Below are the core experience areas for CIMA. Students are expected to have at least 18 months experience in this area, in a ‘hands-on’ role. It would be interesting to know what job titles match the different skills. If you know, please advise:
2a Preparation of management accounts
● Preparation, presentation and interpretation of regular management
accounts and related reports.
● Comparison of actual performance with budget and/or forecast; analysis
and interpretation of variances.
● Preparation of regular reports on capital expenditure, outstanding
debtors/creditors, inventory etc.
2b Planning, budgeting and forecasting
● Preparation, in conjunction with line management, of annual budgets
and forecasts.
● Preparation of departmental budgets and forecasts.
● Working with other departments to develop corporate budgets and
forecasts.
● Preparation of business plans, balanced scorecards, capital expenditure
budgets and forecasts, and ‘zero based’ budgets.
2c Management reporting for decision making
● Preparation of non-routine reports that analyse and interpret
financial/numerical data.
● Evaluating alternative courses of action and making specific
recommendations; following up results of reports.
● Preparation of briefing papers for management.
● Oral presentation of reports using visual aids.
● Assisting with the drafting of expert witness reports.
2d Product and service costing
● Application of appropriate principles and techniques, for example
overhead allocation, marginal costing, break-even analysis and ABC, in
order to establish the current and future costs of the organisation’s
products, services and activities.
● Identification of costs and revenues relating to specific business
decisions, for example the introduction, amendment or deletion of a
product or service; pricing; make or buy comparisons.
2e Information management
● Defining the information requirements of the organisation.
● Identifying and evaluating appropriate information systems.
● Managing the process of information gathering, processing, storage and
retrieval.
2f Project appraisal
● Using investment appraisal techniques for the evaluation of capital
expenditure and other projects.
● Evaluating other investments or acquisitions using appropriate
techniques.
● Post-completion audit of projects and investments.
2g Project management
● Management of a project or working as part of a project team, for
example the introduction of a new system or procedures to the
organisation, business process re-engineering or quality improvement,
capital expenditure projects or any other non-routine activity with a
defined output, such as the launch of a new product or an office move.
● Internal or external consultancy assignments.
2h Working capital control
● Debt collection, inventory control, recording and forecasting foreign
currency transactions, payment of creditors and expenses, cash flow
forecasting and monitoring.
● Periodic stock takes, the identification of slow moving and redundant
stock, negotiation of credit terms with customers, suppliers and bankers.
● Supply chain management.