The website of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) at http://www.imane

Question

The website of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) at http://www.imanet.org/ (Opens in a new window. Plain text: http://www.imanet.org/) provides an overview of the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) designation. (See CMA Certification, Become a CMA.)

The website of the American Institute of Public Accountants (AICPA) at http://www.aicpa.org (Opens in a new window. Plain text: http://www.aicpa.org) provides an overview of the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation. (See Become a CPA, Getting Started.)

Review the information provided on these two websites. Then:

Compare and contrast these two professional designations (that is, the CMA and CPA).

Identify the professional designation(s) (that is, the CMA, CPA, or both) that you think best suits you.

Explanation / Answer

Ans: CMA Stands for Certified management accountant whereas CPA stands for certified public accountant.As the name suggest CPA is better then CMA since CPA gives high level of knowledge or awareness then CMA.

CPA is the basis for public accounting or you can say accounting profession in general. It cover the knowledge of financial accounting, Taxation, Business Laws and ethics and the most important is that it also give knowledge about the difference between the US and international accounting systems.CPA focus on public accounting or general accounting.

CMA give its essence on corporate world. It gives the requirement of skills for Financial Managers, controllers and CFOs.CMA generally focus on management accounting.

I will be in favour of CPA due to following reasons:

1. The CPA qualification is more established and more recognised.

2.CPA is benificial for all type of accounting job. a person who has done CPA may also done the work of CMA.

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