CIMA v ACCA
sammyd22
Registered Posts: 207 Dedicated contributor 🦉
Its a good debate! Which is best? If your ACCA qualified of course ACCA is best! If your CIMA qualified of course CIMA is best!
What do you think?
Im studying CIMA after becoming AAT qualified and i wouldn't have it any other way. There is an ACCA accountant at work who says ACCA is harder?? If ACCA is really harder then why does ACCA offer fully qualified CIMA 11 of 14 exemptions (78.5%)?
CIMA only offers ACCA students 8 of 15 papers (53%)! According to Cima Website!
This tells me that Cima covers much more of ACCA than ACCA does of CIMA.
I know ACCA gives you the option of working for yourself and covers an Auditing unit that CIMA doesnt, But CIMA is the standard in management accounting and that is the key qualification for any company moving forward.
My vote is definately CIMA and hey, if you decide at the end you want to do ACCA you have to sit 3 papers. If ACCA qualified member wants to do CIMA they have to sit 7 papers.
What do you think? Do ACCA qualified people frown upon CIMA? if you google ACCA v CIMA you can see.
This is not a rant, i am just interested in preples feedback to see what people really think.
Im for CIMA and it would be great to hear from both CIMA & ACCA Students as well as AAT students.
Look forward to your feedback!
What do you think?
Im studying CIMA after becoming AAT qualified and i wouldn't have it any other way. There is an ACCA accountant at work who says ACCA is harder?? If ACCA is really harder then why does ACCA offer fully qualified CIMA 11 of 14 exemptions (78.5%)?
CIMA only offers ACCA students 8 of 15 papers (53%)! According to Cima Website!
This tells me that Cima covers much more of ACCA than ACCA does of CIMA.
I know ACCA gives you the option of working for yourself and covers an Auditing unit that CIMA doesnt, But CIMA is the standard in management accounting and that is the key qualification for any company moving forward.
My vote is definately CIMA and hey, if you decide at the end you want to do ACCA you have to sit 3 papers. If ACCA qualified member wants to do CIMA they have to sit 7 papers.
What do you think? Do ACCA qualified people frown upon CIMA? if you google ACCA v CIMA you can see.
This is not a rant, i am just interested in preples feedback to see what people really think.
Im for CIMA and it would be great to hear from both CIMA & ACCA Students as well as AAT students.
Look forward to your feedback!
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Comments
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I'm doing ACCA, after doing AAT. Right now I couldn't care less which I get as long as it says charted somewhere in the title.
I really think theres little in it and most employers couldn't care less.
Maybe different if you go into practice?!0 -
Here we go again!
Why does one have to be better or harder than the other? Both ACCA and CIMA are members of CCAB, they both work to the same Regulations, Accounting Standards and Auditing Standards, both have similar ethical standards. Members of both bodies work in the private sector, the corporate sector, the public sector and the financial services sector doing similar work. You do not have to be CIMA member to do Management Accounting, many ACCA members are heavily involved in management accounts and driving standards forward, just as you do not have to be an ACCA member to do Financial accounts, I expect there are some CIMA members doing financial accounts, eventhough ACCA are a major player in Financial Reporting and the sustainability agenda.
Comparing numbers of papers to sit after exemptions does not tell you very much without looking at the contents of the papers. For example if you are an ACCA or CIMA member you only have to sit two papers to join CIPFA, but when you read what is involved in those two papers you realise that it involves the accounting equivalent of climbing Everest!
The difference between all the CCAB bodies is a matter of emphasis on different areas of accountancy. Which one you join is more about training opportunities, employer expectations and personal preferences. No one CCAB body is better than the other four.
So you know where my allegiances lie, I am an ACCA member.0 -
another question stevef! Does the Cima qualification qualify you to sign of a companies set of accounts within the industry?0
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Me too, wouldn't mind as long as qualification's concern and fresh knowledge it is important to me, quite agree with PGM. I would like to continue study on ACCA but I don't really mind other are entitled to their opinion on taking other route such as CIMA as long as they are happy of what they choose.
I got a friend doing her CIMA after AAT she told me that it is tough so far, she don't pass any test yet but I think having move to next level after AAT exams are different.
No matter what the reason is, I would like to do ACCA that's my view. I don't know yet what is like and how much its cost because I paid my tuition personally I will find out by September.0 -
I do not work in the corporate sector, but in the public sector and its a long time since I studied company law. But my recollection is the accounts are signed by the Chair and the Chief Financial Officer, neither of which have to be qualified. However the auditor who signs the opinion on the accoununts has to be a member of ICAEW, or ICAS, or ACCA or in the pullic sector, CIPFA.
In the Public sector, in addition, the Authority has to appoint a Responsible Financial Offier (section 151 Officer) who has to be a member of a CCAB body, but the section 151 Officer does not have to be the Chief Financial Officer.0 -
ok thanks!0
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At my place the CIMA folks seem much more in control & relaxed, where the ACCA lot are the ones who always have their knickers in a twist. Haven't got a clue why this is, but the difference is quite noticable.0
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As we've had this thread several times before, I feel a certain license to do the Harry Hill joke again...
We like CIMA and we like ACCA but which is better? There's only one way to find out....0 -
Its a good debate!
'Tisn't!Which is best? If your ACCA qualified of course ACCA is best! If your CIMA qualified of course CIMA is best!
Depends what you mean by best. You can meaningfully say that someone ACCA-qualified is better-qualified than someone AAT-qualified, because the ACCA is a higher level qualification. You can't say that about ACCA vs CIMA.
What you can say is that one or the other is better suited to a specific person's career and goals. For instance, if you want to work in Audit, you should know that CIMA isn't a RQB/RSB for audit work, but ACCA is. CIMA covers areas further outside accounting into more general business, ACCA spreads itself more broadly across the various aspects of 'traditional' accounting. It depends what syllabus appeals more to you.What do you think?
Im studying CIMA after becoming AAT qualified and i wouldn't have it any other way. There is an ACCA accountant at work who says ACCA is harder?? If ACCA is really harder then why does ACCA offer fully qualified CIMA 11 of 14 exemptions (78.5%)?
CIMA only offers ACCA students 8 of 15 papers (53%)! According to Cima Website!
This tells me that Cima covers much more of ACCA than ACCA does of CIMA.
Even if it is harder, so what? It's not like you get anything extra out of it. But I do think the exemptions thing is more to do with individual CIMA papers being broader than individual ACCA papers. So there are aspects in some CIMA papers which an ACCA member may not have studies, even though they've done the bulk of the work.I know ACCA gives you the option of working for yourself and covers an Auditing unit that CIMA doesnt, But CIMA is the standard in management accounting and that is the key qualification for any company moving forward.
Who said CIMA members can't work for themselves? I don't believe there's anything stopping them. Admittedly they couldn't do audit on their own, but accounts prep, tax returns or some sort of freelance consultant seems perfectly reasonable.
In case you were wondering, I'm an AAT full member and CIMA student. (doing E1 in May)As we've had this thread several times before, I feel a certain license to do the Harry Hill joke again...
We like CIMA and we like ACCA but which is better? There's only one way to find out....
Now that's the best thing I've read all day. Swords or pistols?0 -
for all those doing ACCA / CIMA or even ACA who are full members of the AAT, are you going to continue to subscribe to the AAT to be able to use MAAT when you become a full member of which ever further qualification you do or are you just going to be a member or ACCA / CIMA?0
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I'm a member of both!0
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Bluewednesday wrote: »I'm a member of both!
Let me get this straight - you're ACCA, CIMA and AAT; just how many years did you study for that lot?FMAAT - AAT Licensed Member in Practice - Pewsey, Wiltshire0 -
I am a member of both AAT and ACCA. They are sufficiently different to suppoprt me in different ways. Dual membership allows me to mentor both ACCA and AAT students in a more credible way.0
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for all those doing ACCA / CIMA or even ACA who are full members of the AAT, are you going to continue to subscribe to the AAT to be able to use MAAT when you become a full member of which ever further qualification you do or are you just going to be a member or ACCA / CIMA?
I'm full AAT and student CIMA. I keep up the AAT subscription and plan to continue to do so past the point where I gain CIMA full membership.0 -
Bookworm55 wrote: »I'm full AAT and student CIMA. I keep up the AAT subscription and plan to continue to do so past the point where I gain CIMA full membership.
Same here, I still think AAT is a worthwhile qualification to keep up even when you're chartered.0 -
thanks for your replies, i shall be keeping my aat membership up as well as an acca membership.0
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