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Advance notice: MyCIMA will be unavailable 19–23 April.
Please be aware that as of Monday 3rd April 2023 the ability to register as a new CIMA Candidate or re-activate your CIMA account has been suspended and will not be available until Tuesday 3rd May.
There will be a scheduled maintenance on Saturday, 1st of April at 17:30 BST to Sunday, 2nd of April at 9:00 BST. Users can still access MyCIMA to schedule or start an Exam but other MyCIMA services will not be available. Users will not be able access Study Planner, CGMA Store, CGMA.org, and Competency and Learning. In the meantime, we apologize for any inconvenience caused.

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The CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting

The CIMA Cert BA offers a route into the CIMA Professional Qualification but is also a valuable qualification in its own right.

Overview

By studying the CIMA Cert BA, you’ll come away equipped with a solid understanding of fundamental accounting, management and business principles to kick-start your career in the world of business and finance. You’ll develop skills in financial reporting, forecasting, data analysis and more!

You can study the four Cert BA subjects in any order and if you carefully plan and commit to your studies, you can complete the qualification in 12 months with our on-demand computer based assessments.

When you have completed all exams (or qualified through exemptions) you can progress on to the CIMA Professional Qualification.

Syllabus

The CIMA Cert BA is made up of four subjects. Click on each subject below to find out more.

Within each subject, a percentage weighting is allocated against individual syllabus topics. This can be used as guidance on the proportion of study time required by each topic and the approximate proportional distribution of marks across syllabus topics. It’s essential you study all topics in the syllabus, since any exam question may examine more than one of the learning outcomes from each subject.

Certificate
Level

Award: CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting (CIMA Cert BA)

Award: CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting (CIMA Cert BA)

BA1
Fundamentals of
Business Economics
BA2
Fundamentals of Business Economics
BA3
Fundamentals of
Financial Accounting
BA4
Fundamentals of Ethics,
Corporate Governance and Business Law
 

BA1 Fundamentals of Business Economics

A Macroeconomic and Institutional Context of Business 25%

B Microeconomic and Organisational Context of Business 30%

C Informational Context of Business 20%

D Financial Context of Business 25%

 

BA2 Fundamentals of Management Accounting

A The Context of Management Accounting 10%

B Costing 25%

C Planning and Control 30%

D Decision Making 35%

 

BA3 Fundamentals of Financial Accounting

A Accounting Principles, Concepts and Regulations 10%

B Recording Accounting Transactions 50%

C Preparation of Accounts for Single Entities 30%

D Analysis of Financial Statements 10%

 

BA4 Fundamentals of Ethics, Corporate Governance and Business Law

A Business Ethics and Ethical Conflict 35%

B Corporate Governance, Controls and Corporate Social Responsibility 45%

C General Principles of the Legal System, Contract and Employment Law 15%

D Company Administration 10%


Download the Syllabus


Exams

Cert BA exams are two hours long and computer-based, available on demand at over 5,000 Pearson VUE assessment centres in over 178 countries worldwide.

Find your nearest exam centre through Pearson VUE

What does the exam look like?

Take a look at our exam preparation materials including free exam and question tutorials.

How long are the exams?

Cert BA exams are 120 minutes long. BA1, BA2 and BA3 will each contain 60 objective test questions, while BA4 will contain 85 objective test questions.

Scheduling your first exam

With your recent commitment to studying CIMA and powering up your career, there’s never been a better time to schedule your first exam! Follow these simple steps below and set yourself a goal to work towards:

  1. Log in to MY CIMA Log in with your CIMA contact ID and password, which you received when you registered with CIMA. If you don’t know your Contact ID or password, email or call CIMA with your full name, date of birth and postcode (cima.contact@cimaglobal.com or +44 (0)20 8849 2251)
  2. If required, confirm your details and settle any outstanding payments
    Make sure your details are up-to-date on your MY CIMA account. You won’t be able to schedule an exam if you have any outstanding payments.
  3. Select ‘Schedule your Exam’
    You’ll be transferred to the Pearson VUE website – you won’t need to log in again.
  4. Choose the exam you want to sit and go through the payment/booking process. Once this has been processed you’ll be transferred back to MY CIMA.

Want to schedule over the phone?

No problem! Give us a call on +44 (0)20 8849 2251 and we’ll transfer you to Pearson VUE who will schedule your exam and take payment.

Once you have scheduled your exam, whether online or over the phone, you will receive a confirmation email from Pearson VUE

Want to schedule over the phone?

No problem! Give us a call on +44 (0)20 8849 2251 and we’ll transfer you to Pearson VUE who will schedule your exam and take payment.

Once you have scheduled your exam, whether online or over the phone, you will receive a confirmation email from Pearson VUE

Rescheduling your exam

If you need to reschedule an exam, log in to your MY CIMA account and go to the ‘My exams’ section. You can reschedule your exam up to 48 hours before your appointment.

Before the exam

We’ll provide you with some study support and guidance over email in addition to the support and resources you can access via your preferred study method. Have a look at a few of the additional recommended resources below to help you prepare for your first exam.

  • Access free study resources through the Study Planner
  • Check out CIMAstudy.com for online learning modules and CIMA Aptitude – an online question bank that simulates real computer based assessments. Practice makes perfect, and it’s a worthwhile investment to be sure you’re ready for your exam!

On your exam day
  1. Arrive on time
    Make sure you know where the exam centre is and that you’ve allowed yourself plenty of time to get there.
  2. Calculators – bring your own or use our on-screen calculator
    As part of the computer-based assessment software, you will be provided with an on-screen calculator for use during your exam. If you prefer to use your own, please check out our list of approved calculators on study planner.
  3. Wait for your results when you finish
    You will receive a provisional result (pass or fail) at the exam centre. It will take up to 48 hours for your results to show on your MY CIMA account.

Receiving and understanding your results

Objective Tests are computer marked, so as soon as you have completed your Objective Test you will receive a provisional exam result of either ‘Pass’ or ‘Fail’ at the Pearson VUE assessment centre.

No more than 48 hours later your results will be ratified and appear on MY CIMA where you will also be able to see your scaled score (a score out of 150 with 100 representing a pass) and performance broken down by syllabus topic area.

After your exam

Whether you’ve passed or not, give yourself a break – even if it’s just for a few days – before you attempt your next exam or go for a re-sit.

If you didn’t pass, take a look at the areas you may have not done so well in, and think about how you will approach them next time.