The following decisions have been taken regarding Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) recognition:
1. Conversion from CIMA to CA(SA)
The SAICA Board has approved the following for CIMA members wishing to obtain the CA(SA) designation in order to become members of SAICA:
- A CTA or equivalent and writing Part 1 of the Qualifying Examination; and
- Application for recognition of previous service (experience) of which a maximum of 12 months will be granted as remission towards the three-year training contract in a TOPP organisation (ie with an Accredited Training Organisation (ATO) in commerce and industry.) These applicants will in other words still need to complete two years of a training contract with an ATO.
- CIMA members would thus be exempt from the financial management specialism course and Part 2 of the Qualifying Examination.
If you have any further questions regarding the CA(SA) qualification and these exemptions, please contact Adri Kleinhans at adrik@saica.co.za.
2. Conversion from CA(SA) to CIMA
The CIMA qualification process can be illustrated as follows.
In terms of recent amendments to the CIMA requirements, CA's who wish to also become CIMA members are required to fulfill the following requirements:
Members qualifying BEFORE 2010:
All SAICA members qualifying from 2001 (and prior), up to the end of this year (2010), will qualify to enter the CIMA qualification at the strategic level. This would require the four papers listed below, to be completed. Those members who completed their qualification through the TOPP / Financial Management stream also get exemption from the financial strategy paper (F3). These students would therefore only need to sit three of the four papers listed below. SAICA members are therefore required to do the following CIMA exams:
- Enterprise strategy
- Performance strategy
- Financial strategy
- Professional competence level Part B (Case study)
The details can be seen on the CIMA website
Members qualifying from 2011:
From 2011, members will be eligible for CIMA's new gateway route, specifically designed for certain graduates and members of professional bodies. Upon completing the professional gateway assessment, 11 exemptions will be given (from the certificate, operational and management levels); leaving the three strategic level papers, plus the case study, to be completed. This would result in a total of five papers to be completed as follows.
- Gateway assessment
- Enterprise strategy
- Performance strategy
- Financial strategy
- Professional competence level Part B (Case study)
The details can be seen on the CIMA website