The CMA advantage: Five benefits of becoming a CMA
Doesn’t everyone have letters after their name? Do they really matter?
When those letters are CMA, the answer is a resounding yes. The prestigious Certified Management Accountant (CMA) credential tells colleagues and employers that you bring added value. You have the tools to make key strategic decisions that boost a company’s efficiency and profitability. You are trusted with positions of high responsibility – and your salary shows it.
In short, the CMA can propel your career onward and upward. There is a process to follow:
- Join the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA)
- Pass the CMA Exam
- Fulfill the education and experience requirements
Once you have proven yourself and earned that CMA, you are on your way to a fulfilling career. Read on for five benefits of becoming a CMA and the impact that the CMA credential delivers to your accounting career.
CMA certification opens career opportunities
Around the world, the CMA is a recognized and highly respected credential. The CMA credential says that you can be trusted with the most sensitive and critical financial decisions made in business settings. Call it the gold standard of management accounting. With the CMA, you build the aptitude to power up your accounting practices with keen business insights.
CMA certification gives you the knowledge and confidence to make crucial business decisions and sets you up to run a business or specialize your practice at the intersection of accounting and business.
If you want to pass the CMA Exam, you need to understand corporate governance, financial reporting and strategic decision making. With this expertise, many CMAs end up taking on more of a consulting role for their clients, carving out futures of financial and career independence built on their unique skills sets.
CMA helps advance your career
It never pays to be shy about your career aspirations. The CMA states unequivocally that you have more knowledge about the intricacies of accounting and management than a bachelor’s or master’s degree can impart.
More importantly, the CMA says that you want responsibility and can handle it. It’s the ticket to a fulfilling and prosperous accounting career. According to the IMA, 87% of CMAs report that their certification made them more versatile, strengthening their ability to move across all areas of business.
According to the IMA, the lucrative positions held by and available to CMAs include:
- Senior Accountant
- Controller
- Budget Analyst
- Internal Auditor
- Finance Manager
- Financial Analyst
- Chief Financial Officer
- Chief Executive Officer
- Vice President, Finance
- Treasurer
With their deep grasp of finance and business concepts, many CMAs rise through the ranks until they sit in the C-suite. Job opportunities and career advancement are in store if you pursue your CMA certification.
CMA increases your earning potential
Earning a CMA is an investment, but the ROI makes it worthwhile. CMAs earn more than non-CMAs. Earn a CMA, and you’ll be among the accountants globally with salaries 58% higher than non-CMAs. When you add in total compensation, including benefits like health insurance, retirement and other fringe benefits, the gap widens – leading to a lifetime of financial security.
What makes CMAs more valuable in the business world?
- CMAs are better qualified to take management positions. Naturally, the corporate world generously rewards those who step up and possess the skills to make strategic decisions.
- Certification puts you in rarified company. You prove, in demonstrable fashion, that you have the high-level, management-related skills needed to serve in Chief Financial Officer and even Chief Executive Officer positions.
CMA gives you credibility and status
Accounting and business degrees teach you to understand and analyze numbers. The CMA teaches you to read their stories and leverage their power. Through the CMA, you become a dual expert, agile with accounting concepts and strategic in business matters. The CMA gives you the closest thing available to a crystal ball, armed with the skills to make projections based on your skillful analysis of corporate finances.
As a CMA, you earn greater responsibility, and with responsibility comes more credibility and higher status. CMAs aren’t reacting to assignments handed down from above but are proactive, serving in consultant roles that prove their indispensability to company operations and strategic planning.
Increase financial skills and knowledge
As CMA candidates pursue their prestigious credential, they accrue knowledge of basic and complex management processes. Once you’ve demonstrated your prowess on the CMA Exam, those skills are yours for life.
That specialized knowledge puts you at an advantage. You know things that other accountants don’t, positioning you for the more meaningful jobs in a company. Your professional capabilities will expand as you conduct budget analysis and planning, make key investment decisions, and oversee risk management.
The CMA comes with a host of career benefits:
- Advancing your career
- Interacting with executive boards and other important company personnel as you present data in a digestible way
- Contributing to the company’s larger business objectives and profitability
- Analyzing external trends and figures – a task that is usually reserved for upper-level accountants
- Gaining real insight and understanding of a company’s financial workings
Surgent gives you the tools to earn CMA credential
Becoming a CMA takes your career to new heights. Success on the CMA Exam is the defining step toward achieving that status, so choosing the right CMA Exam prep is a crucial decision.
Surgent CMA Review has been preparing accountants for top management positions for more than 35 years. In fact, our course has trained more CMAs than any other. Our comprehensive content coverage and personalized exam support give you the confidence to pass the CMA Exam the first time.
Surgent was created with the idea that CMA candidates deserved something better. We make studying easier and more efficient, for a faster ride to exam readiness and faster path to becoming a CMA. Surgent also uses personalized learning to boost your confidence and guarantee that you are ready to pass.
Surgent’s A.S.A.P.® Technology is the engine driving this machine. Our award-winning, adaptive learning software empowers candidates for accounting and finance credentialing exams to earn higher pass rates faster while studying less than any other exam review courses available.
Our award-winning, AI-powered, personalized learning software is customized to fit your unique needs. With Surgent, you have the assurance that you can skip studying the areas that you know and, instead, focus on your weaker areas of comprehension. Best of all, Surgent CMA Review uses a tool we call ReadySCORE™ that tells you what your score would be if you took the test that day. With ReadySCORE, you know when you’re ready to pass.
Ready to earn your CMA?
The best part about earning a CMA is that the credential is all yours – a shining testament to the work you put into building your financial management skills. Surgent CMA Review streamlines the process, eliminating the guesswork and all the uncertainties.
The CMA credential promises career advancement and higher earning potential. Your experience and expertise position you to succeed. Your career path in accounting is unlimited, pointing straight to the top if that’s your goal. Surgent CMA Review gives you an edge, making the journey as efficient, quick and worry-free as possible.