ACCA vs CIMA

Bugnug

I am considering study with one or the other. Can anybody share a little bit of their experince with one or the other and how they found the teaching and the benefits?

Thanks,

Donnaghm

Bugnug wrote: »

I am considering study with one or the other. Can anybody share a little bit of their experince with one or the other and how they found the teaching and the benefits?

Thanks,

I'd like the same advice!

Larianne

Guys, I'm gonna move this thread to Accountancy as you probably will get more of a response there. - Larianne

djk1000

Search the accountancy forum and you'll find lots of one vs the other discussions. Basically, if you want to work in industry as a management accountant, go with CIMA. If you want to be a financial accountant go with ACCA.

You won't find much of a difference in quality of training or difficulty in qualifying, it's all down to what you want to do in the future. If you qualify with one and then decide that you should have gone with the other, it doesn't matter as you can transfer membership from one to the other with exemptions for most exams.

One minor disadvantage with CIMA is the fact that CIMA members can't be registered auditors.

UpAgainToday

Bugnug wrote: »

I am considering study with one or the other. Can anybody share a little bit of their experince with one or the other and how they found the teaching and the benefits?

Thanks,

If your after a decent paying job with some diversity then go with CIMA I think the average for CIMA is around €90k (not sure where I read that)

BUT if you have a lot of spare time that you want to fill up and your not interested in money go with the typical accounting route

The_B_Man

CIMA is more for management accounts and not chartered, therefore they will not be able to sign off on accounts etc. CIMA would be a lot of budgeting and planning for companies and is mainly designed for those in industry, whereas ACCA is more for practice and signing off on accounts, a lot more hands on with actual accountancy.

Not sure what CIMA exams are like but ACCA exams are extremely tough

Cookie_Monster

Isn't the ACCA P2 exam the hardest accountancy exam?

They are similar enough as a whole OP, I'm doing ACCA in industry with the iam of mgt accounting/ fin controller at the end (just to be different)

Shannonsider

CIMA was traditionally an 'industry' related qualification but now financial services employ a lot of CIMA accountants - including myself!

The best advice I can offer is to have a look at jobs you might be interested in and if they specify you must be ACCA/ACA or CIMA qualified, then that gives you an idea as to which route you may go down. But from what I can remember a lot of the jobs I was applying for, bar accounting practices, had both ACCA & CIMA down, for potential candidates.

As previous posters have said you can't audit with CIMA, but you can with ACCA. Therefore if you see yourself setting up a small accounts business then go with ACCA to keep that option open. I did CIMA as it's more of a business strategy orientated curriculum compared to ACCA, which is more pure accounting focussed.

smcgiff

glasso wrote: »

I did CIMA as it's more of a business strategy orientated curriculum compared to ACCA, which is more pure accounting focussed.

I don't think that's as true as it once was - with ACCA you get a choice in the finals. I didn't do the audit paper but instead did the Strategic Financial Management, I also did the other marketing and commercial oriented final papers.

Ash198

Hi, I'm an ACCA finalist so i can only speak from my own experiance, i hope thats helpful.

CIMA is traditionally the management accountant qualification which is preferable by a lot of people workig in Industry and ACCA is chartered certified so its usually preferable by people working in practice. However there are a lot of the same subjects covered on the ACCA Syllabus.

It depends on what area of accountancy you want to wok in really however in saying that i started out in pratice and moved to Industry a number of years ago. From what i can see when looking at jobs most companies in Industry don't favour one over the other they usually require one of the reconised accountancy bodies.

To make your decision its probably best that you contact each of the proessional bodies and get more information or you could even go to one of the many open days in any of the business colleges.

ACCA is recognised in 184 countries worldwide so if you are planning on working abroad its a good qualification to have. The exams are twice a year June and December and you can sit a maximum of 4 papers per exam sitting. If you are planning on qualifying quickly you could see which body allows you more exemptions from other qualifications.

Best of Luck !!!

I actually managed to pass P2 the 1st time around ! Many people say its the most dificult of the finals but i actually think it depends on the person as i'm waiting on results for my 2nd attempt at P3 and found it much more difficult !