Are you thinking of success mantra to clear US CMA ? The answer lies in understanding the US CMA Syllabus. In management accounting domain, the topmost rung of the ladder is being occupied by the US CMA credential. It provides access to the global gateway of top ranking jobs for accounts and finance professionals. To achieve this, one has to be exam eligible at par with the criteria set by the IMA followed by clearing the online US CMA exam.
To succeed in this journey, definitely one has to undergo rigorous study, mentoring, practices etc. But the foremost fundamental area where from the success mantra starts is to know the US CMA syllabus vividly. Once you gather thorough knowledge of US CMA syllabus, you can have the idea about the topics/subjects clearly.
This, further help you to make the Strength Weakness Analysis( SWA) on yourself, a kind of self appraisal to know in which area of US CMA syllabus you are more comfortable than the other segments. This has immense impact on the study pattern to cover US CMA syllabus in more effective manner.
Let’s discuss about the aspects of US CMA syllabus towards the online exam having an average global pass rate of around 45%.
1) The Subjects of US CMA Syllabus
The US CMA certification is a single level 2 part exam any part of which can be attempted without following any order.
The Part 1 include : Financial Reporting, Planning, Performance and Analytics.
The Part 2 comprises of Strategic Financial Management.
2) The Topic wise weightage of US CMA Syllabus
For Part 1 :- External Financial Reporting Decisions(15%), Planning, Budgeting, Forecasting(20%), Performance Management(20%), Cost Management(15%), Internal Controls(15%) and Technology and Analytics(15%) respectively.
For Part 2:- Financial Statement Analysis(20%), Corporate Finance(20%), Decision Analysis(25%), Risk Management(10%), Investment Decisions(10%), Professional Ethics(15%).
3) Exam on US CMA Syllabus
Every exam based on US CMA syllabus, is divided into 2 parts each of which has a duration of 3 hours. The first part comprised of 100 MCQs which covers 75% of the total weightage. On the otherhand, the second part one is required to answer essay type questions that covers the remaining 25% of the total weightage.
4) US CMA Syllabus In Depth
Part1:
a.External Financial Reporting Decisions: It includes Financial Statement having Balance sheet, Income statement, Cash flow, Valuation of assets and liabilities, equities, revenue, distinguishing US GAAP and IFRS etc.
b. Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting: It includes Strategic Planning, Budgeting Concepts, Forecasting techniques, Profit plan and schedules having Capital, Financial and Operational budgets and Cash flow projections etc.
c.Performance Management: It contains Cost and Variance measures, Reporting Segments, Product Profitability Analysis etc.
d. Cost Management: It includes Measurement Concepts, Systems of costing, Supply Chain Management, Improvement of Business Process etc.
e.Internal Controls: This include Risk, Compliance and Governance, Security measures etc.
f. Technology and Analytics: This includes Information System, Data governance, Technology driven Financial Transactions, Data Analytics etc.
Part 2.
a. Financial Statement Analysis: It includes Basic Financial Statement Analysis, Financial Ratios, Profitability Analysis, Impact of Overseas Operations, Inflation etc.
b. Corporate Finance: It incorporates Risk and Return, Long term Financial Management, Raising Capitals, Management of Working Capitals, Corporate Restructuring, Internal Finance etc.
c. Decision Analysis: It include Pricing, Analysis of Marginal Cost and Revenue, Breakeven and Profit Analysis etc.
d. Risk Management: Assessment and Mitigation of Risks.
e. Investment Decisions: It includes both Capital Budgeting and Investment Analysis.
f. Professional Ethics: It includes both Business and Personal Ethics for both finance professionals and organizations.
US CMA Course details – US CMA Certification from IMA USA: Syllabus, Eligibility, Duration, Fees, Books and Coaching :- To understand the detailed overview on the US CMA course and US CMA certification from IMA…continue reading
Tips to pass the US CMA Exam in first attempt
The US CMA exam is little bit different from other academic exams, mere studious studies may not suffice to fetch a good score. This professional course online exam rely on MCQs and essay type questions in essence.
1. The MCQ Structure and Pattern
The impediment one faces in the US CMA exam is in the MCQ part. Hence, one should know how to tackle this section effectively. For this, you should know the structural diversity lies there. The key elements are given below.
a. Classification of Questions
This can be of two types: Important information and Distracting information. While the former demands your inherent knowledge required to answer the questions, the later part is to divert the candidate. For a straight-forward question, you can go direct but in case of a so-called “tricky question” cautious reading is very much needed avoiding overthinking.
b. Selection of Correct Answer
Some of the questions might have options that seems to be correct whereas only one among these will be the best answer. So, prioritization is the key for this type of questions.
c. Selection of Incorrect Answer
Some incorrect answer options may appear as correct at first glimpse or through some primary calculating errors. These incorrect choices are provided to divert you from the accurate answer choice. Identifying such question types will give you the edge over others.
d. Centre of Attention on the Question
This involve reading the main body of the question and extracting the actual asking part by filtering the misleading information. Try to identify the exceptions in the question. As for example, look for such words like “ not”, “except”, “false”, “least” etc. which might appear in bold in some cases.
2. The Structure of MCQ Answers
This part demand predictive guess on the selection of the correct answer as listed below.
a. Prior Prediction
You can predict an answer before going through the options. Once an answer comes to your mind, try to find whether it is present or not in the given options. If it is present, scan the others whether something better than this present there or not.
b. Reading the Options
Here you have to read all the answers carefully to identify the best fit one to the asking pattern of the question. Look for qualifying words like “always” or “never” which sometimes make an otherwise good answer incorrect.
c. Attempting Every Questions
Since, US CMA exam has no negative markings for a wrong answer, you should attempt each and every question if you don’t know the answer at all. Here again, you have to apply the predictive guess. You can make blocks on the question set by marking the the areas where you know the correct answers with confidence. Keep the remaining block for review and answer later after clearing the sure shot block. This can further be achieved by eliminating the wrong answers first, then narrowing down the options to the best one from the remaining options following your gut instinct. By this way, you can select the correct answer that makes the most sense.
3. Tips for the Essay Questions
Apart from the MCQs, each part of US CMA exam contain two essay questions. The essays depict a scenario on which several questions are asked which has to be answered through written version which will be graded by subjective evaluation. The following tips can be applied to tackle the essay part of the CMA US exam.
a. Scudding the Essay Scenario
Gliding through the essay scenario before reading the questions help to determine the actual focus by eliminating the distractors.
b. Essentials for the Answers
This involve pin pointing the attention towards the requirement of the question. This assist to determine the important information integrally attached to the scenario. This is important to ensure full credit, you have to answer all the components of the question.
c. Priority Setting
It is always advisable to prioritize the essay questions i.e. attempting the easier one first than the rest. This act as a confidence building measure to tackle the essay questions. Also try to avoid presenting off-topic write-ups while attempting essay questions.
d. Elaboration:
Showing your work in a stepwise and arranged manner is advantageous. It means, if your final calculation appears wrong, but your steps and formulas are correct, you can get partial credit for the particular question. Multiple mistakes are considered only once. Finally, make a quick proofreading in last few minutes to catch and amend some unseen errors to rectify them.
Summary
To sum up, it can be concluded that knowing the CMA US syllabus impart positive impetus to be a US CMA certificate holder with proper preparation and guidance.
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