Chartered Institute of Management Accountants

25 October 2005

CIMA notes the outcome of the vote of members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) not to proceed on the integration with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA).

Ian Christison, President of CIMA said: “In April 2005, CIMA stated that agreement had not been reached which met its requirements for tripartite consolidation and issued specific Principles which we believed should be applied for a successful consolidation. 

“These principles outline our vision for the future and include the need for a new body with a new charter, a common set of designatory letters and an equality of status among each of the accountancy specialisations within business, practice and the public sector to ensure a consolidated body capable of uniting the profession.

“CIMA was unable to achieve agreement with ICAEW and CIPFA that met CIMA’s requirement for its principles to be adopted within a tri-partite consolidation.  However, ICAEW has been considering these principles and we await a response to see if these principles can form the basis for agreeing a way forward. In the meantime, CIMA will continue with its successful and focused strategy as the only international accounting body solely focused on business.”

- ENDS -

For further information, please contact:

Lottie Muir
Press & PR Manager, CIMA
+44 (0) 20 8849 2407
Lottie.Muir@cimaglobal.com

Notes to editors

1. CIMA (the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) is the only international accountancy body with a sole focus on business.  It is a world leading professional institute that offers an internationally recognised qualification in management accountancy, focusing on accounting in business, in both the private and public sectors. It is the fastest growing UK based accountancy body, in terms of members, in both the UK and worldwide and is the voice of over 85,000 students and 65,000 members in 158 countries.  CIMA is responsible for the education and training of management accountants who work in industry, commerce and not-for-profit and has more members in the public sector than any other UK based body.  CIMA prides itself on the commercial relevance of its syllabus, which is in tune with the activities of high performance organisations, and evolves continually to reflect the latest developments in global business.  It is committed to upholding the highest ethical and professional standards of members and students, and to maintaining public confidence in management accountancy.  For more information about CIMA, please visit www.cimaglobal.com