How to Become a CMA in 1. Months My Awesome Complete Guide. This page is dedicated to professionals who would like to enhance their career with a CMA certification. The first 5 steps are important decisions to make before the application process. Step 6 1. 2 shows exactly what you need to do from registration, planning, studying, passing the exam to getting the certification. The first step is NOT about filling out application forms and paying the fees. The first step is to make sure you understand what you are getting into, and whether this certification has tangible benefits to your career. Identify Benefits of the CMA Certification. The CMA certification is granted by a US institution called the Institute of Management Accountant, or the IMA. In order to take the exam and maintain active status of the CMA title, you must first sign up as a member. What do you gain as an IMA member Besides the ticket to the CMA exam, does it help in networking and developing your skill as a management accountant Compare CMA with Other Accounting Certifications. Getting this certification is a substantial investment in time, energy and effort. Already Passed The CPA Exam in California Here Are The CPA License Requirements. There are new requirements that went into effect on 112014 General requirements. i HOW TO REVIEW TAX RETURNS Edward Mendlowitz, CPA Andrew D. Mendlowitz Published by CPA Trendlines Actionable intelligence for the tax, accounting and finance. Please take the time and determine how CMA is going to help you in your personal and career development, and whether this qualification is the best choice given your background and aspiration 3. Analyze Your Ability Can You Make It Now that you are certain CMA is the way to go, can you handle the exam itself What does it test anyway, and how difficult is it Perform Your Benefit Cost Analysis. Money matters. Short term consideration It will cost around 2,0. Can you afford the exam fees Long term consideration Can the title help you negotiate a higher salaryFulfill CMA Educational Requirements. Good news the rule is quite standard. Candidates are required to have a bachelor degree, and it can be obtained in any recognized universities around the world, and in any discipline. Please follow these steps to determine your eligibility Check if your university is on this list. Request an original transcript to be sent directly to the IMA. A week later, log on your profile on the IMA website, and check if your transcript is on file. In the event that your school is not listed, you can still get your transcript evaluated by one of the credential evaluation agencies and send an official transcript to IMA for reference. Pay IMA Membership Fee. Once confirm your interest and eligibility for the exam, you may join the IMA as a professional member. If you are a US or Canadian resident aged 3. If you are a current student defined as taking at least 6 credit hours of courses this semester, check out the student discount. The student discount applies to candidates around the world. Here are the steps Select your home country. Select the appropriate membership category and click Join Today. Click Join to confirm your selection and continue with your application. Fill out the online application. Look out for an e mail that confirms your successful enrollment as an IMA member. In the online application form, you will be asked to fill out your personal and professional information, such as other professional credentials, education, job title and responsibility, followed by a request to pay the annual fee by credit card. The whole process shouldnt take more than 1. Join the CMA Program. Joining the IMA membership does NOT automatically kick off the CMA exam process. In order to do that, you need to enroll in the CMA program. Many candidates join the membership and CMA program together i. Step 6 and 7 together, but it is not mandatory. You should join the CMA program only when you are ready to take the exam. Once you enroll in the program and pay the entrance fee, you must Start taking the CMA exam within 1. Complete the CMA program within 3 years. Here are the steps of enrollment Pay the CMA Entrance Fee 2. Look out for an e mail that confirms your successful enrollment in the CMA program. Read the instruction in the email on how to access the CMA Exam Support Package. Register for the Exam Parts. After enrolling in the CMA program, you may register for the exam. The examination consists of 2 parts Part 1 Financial Planning, Performance and Control. Part 2 Financial Decision Making. It does not matter which part you take first. I suggest that you take the part you feel more comfortable with. If confident enough, you can even take two parts within the same testing window. You may choose to register online, by phone with credit card information, or by mailing faxing the registration form. Here are the steps Determine which exam parts to take, and in which testing window. Pay for the exam registration fees 3. Look out for an e mail that confirms your successful registration in the exam parts. Articles for your reference 9. Locate the Closest Test Center and Schedule the Exam. Upon successful registration, you can schedule the date and time of the exam parts at prometric centers in the US and around the world. The centers are open every weekday during the following testing window January and February. May and June. September and October. You can typically cancel an appointment within 7. A