Our first ever research into CIMA students' remuneration reveals top salaries by country and industry sector.
Many students are highly mobile and willing to migrate to get the best salary, according to the first CIMA student salary survey.
Up to 21% of students who took part in the international survey indicated that they would like to migrate in the next two years.
The survey reveals that the global salary hot spots are Dublin, London and Johannesburg, where students at the TOPCIMA level are commanding a salary of €51,184, £33,838, or R324,000 annually.
Higher salaries are typically found in the technology, telecoms and utilities, banking, finance and accountancy, and natural resources/energy/fuel industry sectors.
Passed finalists can earn on average 15% more than TOPCIMA level students.
- In India passed finalists earn 36% more than TOPCIMA students.
- In South Africa, it's 34% more.
- In Sri Lanka they remain on par with TOPCIMA.
- The figure in Malaysia is 4% more than TOPCIMA.
- In Ireland, passed finalists get 10% more than TOPCIMA.
- In United Kingdom, it's 16% more.
- In the Eurozone it's 8% more.
This means that whether you are just embarking on your CIMA studies at the certificate or managerial level, or about to complete your studies, you can expect good salaries across the globe and in many sectors.
Other advantages
You can also expect a challenging career - the key motivator identified by CIMA students at work. For students in Sri Lanka and Malaysia, a good working environment was cited as the key motivator. In the UK, training and development was most important. In Australia, the key motivator was flexibility and a good work life balance.
Other countries where migration was strong are shown on our migrations pattern table (PDF 23KB). The United Kingdom appears to be a sought after destination for people from India, South Africa and students from the Eurozone, while students in the UK and Sri Lanka are most likely to migrate to Australia.
Bonuses
Around 57% of CIMA students expect to receive a bonus in 2009 - equating to an average of 4.7% of their salary. As with salaries, men are expected to achieve higher bonuses than women - with average bonuses for men likely to average 5.3% of their salary, compared to 3.9% for women.
People in Sri Lanka and India are expecting to receive the highest bonuses as a percentage of their salary, with bonuses equating to 10% and 11% respectively. In contrast, 46% of students surveyed in the UK don't expect to receive a bonus in 2009.
Salaries and bonuses don't come easily, though. This research found that CIMA students may also be working long hours to assert themselves in the workplace, with students in India working up to 49.5 hours a week, followed by colleagues in Sri Lanka and Malaysia who work 46 hour weeks.
And finally, when asked which one word they would use to describe success, one in five CIMA students spontaneously described success as ' happiness!
Related links
All CIMA salary surveys
Contact us
You can contact us with your feedback and suggestions for Velocity at velocity@cimaglobal.com.