are cima more diffcult than ACCA

mkdon

Numerous have said this is true

smcgiff

Tis true, every time I phone up CIMA they are always hard to deal with

tenchi-fan

mkdon wrote: »

Numerous have said this is true

Are these the people who did two sets of exams just to find out which is harder?

Cyrus

everyone likes to think that the exams that they did are better and harder than the rest,

the truth is that all of them are passable if you put in the correct amount of work and dont go into it half assed.

SBWife

tenchi-fan wrote: »

Are these the people who did two sets of exams just to find out which is harder?

But even this wouldn't work because the second set of exams would probably seem easier as a significant amount of the information would have previously been covered regardless of whether it was easier or not.

irishmanmick

Can of worms ....

Check out the sticky re each different body

All exams are professional and all are hard

daheff

i did CIMA


passed all first time. found that there is a lot of work to do...but all passable. Hardest was the TOPCIMA exam...its like nothing you have ever done...i dont think theres a comparable exam for ACCA -which could be why people think CIMA is harder to pass. But ACCA has a tax exam which (used to be anyways) extremely difficult

but as was said...both are professional qualifications and if they were easy, it would devalue the qualification

tenchi-fan

I'm not sure what topcima is.. is it the final exam?

When I did acca there was a business strategy paper (3.5) which I guess may be similar.

tenchi-fan

tenchi-fan wrote: »

I'm not sure what topcima is.. is it the final exam?

When I did acca there was a business strategy paper (3.5) which I guess may be similar.

don't think it's similar. TOPCIMA is a case study based exam. you get advance material, new material on the day and basically have to write up a report on the company on what action to take with justifications.

tenchi-fan

tenchi-fan wrote: »

I'm not sure what topcima is.. is it the final exam?

When I did acca there was a business strategy paper (3.5) which I guess may be similar.

It is the final exam - the case study. It isn't called TOPCIMA any more it seems- it is now just called the case study.

The big difference is that in CIMA you get 10 - 15 pages setting up a single company in advance. You then research the industry, find real life comparisons, crunch the numbers etc in advance.

In the exam itself you are given another 5 or 6 pages of opportunities and/or problems and the question you were given in March was:

Prepare a report that prioritises, analyses and evaluates the issues facing the Sports
Facilities Division of BZCS and makes appropriate recommendations.

This used to be 100% but in March it was 90% with another short question on a specific problem.

In the exam you would crunch some more numbers, then prioritise the issues facing the company and then start writing one big long report giving realistic and appropriate commercial recommendations.

Two things that trip a lot of people up (including myself) are:
Not getting the examiners top two priorities in your top three and
Giving woolly generic recommendations rather than specific relevant ones.

In the end you end up the same as everyone else - with letters after your name and what exams you do don't particularly matter (unless you want to work in practice)

This is the March case study for anyone who is interested/bored enough to want to look through it.

BESman

glasso wrote: »

don't think it's similar. TOPCIMA is a case study based exam. you get advance material, new material on the day and basically have to write up a report on the company on what action to take with justifications.

Sounds a lot like the the ACA CAP 2 SFMA assessment and any of the ACA CAP 2 or FAE final exams which are 55%-70% case study weighted.

mr_edge_to_you

I think they are very very similiar in terms of difficulty but I think it is the natural apptitude of the individual which dictates how easy they find the exams to pass.

I have just finished my CIMA exams. I passed the Business Strategy and Risk & Control papers handy enough but I struggled with the Financial Strategy.

A good friend of mine is doing ACCA and he is struggling with the ACCA business strategy paper. We looked at the papers and we reckon that he would have passed the CIMA financial strategy first time and that I would probably manage the ACCA business strategy paper easily enough.

Same level, very different skill set.

cunning stunts

I think the general consensus among most people is, in terms of difficulty:

1:ACA
2:ACCA
3:CIMA
4:CPA

tenchi-fan

cunning stunts wrote: »

I think the general consensus among most people is, in terms of difficulty:

1:ACA
2:ACCA
3:CIMA
4:CPA

really?
I haven't heard anyone say the ACA exams were more difficult than ACCA.. the main difference is that ACA only give you a limited number of repeat attempts and it used to be harder to get an ACA approved employer. But as for the exams themselves.. no idea whether they're harder or not.

DonnaDarko09

Really don't agree with you....I have sat both CPA and ACA exams (which I am currently doing) and I have not found ACA to be any more difficult....in actual fact, the study time you get off (if you happen to be with one of the Big Four) actually makes them easier to pass.

tenchi-fan

DonnaDarko09 wrote: »

Really don't agree with you....I have sat both CPA and ACA exams (which I am currently doing) and I have not found ACA to be any more difficult....in actual fact, the study time you get off (if you happen to be with one of the Big Four) actually makes them easier to pass.

So, cunning, you should edit your post as follows:

I think the general consensus among most people is, in terms of difficulty:

1:ACCA
2:CIMA
3:CPA
4:ACA

Cyrus

I think in terms of prestige or perceived prestige it goes:

ACA
ACCA
CIMA
CPA

But thats more to do with the fact that most ACAs had to be hired by a big 4 firm in the first place.

In terms of difficulty, i did ACA, my wife ACCA and my brother and Dad are both CPA, it didnt strike me that my exams were any harder than my wifes or brothers, plus i had a lot more time to study, my wife got 1 day per exam, rest was unpaid leave or holidays and she was in a management position at the time

tenchi-fan

Cyrus wrote: »

I think in terms of prestige or perceived prestige it goes:

ACA
ACCA
CIMA
CPA

But thats more to do with the fact that most ACAs had to be hired by a big 4 firm in the first place.

Also more to do with the exclusivity of ACA, such as training contracts. Their new program which makes it easier to enter will erode some of that prestige, or create a two-tier qualification. I don't think the glut of unemployed ACA graduates a few years ago helped either.

Cyrus

tenchi-fan wrote: »

Also more to do with the exclusivity of ACA, such as training contracts. Their new program which makes it easier to enter will erode some of that prestige, or create a two-tier qualification. I don't think the glut of unemployed ACA graduates a few years ago helped either.

i made the point regarding the fact that most are big 4 thats where the 'prestige' comes from

there wasnt too many properly unemployed graduates to be fair, loads were let go from the firms at the end of their contract (no more than left voluntarily when things were good mind) and anyone who wanted a job pretty much got one and others went travelling