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CIMA Strategic Case Study: Preparation and Board-Level Answers

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The Strategic Case Study (SCS) is the last exam of the CIMA CGMA Professional Qualification. You play a senior finance manager advising the board on a fictional company you have studied in advance. You pass by giving clear, justified recommendations on strategy, financing and risk that fit that company, not by repeating E3, P3 and F3 theory. This guide covers the role and blueprint, how to analyse the pre-seen, a fully worked board-level answer and a six-week preparation plan using OpenTuition's free resources.

What is the CIMA Strategic Case Study?

Short answer: a three-hour written exam in which you play a senior finance manager in the company described in the pre-seen. It has three 60-minute sections with new information in each. To sit it you must first pass, or be exempt from, E3, P3 and F3.

CIMA rule (2026-2027 and 2027-2028 Strategic blueprints):

Feature Strategic Case Study
Role you play Senior finance manager, advising leadership teams and the board
Length and structure 3 hours: three equally weighted sections of 60 minutes, each with more than one sub-task
Moving between sections You can finish a section early, but you cannot go back. After 60 minutes you are moved on automatically
What you write Business documents such as emails, memos, reports and briefing notes
Calculations No specific calculations are required, but you should show you have used and interpreted the data
On screen The pre-seen, a calculator, present value, cumulative present value and normal distribution tables, and a scratch pad (a physical whiteboard at a test centre)
Marking Human-marked; a scaled score from 0 to 150, with 80 or more a pass
Feedback Pass/fail, the scaled score, and whether you met the passing standard for each core activity. You do not need to pass each core activity separately
Entry requirement Pass or be exempt from E3, P3 and F3 (or complete the FLP learning) before the exam scheduling window closes. Otherwise CIMA cancels the booking

The blueprint describes the role as tackling "strategic business problems that have limited definition and involve many interacting factors". Every exam tests all five core activities, each weighted 15-25%:

Core activity Typical "I can" outcomes (abridged) Weighting
A. Develop business strategy Evaluate strategic options; recommend strategic decisions; evaluate acquisitions and divestments; respond to digital and sustainability issues 15-25%
B. Evaluate business ecosystem and business environment Set financial, non-financial and sustainability objectives; apply strategic tools; analyse stakeholder needs; recommend KPIs; respond to economic, political and currency risks 15-25%
C. Recommend financing strategies Recommend sources of finance and dividend policy; recommend and apply valuation models 15-25%
D. Evaluate and mitigate risk Evaluate risks and maintain the risk register; deal with ethical dilemmas; mitigate cyber risk; recommend internal controls 15-25%
E. Recommend and maintain a sound control environment Use internal audit; recommend controls and assess compliance failures; respond to poor governance 15-25%

Which blueprint applies: the 2026-2027 blueprint covers the November 2026 and February 2027 sittings. The 2027-2028 blueprint covers May, August and November 2027 and February 2028. For SCS, the five core activities and their weightings are the same in both. Download both from the official exam blueprints page.

Official pass rates for SCS: 59% (November 2025), 55% (February 2026), 64% (May 2026) and 54% (August 2026), from the official pass rates page.

What makes an answer strategic?

Short answer: a strategic answer helps the board make a long-term decision for the whole organisation. It compares real alternatives, weighs consequences for shareholders and other stakeholders, and ends with a clear recommendation and the reasons for it. If your paragraph would fit any company, or stops at describing a model, it is not yet strategic.

OpenTuition's advice: check every answer against these five tests.

  1. Whole organisation, long term. Talk about value, competitive position and survival over several years, not this quarter's variances.
  2. A decision, not a description. The board asked what to do. Say what you recommend, and give the alternative you rejected and why.
  3. Consequences beyond the numbers. Cover the effect on the share price and lenders, and on the founders, staff, customers, suppliers and regulators who could block or sink the plan.
  4. Risk and governance built in. A strategy the company cannot finance, control or defend to its shareholders is not a sound recommendation.
  5. Board tone. Write as a trusted senior adviser: concise, confident and polite, and willing to challenge a director's preferred option when the evidence says so.

