGMA designation provides a truly global profile for management accountants and will further enhance our members’ reputation as experts in identifying and maintaining business value. In the fast-paced business environment, management accountants provide the discipline and insight to propel businesses to long-term success. As an increasing number of organisations utilise our members as business partners, the role of management accounting is being moved to centre stage. With the strength of CIMA and the AICPA behind it, the CGMA will further raise the profile of the value that management accountants add to creating sustainable business success around the world. Many business leaders already acknowledge the significance of the CGMA as a truly global designation. At the end of last year, CIMA and the AICPA jointly commissioned independent research from Oxford Economics. The survey covered almost 300 CEOs from businesses around the world. One of the findings was that 80 per cent of CEOs in our survey indicated that a candidate with this designation would be more appealing to their organisations than those without it, and 75 per cent said that they would want their existing finance employees to obtain it. So there is great scope for management accountants in terms of further developing their professional stature and career progression. This is a very positive starting point. The findings in our research present a snapshot of opinion from a wide variety of sectors. From this foundation, the AICPA and CIMA will continue to promote our members’ reputation as key players in developing successful and sustainable businesses. One of the immediate benefits of the CGMA is that members will have access to a toolkit of cutting-edge techniques and research through the new website, www.CGMA.org. The site provides a variety of thought leadership reports, practical tools and webcasts based on topics such as the public sector, fraud, governance and business intelligence. On the same site, members can also share their thoughts and insights through the online CGMA community. So members are already benefiting from access to a wider network of management accountants. As Charles Tilley discusses in his column, the multiple pressures exerted on executives in terms of global competition, increasing regulation, climate change and growing expectations from consumers have resulted in a call for a new business paradigm and the type of financial professional who is able to offer a multidisciplinary approach, combined with a broad perspective. I am confident that we, as management accountants and now part of the wider CGMA community, are ideally positioned to help businesses meet the challenges ahead. Our ability to help organisations find and develop new kinds of value and new approaches to sustainable business development makes us the type of finance professional that no business should be without.