I was a CMA for a number of years until I finally concluded that it has almost no value in the marketplace. I reached that conclusion by comparing the number of CMAs divided by the approximate number of degreed accountants in the U.S. to the number of CPAs divided by that same number of degreed accountants.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were about 1.4MM degreed accountants in the U.S. In 2019, there were 654,375 CPAs with active licenses in the U.S. That makes for a ratio of about 46.7%.
In contrast, the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) reported in January 2018 that it had achieved âa historic milestone of reaching 100,000 members for the first time in its nearly 100-year historyâ (source: IMA Reaches 100,000 Member Milestone on the Cusp of its Centennial | IMA - The association of accountants and financial professionals working in business.). If we assume that all 100,000 of them are CMAsâwhich is certainly not the case, but which assumption will also yield the largest-possible percentageâthe resulting ratio (100,000 / 1,400,000) is 7.1%. If we make the optimistic (and totally unrealistic) assumption that the number of CMAs has doubled since early 2018, that ratio is still just over 14%.
Obviously, itâs no contest. And thatâs why I quit wasting money on being a member of the IMA. I think itâs most regrettable that IMA seems to have almost zero in the way of marketing skills, but my regret doesnât change the facts.
It sounds to me as if your approach is sensible. If you want some âinsurance,â though, I think itâs worth reading the underlying materials, preparing a short bulleted summary of each one, and then spending the last week or so before you take the exam studying your summaries. My strong hunch is that youâll pass with flying colors. The one thing that I, as a CFA charterholder, would not want to see is a ton of new charterholders who âwinged itâ in preparing, but somehow got through the tests.
That also plays out in ways that do not benefit clients. Clients come first. And second, and third. We who serve them are far down the list of who matters. And that is why, IMHO, clients are the ones by whom we should do the right thingâfirst, last, and always.
