CIMA has some of the most popular Management Accounting courses. These courses start at the very beginning. Even if you do not have any previous training or experience as an accountant, you will be able to study the CIMA courses. 

The CIMA courses start off with the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting. Once you have completed that, you can start with the three Professional Qualification courses. They are the CIMA Professional Qualification: Operational Level, the CIMA Professional Qualification: Managerial Level and the CIMA Professional Qualification: Strategic Level. Once you have completed the three Professional Qualification courses, you can write the T4 part (A) and T4 part (B) exam which, if you pass it, will allow you to be qualified and registered as a Chartered Management Accountant.

tudy CIMA at College SA

If you do not have any previous training in accounting, this course is the best place for you to start. It teaches all the basics of accounting and will introduce you to the world of business. You will get a good overview of everything to do with business accounting. 

These are the subjects that will be covered in the Certificate in Business Accounting:

• Fundamentals of Management accounting;
• Fundamentals of Financial Accounting;
• Fundamentals of Business Mathematics;
• Fundamentals of Business Economics; and
• Fundamentals of Ethics, Corporate Governance and Business Law.

The Operational Level is the first level of the Professional Qualification group. You need to first finish the Certificate in Business Accounting (or exempted from it) before you can do this course. 

The Operational Level course will teach you how to evaluate performance and how decisions are made. Managing efficiently is very important if you want to increase your profits. The course will also teach you the fundamentals of financial forecasting. 

You will need to write three exams for this course:

• Paper E1 – Enterprise Operations;
• Paper P1 – Performance Operations; and
• Paper F1 – Financial Operations.

The Managerial Level is the second level of the Professional Qualification group. Once you have finished the Certificate in Business Accounting and the Operational Level qualification, you can enrol for the Managerial Level. 

The Managerial Level course focuses mostly on analysis. You will learn how to monitor and evaluate financial information and monthly forecasts. You will evaluate accounting performance and analyse tax principles. You will also learn how to interpret financial information and how to implement management controls to maximise income. Overall you will learn how to make informed decisions. 

In this course you will have to write following exams:

• Paper E2: Enterprise Management
• Paper P2: Performance Management
• Paper F2: Financial Management.

The Strategic Level is the final course in the Professional Qualification group. You can only enrol for this course once you have completed the Certificate in Business Accounting, the Operational Level and the Managerial Level courses. 

The Strategic Level takes all the knowledge you have acquired in the previous courses and teaches you how to use it profitably. You will learn how to make predictions from financial information. You will also learn how to formulate business strategies, financial strategies and risk and control strategies. You will learn how to negotiate projects and loans. You will have enough knowledge that you can offer advice on improving business performance and business planning. 

You will need to write these three exams for the Strategic Level:

• Paper E3: Enterprise Strategy
• Paper P3: Performance Strategy
• Paper F3: Financial Strategy

This level is not a course that you can enrol for. You won’t get any course material to study but you will write one exam. You need to have completed all the previous courses and the PER (Practical Experience Requirement) to be able to write this exam. This exam will test everything that you have learned so far. 

Once you have completed the Certificate in Business Accounting, the three Professional Qualification courses and the three years relevant practical work (the PER), you can enrol to write the exam. 

The exam will require you to make business decisions in a simulated business environment. Everything you’ve learned in the previous courses will be tested in the exam. 

When you have successfully written the exam, you are qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant.