CIMA Syllabus – Overview

CIMA 2015 Syllabus

ENTRY LEVEL:

CIMA CERTIFICATE IN BUSINESS ACCOUNTING

The CIMA certificate in business accounting is CIMA’s own entry route to the CIMA professional qualification.

This certificate contains of five subjects as follows:
CO1: fundamentals of management accounting (core management accounting topics such as cost determination, breakeven analysis, standard costing, cost and accounting systems and financial planning and control),
CO2: fundamentals of financial accounting (conceptual and regulatory frameworks, accounting systems and control, and preparing accounts for single entities),
CO3: fundamentals of business mathematics (basic mathematics, probability, summarizing and analyzing data, variables, forecasting, financial mathematics and spreadsheets),
CO4: fundamentals of business economics (goals and decisions of organizations, the market system and the competitive process, the financial system and the macroeconomic context of business),
CO5: fundamentals of ethics, corporate governance and business law (covers ethics and business, ethical conflict, corporate governance, comparison of English law with alternative legal systems, the law of contract, the law of employment and company administration and finance).
We advise you can sit the five certificate subjects in any order and in any combination to suit your requirements

OPERATIONAL LEVEL

CIMA DIPLOMA IN MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
The three papers at this level are:
E1: enterprise operations – it addresses several functional areas of business, and introduces candidates to the economic, social and political contexts of international business (the global business environment, information systems, operations management , marketing, managing human capital)
P1: performance operations – this paper deals with tools and techniques that generate information needed to evaluate and control present and projected performance (cost accounting system, forecasting and budgeting techniques, project appraisal, dealing with uncertainty in analysis, managing short-term finance
F1: financial operations – this paper’s core objectives are preparation of full financial statements for a single company and the principal consolidated financial statements for a simple group (principles of business taxation, regulation and ethics of financial reporting financial accounting and reporting
We advise students to pass the operational level paper before attempting the management level paper in the same pillar. However, it is possible for students to study and sit an operational paper in one pillar and a management paper in another pillar. Students must pass all operational and management subjects before attempting the strategic level.
All three operational level papers will be awarded the CIMA diploma in management accounting.

MANAGEMENT LEVEL

CIMA ADVANCED DIPLOMA IN MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
The three papers at this level are:
E2: enterprise management – paper develops tools and techniques for identifying key types of competitive environments (strategic management and assessing the competitive environment, project management, management of relationships)
P2: performance management – the main focus of paper P2 is the application of information in the management processes of decision making and control to optimise performance (pricing and product decisions, cost planning and analysis for competitive advantage, budgeting and management control, control and performance measurement of responsibility centres)
F2: financial management – extends to more advanced topics in financial accounting and to developments in external reporting (group financial statements, issues in recognition and measurement, analysis and interpretation of financial accounts, developments in external reporting)
We advise students to pass the operational level paper before attempting the management level paper in the same pillar. However, it is possible for students to study and sit an operational paper in one pillar and a management paper in another pillar. Students must pass all operational and management subjects before attempting the strategic level. Students who pass all three management level subjects will be awarded the CIMA advanced diploma in management accounting.

STRATEGIC LEVEL

The three papers at this level are:
E3: enterprise strategy – this paper requires application of tools to assist in the evaluation of the performance implications of a given strategy (interacting with the competitive environment, change management, evaluation of strategic options, implementation of strategic plans and performance evaluation
P3: performance strategy – The paper considers both financial and non financial risks (management control systems, risk and internal control, review and audit of control systems, management of financial risk, risk and control in information systems)
F3: financial strategy – deals with key elements in designing and managing the organisation’s financial strategy – in the context of contributing to achieving the organisation’s objectives and within its external constraints (formulation of financial strategy, financing decisions, investment decisions and project control)
All three strategic level subjects must be studied at the same time and students must sit all three exams (E3, P3 and F3) together at the first sitting. Following this, any re-sits can be taken in any combination (for example one at a time). These papers must be successfully completed before students attempt the test of professional competence in management accounting.

PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE LEVEL

The test of professional competence in management accounting is made up of two component parts that must both be achieved to complete the test. Part A: initial professional development ‘ work based practical experience and Part B: case study exam.
Students are advised to undertake both parts concurrently, although they can be taken in any order once all strategic level exams have been completed.