The performance descriptors CIMA publishes for SCS keep returning to the same qualities: professional scepticism, judgement, leadership, business awareness, and ethics and professionalism. All of them sit on top of technical knowledge.

How do E3, P3 and F3 connect in the Strategic Case Study?

Short answer: an SCS task rarely belongs to one paper. A typical board question is "should we do X?". E3 gives you the tools to judge whether X fits the strategy, F3 tells you whether it can be financed and what it is worth, and P3 tells you what could go wrong and how to control it. Strong answers move between all three in the same paragraph.

Board question E3 Strategic Management F3 Financial Strategy P3 Risk Management
Should we acquire this company? Strategic fit, suitability/feasibility/acceptability, synergies, digital fit Valuation range, funding mix, effect on gearing and covenants, share-for-share options Due diligence, integration risk, risk register entries, ethics of the deal
Should we enter a new market? Environment and ecosystem analysis, competitive position, entry method Funding, currency exposure, effect on dividend capacity Political and currency risk, controls over a distant operation
A director wants to cut costs fast Effect on strategy, culture and change management Effect on value and on market expectations Governance, ethics, internal audit, whistleblowing
A cyber breach or compliance failure Reputation and customer trust Cost, impact on share price and financing Cyber risk response, controls, internal audit, board reporting

OpenTuition's advice: do not split your revision into three separate paper blocks. Take each issue in the pre-seen and ask the E3, F3 and P3 question about it. The OpenTuition notes for E3, P3 and F3 are the quickest way to refresh the tools.

How do I evaluate options, risk and stakeholder consequences?

Short answer: use one short framework for every option. Is it suitable, can we fund and deliver it, will the key stakeholders accept it, and what are the main risks and how would we manage them? Then compare the options side by side and recommend. Put the comparison in the answer, not only in your plan.

OpenTuition's advice: a reliable order for an evaluation sub-task:

  1. Restate the decision in one line, using the company's names and numbers.
  2. Suitability. Does the option fix the problem in the trigger, and does it fit the company's objectives and its position in the pre-seen?
  3. Feasibility. Can the company finance it (gearing, covenants, cash, dividend) and deliver it (people, systems, time)? Use the figures you are given. One simple ratio is often enough.
  4. Acceptability. Which stakeholders gain or lose, how much power they have, and how they would react. Pick the two or three that matter, not a list of ten.
  5. Key risks and responses. Name the specific risk, its likely effect, and a practical response (reduce, transfer, accept or avoid) with an owner.
  6. Compare and recommend. Say which option is better for this company, what would change your mind, and the next step.

Relevant OpenTuition notes: environment and ecosystem, strategy formulation, enterprise risk management, currency risk management and valuation in practice.

How do I justify a recommendation with incomplete information?

Short answer: recommend anyway. State the assumptions behind your recommendation, show how sensitive it is to the main unknown, and make it conditional where that is sensible. "Proceed if…, otherwise…" is a recommendation; "more information is needed" on its own is not.

OpenTuition's advice:

  • Name the gap and its effect. For example: "We do not yet know whether the target's largest customer will stay. If it leaves, the acquisition would push gearing well past our covenant."
  • Use a simple range rather than one number. Best case and worst case are enough to show whether the decision flips.
  • Make the recommendation conditional, or phase it. Pilot first, use staged payments, keep an option to exit, or offer shares rather than cash. These are strategic answers in their own right.
  • Say what you would do next. Name the due diligence, lender conversation or pilot results you need, and when the board should decide.
  • Do not invent facts. Anything you assume must be stated as an assumption and must be reasonable given the pre-seen.

CIMA's Study Hub guidance for case study candidates says arguments are marked on their merits, even if your recommendation differs from the examiner's. Markers reward a well-justified conclusion, not a particular one.

How is the Strategic Case Study different from the Management Case Study?

Short answer: MCS asks a finance manager to help carry out and manage decisions the senior team has made. SCS asks a senior finance manager to advise the board on which decisions to make. The exam format also differs: three 60-minute sections in SCS, four 45-minute sections in MCS.

Management Case Study (MCS) Strategic Case Study (SCS)
Role (CIMA rule) Finance manager Senior finance manager, reporting to leadership teams and the board
Exam format (CIMA rule) 3 hours: four 45-minute sections 3 hours: three 60-minute sections
Typical focus (CIMA rule, from the core activities) Implementing senior management decisions, managing performance and costs, managing stakeholders Choosing strategy, financing it, valuing businesses, managing enterprise risk and governance
Level of judgement (OpenTuition's advice) "How do we make this work and measure it?" "Should we do this at all, how do we fund it, and what could sink the company?"

OpenTuition's advice: if you passed MCS by writing thorough implementation plans, the SCS adjustment is to step back. Spend fewer words on how to implement and more on whether to proceed, on the alternatives, and on what the decision does to value, risk and stakeholders.

Exam windows and pre-seen seasons

CIMA rule: case study exams run in four windows a year (February, May, August, November), on three days, Wednesday to Friday, in each window. There are two pre-seens a year: November and February share one, and May and August share another. Each pre-seen is released on the CGMA Study Hub at least six weeks before the first exam that uses it. Full post-exam materials (pre-seen, exam variants, suggested solutions, examiner's report and marking guidance) come out two weeks after the results of the second sitting on that pre-seen. An interim examiner's report comes out two weeks after the results of the first.

Strategic Case Study dates (checked on 9 November 2026):

Sitting Booking window closes Pre-seen released Exam dates Results Post-exam materials
November 2026 03/11/2026 (closed) 02/10/2026 18-20 November 2026 14/01/2027 Interim report 29/01/2027
February 2027 02/02/2027 02/10/2026 (same pre-seen as November 2026) 17-19 February 2027 08/04/2027 Full materials 23/04/2027
May 2027 05/05/2027 02/04/2027 19-21 May 2027 08/07/2027 Interim report 23/07/2027
August 2027 03/08/2027 02/04/2027 (same pre-seen as May 2027) 18-20 August 2027 07/10/2027 Full materials 22/10/2027
November 2027 02/11/2027 01/10/2027 17-19 November 2027 13/01/2028 Interim report 28/01/2028

OpenTuition's advice: two dates are easy to miss. First, the interim examiner's report on the first sitting arrives a few weeks before the second sitting on the same pre-seen (29 January 2027, under three weeks before the February 2027 exam). February and August candidates should read it. Second, the full post-exam materials for the previous pre-seen make the best practice papers available. The May/August 2026 set has been on the Study Hub since 23 October 2026. See the CIMA exam dates page for all three levels.

Pre-seen analysis: business and stakeholder map

Short answer: the pre-seen is your briefing pack for a job you start on exam day. Build a one-page business map and a stakeholder map from it, then list the decisions the board could plausibly face. You cannot predict the tasks, but you can arrive already knowing the company's numbers, people and pressures.

OpenTuition's advice: read the pre-seen twice before making notes, then fill in this worksheet. Every cell should hold a fact from the pre-seen and its page reference, not general theory.

Area What to pull out Why it matters in SCS
Business model How it makes money, main products, markets and channels Tests whether an option is suitable
Industry and ecosystem Competitors, suppliers, customers, digital disruptors, regulation Core activity B; risks and opportunities in the triggers
Stated objectives and KPIs Financial, non-financial and sustainability targets Lets you judge options against what the board says it wants
Financial position Gearing, covenants, cash, cost of capital, dividend history, share price or valuation clues Core activity C; feasibility of every option
Ownership and governance Major shareholders, board make-up, chair/CEO, audit committee, internal audit Core activities D and E; whose approval is needed
Risk picture Existing risks, any risk register, past incidents, cyber exposure, currency exposure Core activity D; your starting risk register
Digital and sustainability Current systems, data held, technology plans, environmental and social issues Outcomes appear across A, B and D
Likely board decisions Five to eight decisions the company could face (acquire, divest, enter a market, raise finance, change dividend, respond to a crisis) Lets you rehearse E3, F3 and P3 thinking before the exam

