ACCA or CIMA

mrderek88

Hi there

I know it's a bit premature but my boss has now asked me to start looking into what I would like to do once I complete Level 4. Im not interested in ACA so it's two options; ACCA or CIMA. I currently work in a manufacturing company alongside our Management Accountant but also have some responsibilities where I report to our Financial Accountant. Im not 100% what role I would get/look for in the future once qualified so I suppose, I could do anything.

What are your thoughts on both qualifications? I understand that CIMA is more towards Management Accounting and ACCA is the Financial reporting side of things - is that correct? Has anyone else had this problem and what did you do?

Thanks

Derek

I Jones

Hi Derek, I'm currently in a similar position to you and was wondering why you are not interested in ACA?

Makkusu

I like working in practice so CIMA wasn't really in the equation. It's a question only you can answer yourself, think about what type of company you'd like to work for etc.

If you need questions answered on either, plenty of people can help but it's purely down to personal preference. Do you like the look of the job the Management Accountant is doing? Or do you picture yourself working for a firm?

stevef

My advice is to look at the syllabus summaries for bot ACCA and CIMA and see which seems the most interesting. ACCA is a broad church and covers most areas of accountancy. There are great chunks of finance accounting, tax, auditing, economics and law, and also big chunks of management accounting and business maths. It is an appropriate qualification for any flavouring of finance work and is a CCAB member.