Members endorse CIMA’s long-term strategy

In April 2016, Myriam Madden (then, CIMA’s President) wrote to the membership about our long-term strategy and the proposal from CIMA’s Council to evolve our joint venture with the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and create a new association that would represent the breadth of the accounting profession. 

The ballot recently took place and we are pleased to share the results for both CIMA and the AICPA. An overwhelming 89.7 per cent of CIMA members voting endorsed our strategy and proposal. Likewise, 85.6 per cent of the AICPA members who voted supported the proposal to create a new association. 

CIMA’s Council had been considering how to adapt to today’s faster and more competitive world and the proposal which has now been endorsed will build on our existing joint venture which has seen a number of successes, including the creation of the CGMA designation. Through the creation of the Association, we aim to accelerate CIMA’s long-term strategy to ensure we remain most relevant in the management accountancy space. 

The CIMA and AICPA membership bodies will remain and CIMA will retain its strong focus on management accounting. By joining forces with the AICPA, we aim to become the world’s most influential professional body of accountants while continuing to operate the two membership bodies our communities have collectively trusted for many decades. We will also aim to advance the entire breadth of the accounting profession – both management and public accounting – and continue to raise the profile of the CGMA designation globally to further enhance our employability and recognition. 

We will keep everything we value from CIMA while benefiting from the combined strength of the two organisations. We will be stronger together, allocating resources more effectively and achieving greater efficiencies to deliver better services and benefits to our members. Our membership of CIMA, our designations, our Council and Royal Charter will all remain, but we will automatically become a member of the new joint venture Association. 

The new Association will build on the history and reputation of both CIMA and the AICPA and by integrating strategy, management and operations, we aim to become stronger, provide greater and more responsive services to better serve both our current and future members in the competitive challenges that lie ahead. 

Through our feedback from members we have learned how they see the future direction of CIMA and management accountancy. We now have a deeper knowledge of the views of our members across the world, and CIMA’s work to support you and raise the profile of our profession will be all the stronger for it.

Today marks the start of a journey as we commence working to integrate our operations. Implementing the proposal will begin straight away, and while full integration will of course take time, the new Association will launch in 2017 to deliver additional value to the members.