CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting

BennyC

BennyC

BennyC

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My employer has decided, and agreed to fund, for me to complete the CIMA qualification. As I have zero qualifications in accounts, though I do have a few years experience, I will be starting at the bottom with no exemptions and started yesterday on C01.

I will be completing them via the online learning resource which will save me two hours of round travel for a 2 hour lecture, all time that can be spent studying. C01 and C03 start within 10 days of each other so I plan to study these two simultaneously. C02 and C04 start approximately a month after this followed by C05 a month after those. I have access to all the material for 6 months which I’m confident is enough time with a slight overlap.

I’m curious to hear how other people have got on studying multiple modules and welcome any advice or suggestions you might have to help.

Thanks,

BennyC
 
I do ACCA and only got 1 exemption from the whole course. I usually do 2 exams per sitting and passed every single one first time except for my last one :( Resitting that one paper in June then i will have completed the damm course.

Dont forget you will also need to sign off your key skill requirements too :)
 
Well you cannot just pass the exams and expect to be qualified. You have certain keys skills that you have to achieve in your job before you can become a member. For example, my ACCA requires me to sign off 13 key skills and 4 optional ones as well as completing a online case study. Oh and i need to have at least 36 months accounting experience :)

Last i checked my friend had to writing in detail how they key skill was achieved in his job (He is taking CIMA).

Also, say goodbye to your social life in April, May, October and November LOL
 
happy_2008 said:
Well you cannot just pass the exams and expect to be qualified. You have certain keys skills that you have to achieve in your job before you can become a member. For example, my ACCA requires me to sign off 13 key skills and 4 optional ones as well as completing a online case study. Oh and i need to have at least 36 months accounting experience :)

Last i checked my friend had to writing in detail how they key skill was achieved in his job (He is taking CIMA).

Also, say goodbye to your social life in April, May, October and November LOL
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Ahh, I am aware of the case study and skills that have to be signed off, thanks.
 
What sort of information are you looking for? And who are you studying with? I had to do all the Certificate level papers so that I could sit the Operational level and go on from there.

If you can get hold of a practice CD with the various tests on it then that's probably a fairly good way of testing yourself - these practice tests obviously aren't a surefire way of ensuring you pass but it's not a bad way of getting an idea how you're progressing. It also means that you don't have to book the actual computer based test until you feel you're ready as it's all pretty flexible - albeit I don't know if your employer will have any policy on the matter.

I would say that one of the good things about the way your studies seem to be organised is that there shouldn't be too much risk of you confusing the various issues in the different topics e.g. sometimes you will find that the treatment of a particular issue in management accounting may be more in depth than in financial accounting and vice versa. I wouldn't have said it's a huge issue but it can affect some combinations at times and at certificate level they're looking for fairly specific demonstration of knowledge rather than the breadth that might be appropriate higher up.
 
Study to pass not to learn. That means, ultimate numbers of examples and practice questions. The actual professional skills come from your job :p.
 
Robbie G said:
Study to pass not to learn. That means, ultimate numbers of examples and practice questions. The actual professional skills come from your job :p.
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This pretty much.


The certificate level is used as a stepping stone/leveller to the operational stage exams.... they are not too bad as long as you do some basic rote learning and hammer the exam/pastpaper questions... there's literally 1000's of the certificate level online questions....

Try and do them all :)

Literally question upon question.... I did my CIMA a good few years ago, towards the end they started introducing the online lectures... I found the exam question debreifs of those excellent.


And in case I didn't mention it.... question practice & question practice :p
 
I had to do the certificate because I didn't have any expemption. I did C02, C03 & C05 between September-December, then did C01 & C05 in Jan-Mar. Don't worry too much, since you already have practical accounting experience you should find 1 & 2 pretty easy at least, and I actually found 4 & 5 pretty interesting. 3 is boring as **** though.

When I started the professional qualification I actually think I was better prepared than the people coming from a 3 year AAT course because you are already kind of versed in CIMAs ways, even though it is a big step up.

Now I have F3,P3 & E3 in 4 weeks :0
 
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Interesting they got you to do CIMA. Must be particularly management accounting they want you to do. It's also not as highly regarded as some others, but to be fair, if it's management accountant you're particularly interested in it could be a good idea.

Multiple modules aren't any more challenging than doing more than one uni module at a time, and most university modules are done 3 at a time, if not more. So you shouldn't really be struggling with it.

kd
 
As for CIMA not being highly regarded, compared to ACA/CA maybe, but this is more to do with the candidates than the qualification in it's own right imo. Personally I haven't found any limitations with CIMA as employers will generally look at experience before qualifications.
 
King Damager said:
Interesting they got you to do CIMA. Must be particularly management accounting they want you to do. It's also not as highly regarded as some others, but to be fair, if it's management accountant you're particularly interested in it could be a good idea.

kd
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Somewhat dubious on the regard front there, ACA is possibly the qualification held in highest regard but even then as SpeedFreak says it will come down to the candidates more than the qualification. The rest are pretty much on a level from speaking to other accountants and after a few years it seems to make little odds what qualification you did because your experience in the role is the most important thing.

It's also worth pointing out that most of the qualifications will allow you an easier entry if you've already got a qualification from another body so if you were so inclined then you could potentially be ACCA/ACA/CIMA/CIPFA qualified or whatever despite having sat exams for just one body.
 
semi-pro waster said:
It's also worth pointing out that most of the qualifications will allow you an easier entry if you've already got a qualification from another body so if you were so inclined then you could potentially be ACCA/ACA/CIMA/CIPFA qualified or whatever despite having sat exams for just one body.
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That's also a very good point. ACA did and possibly still do allow a transfer from CIMA/ACCA based upon confirmation that you meet the required standards by someone who has worked with you and is FCA.
 
King Damager said:
Interesting they got you to do CIMA. Must be particularly management accounting they want you to do. It's also not as highly regarded as some others, but to be fair, if it's management accountant you're particularly interested in it could be a good idea.

Multiple modules aren't any more challenging than doing more than one uni module at a time, and most university modules are done 3 at a time, if not more. So you shouldn't really be struggling with it.

kd
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Still at Uni? :)



I work for a Global Telecoms and Consulting Company - about 3 years ago we dropped all other qualifications for our finance grads and went all CIMA.

Several other in this industry have followed suit and its a trend backed by institute student figures - its becoming the most relevant qualification of choice for 'industry' and the majority of companies outside private practice and TB5.


Speaking from experience of doing 2 years of ACA however, leaving the finance sector and subsequently getting drawn back.... the ACA exams are harder.....
 
SpeedFreak said:
That's also a very good point. ACA did and possibly still do allow a transfer from CIMA/ACCA based upon confirmation that you meet the required standards by someone who has worked with you and is FCA.
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ACA require ACCA (not sure about CIMA) qualified accountants to do the case study, other than that they are exempt from everything else.
 
OP, how are you getting on with your home studying? Have you passed your exams first time?

I ask because I am about to go into ACCA this September and I am not sure whether I wish to learn from home or from an actual classroom.
 
wingman said:
OP, how are you getting on with your home studying? Have you passed your exams first time?

I ask because I am about to go into ACCA this September and I am not sure whether I wish to learn from home or from an actual classroom.
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Thread revival!

Passed them all :) I failed the economic paper, just, the first time partly due to my own 'cockyness' and also that I spent that morning with my car at a local garage getting sorted so it wasn't the best prep. I enjoyed it the most but struggled with some of the concepts due the my pants method learning.

It took me about 7 months, studying two at a time with a 2 week holiday in the middle and including the second resit, so it would have taken just under 6 months without the holiday & resit.

I don't know how the ACCA is structured but if you're doing the similar entry level papers I think home study is sufficient. I made the mistake of getting a bit intimidated by the volume of material to learn and rather than practising each chapter after watching/learning I found that I was just watching all the lectures and then learning by where I was going wrong with the questions which is obviously more time consuming.

If you structure your study and put the time in and practice you should be fine. It was more preferable to spend the 2 hours travel time it was going to take in rush hour traffic to get there in the week (didn't want to sacrifice weekends) at home actually studying. Now I'm single and prepared to give up some time at the weekend I'll be trying the first two Operational level exams taught face to face.
 
Thanks BennyC, and congratulations on passing the papers so far. I was thinking of starting a new thread and did a quick search for this anyway, just in case, and figured it's better all in one place.

The layouts, AFAIK, are very similar with ACCA & CIMA. I have already completed AAT (levels 2, 3 & 4), therefore I am exempt from the "knowledge module", which is the first three papers.

I guess it isn't a wise idea to home study for the main papers proceeding these? :(
 
wingman said:
Thanks BennyC, and congratulations on passing the papers so far. I was thinking of starting a new thread and did a quick search for this anyway, just in case, and figured it's better all in one place.

The layouts, AFAIK, are very similar with ACCA & CIMA. I have already completed AAT (levels 2, 3 & 4), therefore I am exempt from the "knowledge module", which is the first three papers.

I guess it isn't a wise idea to home study for the main papers proceeding these? :(
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Thanks, I don't think there's anything wrong with home study however I've found just reading texts books doesn't work well for me and found that online lectures (pre-recorded) helped overcome this. I seem to be able to recall verbal interaction better and being able to stick my hand up at any given moment to ask a question appeals.

I'd say go for some form of tuition whether it be face to face or distance as getting a pass first time and a bit of a morale & ego boost is probably money well spent. Getting taught exam technique is also supposed to be quite valuable.
 
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