The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) has launched its new professional qualification syllabus for 2015 in the UAE following its extensive global research into employer needs.

CIMA, founded in 1919, is the world’s leading and largest professional body of management accountants, with more than 218,000 members and students operating in 177 countries.

The syllabus launch included a keynote speech from Shane Balzan, the head of Syllabus Development at CIMA who highlighted the 2015 Syllabus update and its aim to empower the next generation of business leaders in the region with skills needed to drive businesses of the future.

CIMA, in response to growing concern about rising youth unemployment around the world, has produced an innovative syllabus focused on equipping the finance professionals of the future with the skills to meet the business needs of today and tomorrow, said a senior official.

For the qualification to remain relevant and enhance the employability of members, CIMA’s global research led to the development of a competency framework and a new assessment process addressing the skills and competencies employers require from their finance team.

The competencies identified by top employers are core accounting and finance skills, business acumen, people skills and leadership skills.  

This insight has been instrumental in creating a syllabus designed to meet the needs of both students and employers to support better business, remarked Dr Sijo Tom, the academic director at Zabeel International Institute of Management and Technology, UAE.

"The new CIMA syllabus incorporates all the possible knowledge areas required by today’s finance professionals. By introducing new subjects, the CIMA qualification minimizes the gap, if there were any, and addresses the employability needs of business completely," noted Dr Tom.

"The assessment model and the CBT (Computer Based Testing) system will make the students more comfortable and confident in applying for the professional qualification. We expect to have an increase in the registration for CIMA with these remarkable changes,” he added.

New topic areas relevant to accounting in business, such as managing big data, finance function transformation, IT infrastructure and sustainability have been included with integrated case studies added at each level of the qualification to consolidate learning and reflect real-life work situations.

Major changes have also been made to the assessment of candidates in line with developments in the use of technology in education and industry.

According to CIMA, the students will now benefit from online assessment and exams on demand – through a partnership with Pearson VUE – allowing them to choose their own pace of progression.

Students who complete the CIMA qualification earn the Chartered Global Management Accountant designation formed by the AICPA and CIMA to highlight the importance of management accounting in today’s economy.

Speaking on the updated syllabus, Geetu Ahuja, the head of GCC at CIMA said:
“We are committed to supporting the next generation of global finance leaders and ensuring that our members stay at the forefront of developments in the business world throughout their careers."

"When designing the 2015 syllabus, we set out to enhance its relevance to employers, to ensure the rigour of the related examinations and to align the learning experience of candidates to the real world of business," she added.-TradeArabia News Service