The American Institute of CPAs and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants are proposing a joint venture to create a new designation for management accountants worldwide. However, to hold that designation in the United States, a person would also have to be a CPA, which appears to mean the proposal would put it into the same market as the Certified Management Accountant credential from the Institute of Management Accountants.
The announcement by the two bodies said the proposal is designed to give management accountancy a higher profile in the United States and advance the CPA designation as a worldwide standard and create a globally recognized management accounting designation. The proposal is scheduled to be voted upon in May by the governing councils of CIMA and the AICPA.
In a prepared statement, CIMA President George Glass said the agreement would give both organizations a global reach and would be appealing in both mature and emerging markets.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind