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Certificate in Business Accounting
The first step towards
becoming a Chartered Management Accountant is the CIMA
Certificate in Business Accounting. The qualification is open
access – meaning that no previous knowledge or experience is
required. It provides the ideal foundation for further study,
but is also recognised in its own right.
This Foundation level gives a grounding in the basics of business
and financial accounting for those new to the area.
Its
aim is to ensure you understand the regulatory framework for
accounting, how formal business relationships between organisations
are established and the economic environment in which organisations
operate.
It
will also introduce you to the concept of management accounting
and cover quantitative statistical analysis methods that will
be used by a Chartered Management Accountant.
The CIMA Certificate
in Business Accounting is a recognised qualification in its
own right and is assessed by Computer Based Assessment. This
means that the subjects can be completed flexibly, and can
enable you to progress to the CIMA Professional Qualification
at a pace that suits you.
If you have a relevant degree (equivalent to a UK honours
degree), in accountancy or business for instance, you may
be entitled to an exemption from the CIMA Certificate in Business
Accounting. See your entry point for details.
The
Foundation level is assessed by Computer Based Assessment.
This means that the Foundation level subjects can be completed
flexibly, and can enable you to fast-track to the Intermediate
level at a pace that suits you.
Upon
completion of the Foundation level exams you will be awarded
the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting.
If
you have a relevant degree (equivalent to a UK honours degree),
in accountancy or business for instance, you may be entitled
to an exemption from the foundation level. See your entry
point for details.
C1. Management
Accounting Fundamentals (FMAF)
C2. Financial
Accounting Fundamentals (FAFN)
C3.
Business Mathematics (FBSM)
C4.
Economics for Business (FECB)
C5. Business
Law (FBLW)*
* Exempting papers in Law are available in some countries.
Once you register you will receive our Student Resource File,
giving full details of these.
Assessment
You will be examined by computer based assessment (CBA). You
can take these assessments at a time that suits you in one
of our accredited CBA centres.
Subjects
C1, C2 and C3 are 90 minutes long and C4 and C5 are 60 minutes.
The pass mark for each subject is 50% and you will receive
your results and a Certificate of Achievement immediately
after the assessment. If you are unsuccessful, you will receive
some feedback on your performance in the assessment.
Computer based assessment
If you are studying for the
Certificate in Business Accounting, you will be assessed by
computer based assessment (CBA). CBA uses the computer to
deliver questions and receive answers. Each of the five
assessments can be taken flexibly when you are ready.
Computer based assessments can
be taken at CBA accredited centres throughout the world.
Colleges offering tuition towards the Certificate in Business
Accounting are often also centres where you can sit the
examination. Ask at your local college offering CIMA or look at
the
CBA centre list [New
window] for more
information.
The CBA system can ensure that
a wide range of the syllabus is assessed, as a pre-determined
number of questions from each syllabus area (dependent upon the
syllabus weighting for that particular area) are selected in
each assessment. You can therefore be confident that you have
a solid grounding in business and accounting in preparation for
the Managerial Level subjects.
The time allowed for each CBA
is outlined below:
- C1 Management Accounting
Fundamentals - 90 minutes (comprising 40 questions with one or
more parts)
- C2 Financial Accounting
Fundamentals - 90 minutes (comprising 40 questions with one or
more parts)
- C3 Business Mathematics - 90
minutes (comprising 35 questions with one or more parts)
- C4 Economics for Business -
60 minutes (comprising 40 questions with one or more parts)
- C5 Business Law - 60 minutes
(comprising 40 questions with one or more parts)
Types of questions
Computer based assessments use
objective test questions. The most common type of these
questions is ‘multiple choice’, where you have to choose the
correct answer from a list of possible answers, but there are a
variety of other objective question types that can be used
within the system. These include true/false questions, matching
pairs of text and graphic, sequencing and ranking, labelling
diagrams and single and multiple numeric entry.
Candidates answer the questions
by either pointing and clicking the mouse, moving objects around
the screen, typing numbers, or a combination of these responses.
Try our
online demo to get a feel for how the technology will work.
As well as using the online
demo you may also find it useful to download past objective test
questions from the paper based exams for exam practice. You can
find these in the
Study Resources area of the website.
Exemptions
These qualifications will give exemptions from the CIMA Certificate
in Business Accounting. Therefore you will have direct entry
into the CIMA Professional Qualification:
- A
relevant degree that specialises in accountancy or business
- The
Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) Technical level
-
The Open University (OU) Certificate in Accountancy
To find out if you can claim exemptions check CIMA
online
database. [New window]
We
give exemptions to make sure that you are not re-assessed
in a subject that you have already studied. Before you decide
whether to accept any exemptions look at our syllabus and
exam papers to make sure that your knowledge is up to date.
The
CIMA Professional qualification is built upon the knowledge
you gain from the Certificate so it is important that you
are confident that you have a good understanding of the subjects
- this will give you a greater chance of success in future
CIMA exams.
If
you are exempt from all of the five Certificate level subjects
you will not receive the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting.
You must sit at least one Certificate assessment to be awarded
the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting – for example,
you can be exempt from four subjects and sit one Certificate
assessment.
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