Then map the stakeholders on one page:

Stakeholder What they want Power (high/low) Interest (high/low) How they could react to a major decision
Major shareholders and founders
Institutional investors and analysts
Lenders
Board members (who favours what)
Employees and unions
Key customers and channel partners
Key suppliers
Regulators and community

OpenTuition's advice: keep the industry research short and relevant. An hour on how real companies in the sector raise finance or handle a crisis is useful. A week on the real industry's news is not, because the exam is set on the fictional company.

Worked example: a strategic decision scenario

This scenario is original and written for this guide. It is not based on any CIMA pre-seen.

Pre-seen summary. Tarrant Cycles plc is listed on the Norland stock exchange (currency N$) and makes premium bicycles and e-bikes. Revenue last year was N$420 million and EBITDA N$50 million. Net debt is N$70 million, after N$45 million of cash. Its bank facility has a covenant of net debt no more than 3.0 times EBITDA. For eight years Tarrant has raised its dividend every year, which now costs N$14 million. The founding Tarrant family owns 32% of the shares and has two seats on the board. Around 70% of Tarrant's bikes are sold through 140 independent dealers. Most of its e-bike batteries (60%) come from Korvan, a private company in neighbouring Eastria (currency E€). Two years ago Korvan recalled 9,000 batteries after overheating incidents.

New information (the exam trigger). The board is considering two options:

  • Option A: acquire Korvan for N$180 million, funded entirely by a new five-year bank loan. Korvan's EBITDA is N$18 million. The CEO strongly favours this, to secure battery supply.
  • Option B: launch "Tarrant Ride", a monthly subscription (bike plus servicing) in Norland's three largest cities. It costs N$60 million over three years and is forecast to break even in year four. Customers would use an app that holds their payment and location data.

Draft due diligence has just found that 40% of Korvan's revenue comes from one customer, a rival e-bike brand. That customer has said it will review its contract if Tarrant buys Korvan.

Task (from the CFO). "Please prepare a briefing paper for the board evaluating both options and recommending which, if either, we should pursue."

Annotated recommendation: comparing alternatives and risks

Below is an extract from an answer at the standard OpenTuition's tutors would aim for. Annotations are in [italics].

Briefing paper: Option A (acquire Korvan) and Option B (Tarrant Ride)

Option A: acquisition of Korvan. Owning our main battery supplier would give us more control over the source currently supplying 60% of our e-bike batteries and a key technology as e-bikes grow; supply security would still depend on capacity, quality and reliability. That fits our strategy. [A: links the option to the company's position, not to generic "vertical integration" theory.] However, funding the full N$180 million with debt would raise net debt to about N$250 million against combined EBITDA of about N$68 million, or 3.7 times. That breaches our 3.0 times covenant on day one. If the rival brand withdrew and, say, half of Korvan's EBITDA went with it, gearing would rise to about 4.2 times. [C: uses the given figures with one simple ratio and a downside case, without a long calculation.] We would also inherit any remaining liability from the earlier battery recall and the reputational risk if the fault recurred under the Tarrant name. [D: a specific, company-related risk.]

Option B: Tarrant Ride. A subscription service would give us recurring revenue and direct customer data, and it answers the shift towards access rather than ownership in cities. [A/B: suitability linked to the ecosystem.] At N$60 million over three years it appears more manageable than the acquisition, but we need a cash-flow forecast before confirming funding. Existing cash is N$45 million and EBITDA is not operating cash flow. As a simple sensitivity only, borrowing all N$60 million with EBITDA unchanged would give net debt of N$130 million, or 2.6 times EBITDA; the actual forecast must allow for working capital, investment, dividends and covenant definitions. [C: feasibility.] The main risk is our dealers. They sell around 70% of our bikes and may see the service as bypassing them. [B: stakeholder power and interest applied without naming a model.] The app will also hold customers' payment and location data, so a breach would damage trust in the brand. [D: cyber risk tied to the option.]

