11 May 2020, London – The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) has delivered its first-ever at-home exams to students across the world, including the United Kingdom. This comes as the coronavirus outbreak forced test centres to close back in March, halting the studies of CIMA students and their progression towards earning the Chartered Global Management Accountant® (CGMA) designation.
With many schools, universities and professional accounting bodies postponing or cancelling exams because of the pandemic, CIMA looked at the best options to keep students engaged. This is why in late March the Institute took the decision to move CIMA exams to at-home testing, giving its students an alternative path towards gaining their professional qualification. CIMA members and students have a great and invaluable skillset to offer businesses, and will play an essential role in devising new business strategies to drive recovery.
Stephen Flatman, Vice President Examinations – Management Accounting, said: “The road ahead will of course be difficult but management accountants can really put their skills to use to help their organisations, and showcase how much value they bring to businesses. We are proud of the great resilience our students are showing to keep their careers moving, and steadily grow the pool of finance professionals able to help organisations navigate even the most uncertain and complex times.”
He continued: “Our colleagues and partners worked hard to come up with and deliver an at-home testing solution for our students in a very short amount of time. This change in our approach has so far enabled students from over 70 countries to progress their studies, book their CIMA exams and get them closer to earning the CGMA designation.”
Matthew Barton, CIMA student and Civil Service Finance Fast Stream Graduate, said: “I was feeling rather nervous about sitting my exam, especially under new and unfamiliar conditions. But once I clicked the “begin exam” button the process was very smooth, it’s close enough to the test centre experience so it’s not worth delaying your studies until they can reopen. I feel a lot better about the process now and will sit another exam next month.”
Dan Ralls, CIMA student and Finance and Commercial Graduate at Siemens, said: “On the whole, the experience was fairly good and the online invigilator was very easy to contact to ease some of my concerns. I didn’t feel disadvantaged by sitting my exam at home and I’m really pleased to be able to continue with my studies to hit the targets I had set myself.”