refund minus 2. Prepare for the Exam. New candidates joining the CMA program receive a 6 month free access to the Exam Support Package on the IMA Learning Center, beginning on the day you pay the entrance fee see Step 7 above. This package includes a glossary of terms, and downloadable and printable multiple choice and essay practice questions. To increase your chance of passing success, I highly recommend you get additional learning tools from CMA review courses. Here are the pros and cons of major providers, together with my recommendation 1. Complete Working Experience Requirements. The candidate must have two continuous years of professional experience in management accounting or financial management. Part time work is accepted but internships and training programs are not considered. Comply with Ethical Standard and CPEAfter completing the two parts of the CMA exam and fulfill the experience requirement, you may apply for the CMA certificate. CMAs are required to take 3. CPE continuing professional education, 2 of which has to be in the area of ethics. You should also expect to pay the annual membership fee to maintain your certification. Here is a Summary. This is a video summarizing the process on how to become a CMA. Can I be More Helpful I know the process sounds complicated, but once you take the first step on how to become a CMA, its completely doable. I am more than happy to help you along the wayIf you find this article helpful, please consider signing up to my mini course which is completely free. You can learn more about this mini e course here. Join us if you want to get tips on how to plan, study and pass your CMA exam on your first attemptCreate a Killer CPA Exam Study Schedule Plan Accordingly in 2. Jan Effective CPA Exam Study Schedule. I was two months into my new accounting job where I sported the glamorous job title of intern and was given the opportunity to utilize my God given skills of data entry. But honestly, I was just happy to be one of the few people who had a job coming out of college, even if it did pay less than my previous occupations of waiting tables and working construction. Due to my bosss demands to complete tasks I had no idea how to do, I was no stranger to working 5. Perfect time to take the CPA exam, rightTwo weeks of scouring the internet for the right CPA review course and I still had nothing to show for it. By telling myself I couldnt start studying until I found the perfect course I managed to trick my subconscious into delaying the inevitable without feeling a trace of guilt. Finally, after getting the opinions of my colleagues about their CPA review courses, I decided on Wiley CPAexcel feeling confident with their course after using it throughout my free 2 week trial. Immediately I found their bite sized lectures to be a huge advantage to my busy work schedule. I was able to complete a section during my lunch break, eat, and still have enough time left over to post what I just learned and ate on Facebook The smaller sections also made it easier to digest and absorb the information and made studying much less of a burden knowing that I could complete a section in about 3. Weekday Study Plan. After refining my study habits, I would study around 1. I finished.  At first it seemed grueling and I found it hard to even find time for the most mundane tasks like laundry and grocery shopping. This forced me to look at my daily routine and run through it with a fine toothed comb of efficiency. It was time to get lean, trim the fat off unnecessary activities, and figure out a way to make life work again. This simplest and most effective thing I did to support my new study plan was canceling my cable and selling my TV and DVD player on Craigslist. Being a year round sports fanatic, I expected myself to go into some sort of catatonic state of depression. I mean seriously, what would happen if Lebron James goes for 4. Lakers and I dont even hear about it Absolutely. Freaking. Nothing. Thats what. Coming to terms with my sports addiction wasnt nearly as hard as I thought it would be once the TV was out of the house. This single change added 2 extra hours a day to my life and also made it much easier to study at home knowing being a couch potato and watching Sportscenter was no longer an option. Weekend Study Plan. On the weekends I would aim to study for around eight hours, typically all on Saturday, reserving Sundays for my social life and enjoyment. Giving myself one day off a week to do whatever I wanted without having to think about work or the CPA exam proved to be one of the best things I did for my personal and work life. It felt like I was hitting the refresh button on my life every Sunday, leaving me full of energy,  ready to tackle the week again when Monday morning rolled around. It also gave me something to look forward to all week long and served as a solid crutch to lean on when things got stressful and seemed almost unbearable. Suffering and sacrifice are a lot less painful when you know theres a reward waiting for you in the near future. Sticking to this study plan helped me pass all 4 sections on my first try in less than 9 months. Everyone learns differently so you should experiment with your study schedule until you settle into a routine that best fits your needs. It doesnt matter if you decide to study everyday, or every other day, the most important thing in order to be successful and pass the CPA exam is to stay consistent and stick to your plan