Recommendation. I recommend that the board does not proceed with Option A on the current terms. Instead, we should secure supply through a five-year supply agreement with Korvan, and consider negotiating a minority stake paid partly in Tarrant shares, subject to valuation, shareholder consequences and the bank confirming the resulting covenant calculation. [C: a financing alternative, showing judgement rather than a yes/no.] I recommend Option B, phased: a 12-month pilot in one city, with dealers paid to deliver and service subscribers' bikes. The board would commit the remaining investment only if the pilot hits agreed targets for subscriber numbers, churn and cost per subscriber. [A/B: a conditional recommendation that handles the incomplete information.] To preserve cash for the pilot, I suggest holding the dividend at this year's level rather than raising it. The chair should explain the reasons to the Tarrant family before the announcement. [C/B: dividend policy plus stakeholder handling.] Before the next board meeting we need final due diligence on Korvan's recall liabilities and customer contracts, and the bank's view on covenant headroom. [D/E: next steps and governance.]

Why this works: it compares both options against the same criteria, uses the pre-seen and trigger numbers, names the stakeholders who matter, recommends clearly while managing the unknowns, and covers several core activities in one coherent memo, which is how SCS sub-tasks are marked.

Weak versus improved paragraph

Weak (generic; would fit any company):

Stakeholders are very important for any strategy. Using Mendelow's matrix, stakeholders can be classified according to their power and interest. Key players should be managed closely and stakeholders with low power should be monitored. Tarrant should therefore consider all its stakeholders before making its decision.

Improved (applied, judged, actionable):

The independent dealers are the stakeholders most likely to sink Tarrant Ride. They sell around 70% of our bikes, which gives them real power, and a service that sells direct to customers gives them every reason to resist. If even a few large dealers gave floor space to competing brands, the lost sales could outweigh subscription income, which is not forecast to break even until year four. I recommend bringing dealers into the scheme rather than going round them: dealers would deliver and service subscribers' bikes for a fee. That could turn a threat into a delivery network and avoid building a full servicing operation ourselves. We should compare dealer fees and service standards with the cost of providing it in-house. We should present the proposal to the dealer council before any public announcement.

What changed: the improved paragraph names one stakeholder group and uses a pre-seen fact (70%) and a trigger fact (break-even in year four). It explains the consequence, recommends a specific response, and gives the next step. The model is applied without being named, and nothing in it would make sense for a different company.

What the examiner's reports and official guidance say

Short answer: CIMA's own guidance repeats the same points. Answer the task you were set, in the role, applied to the company. Back every point with reasons. Practise by typing full answers under time pressure and comparing them with the suggested solutions and marking guidance.

From public official sources (checked 9 November 2026):

  • Answering the task set. CIMA's case study support articles on the Study Hub, written from experience of setting and marking, note that examiner's reports regularly comment on candidates who did not answer the requirement set.
  • No single right answer. The same articles say markers work from holistic marking guides. Valid points not in the suggested answer can earn marks, and arguments are marked on their merits even when your recommendation differs from the examiner's.
  • Length is not quality. Very short answers lack content and rambling answers lack relevance. CIMA's advice is to practise past papers by typing full answers, preferably timed, then review them against the suggested answers and marking guide.
  • Performance descriptors. For each core activity, CIMA's descriptors expect clear communication, understanding of the business model and its ecosystem, professional scepticism, leadership, judgement, and ethics and professionalism.
  • Spotlight Topics. CIMA's public Spotlight Topics page for SCS walks through three real tasks with examiner and tutor comments: currency-related economic risk (November 2024/February 2025), financing strategy and share-exchange terms (May/August 2025) and evaluating loans (November 2025/February 2026).

May/August 2026 SCS report (released 23 October 2026): relate share-price movements to the supplied events; use the BCG matrix with the business context and its limitations; compare acquisition targets using exhibit facts; tailor political-risk responses to the industry and government priorities; and apply risk-register/internal-audit advice to the acquired subsidiary rather than repeating definitions. Recheck the November 2026 interim report when released on 29 January 2027.

OpenTuition's advice: the Study Hub support articles and the older SCS walkthrough use examples from earlier exam formats with 45-minute sections. Use them for technique, not for timings. Today's SCS sections are 60 minutes.

A realistic study timeline

Short answer: finish E3, P3 and F3 before the pre-seen arrives. Then use the roughly six and a half weeks between pre-seen release and the exam for analysis, timed practice and debriefs. If you are sitting the second exam on a pre-seen (February or August), you have longer, so use the extra time for more timed practice, not more reading.

OpenTuition's advice. Here is an example plan for the May 2027 sitting (pre-seen 2 April 2027, exam 19-21 May 2027, booking closes 5 May 2027). It assumes you are working full time and can study about 10-12 hours a week. Stretch or compress it to fit.

When Focus Output
Now to March 2027 Pass the remaining objective tests (they must be passed before 5 May 2027). Practise SCS technique on the May/August 2026 post-exam materials, one 60-minute section a week All OTs done; three or four typed sections, each self-marked against the marking guide
Week 1 (from 2 April) Read the pre-seen twice; complete the business map Business map with page references
Week 2 Stakeholder map, risk register, financial position; a short session on how the real industry works Stakeholder map; list of five to eight likely board decisions with E3/F3/P3 notes for each
Weeks 3-4 Timed single sections (past variants, rewritten in your head for the new company); one debrief per section Four to six typed sections; a personal "mistakes list"
Week 5 Two full three-hour mocks under exam conditions, including the OpenTuition SCS mock when the new season's mock is published Two debriefed full mocks
Week 6 Fix the weakest core activity, re-read the pre-seen and your maps, rest before the exam Exam-day plan; a one-page summary of the company's numbers

February 2027 candidates: the pre-seen has been out since 2 October 2026, so your map should be done by mid-December. Use January for timed sections, read the November interim examiner's report when it comes out on 29 January 2027, and sit at least two full mocks before 17 February. Booking closes on 2 February 2027.

Timed practice and debrief plan

Short answer: practise in 60-minute sections and then full three-hour papers, typed. After each one, debrief against the suggested solution and the performance descriptors, and turn every weakness into a rule for next time.

OpenTuition's advice:

  • Practise in the exam format. Type in a plain editor, use the sub-task time guidance, and do not go back to earlier sections. Take the free Pearson VUE question tutorial (link on the CGMA Study Hub) once to learn the test driver.
  • Spend the first minutes of each section planning. Read the new information, note which core activities each sub-task targets, and write headings that mirror the requirement.
  • Use the OpenTuition SCS mock. The free CIMA SCS mock exam is a full three-hour paper set on the current official pre-seen. The signed-in cover checked on 9 November 2026 shows three timed tasks over three hours, the Vennlisk senior finance manager role and a link to the official November 2026/February 2027 pre-seen. It is AI-marked, with feedback, and the page offers model answers and a marking scheme on completion. Sit it late in your preparation, in one session under exam conditions.
  • Debrief every attempt with these questions:
    1. Did I answer every part of every sub-task, in the format and role asked?
    2. Does each point use a fact from the pre-seen or the new information?
    3. Did I give a clear recommendation with reasons and next steps?
    4. Did I cover stakeholders, risk and ethics where they mattered?
    5. Did I keep to the time guidance for each sub-task?
    6. Which core activity was weakest, and what is my rule to fix it next time?
  • Keep a mistakes list and re-read it before each mock and on exam morning.

After you pass

CIMA rule: an SCS pass from May 2026 onwards earns the new Strategic Level Completion Certificate, issued within 12 weeks of the result. It is not issued for earlier passes. To become a member you also need approved practical experience (PER), which CIMA says you can submit any time after passing or being exempt from the Management Case Study. See the official page on what happens after the SCS.

What to do next