Difference Between CMA and CS
CMA stands for Certified Management Accountant and this course is duly sponsored and offered by the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (ICMA) and this course focuses on cost and management accounting whereas CS stands for Company Secretary and it is offered by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) and this course focuses on corporate law.
Yes, I agree. It is important to compare two different courses if you have confusion about what needs to be done. And two major financial courses are definitely not easy to decide between. The notes given below can help you with your confusion, as the comparison below will make it easy for you to decide about your future.
Below is the flow of the article –
- CMA vs. CS Infographics
- What is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA)?
- What is Company Secretary (CS)?
- CMA vs. CS Exam Requirements
- Why pursue CMA?
- Why pursue CS?
CMA vs. CS Infographics
Reading time: 90 seconds
Let’s understand the difference between these two streams with the help of this CMA vs. CS Infographics.
CMA vs. CS – Comparative Table
| Section | CMA | CS | |
| Organizing Body | The exams are organized by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), USA | The exams are organized by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), India. | |
| Pattern | The course is divided into 2 parts
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The course is divided into 3 levels
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| Duration of course | The candidates must complete the course in 3 years. However, most candidates complete the course in 12 to 18 months. | The candidates usually complete the course in a span of 2 to 3 years.
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| Syllabus | The syllabus covers the following topics
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The syllabus covers the following topics Popular Course in this category  All in One Financial Analyst Bundle (250+ Courses, 40+ Projects) 4.9 (1,067 ratings) 250+ Courses | 40+ Projects | 1000+ Hours | Full Lifetime Access | Certificate of Completion
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| Exam Fees | The course expense includes entrance fees and exam fees. The overall cost comes to be around $1,080 for professional members and $810 for students. | The cost of the course varies in the range of $400 to $500. The ICAI members and commerce graduates are eligible for certain exemptions. | |
| Jobs | Some of the common profiles include
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Some of the common profiles include
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| Difficulty | The exams are moderately difficult. During January-February 2020, the overall pass rate was 45% for both Parts I and Part II exams. | The exams are quite difficult. During June 2019, the pass rates for the Executive program and Professional program were in the range of 24% to 33% and 8% to 17% respectively. | |
| Exam Date | The exams take place during Jan-Feb, May-Jun, and Sep-Oct every year. The schedule for the upcoming exams for the year 2021 (both Part I and Part II):
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The exams take place in the months of June and December every year. The upcoming exams for the year 2021 will begin on June 01.
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What is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA)?
Suppose you want to pursue a course with professional documentation that can earn you good value in the fields of advanced management accounting and financial management areas. CMA is a certification that gives you and your profession international or global recognition. It will confirm your knowledge in the domains of financial planning, decision support, analysis, control, and professional ethics. These skills and knowledge are extremely important in the finance industry across the globe. This certification globally recognized course and is offered by the institution called the Institute of Management Accountants, which is a US-based institute. More than 75,000 CMAs have been certified as of 30th June 2019, out of which around 40,000 active members. To become a CMA, you have to meet a number of criteria, especially a commitment to learning continuously through continuing professional education.
For more details, you can look at this Nuts & Bolts of CMA Exam.
What is Company Secretary (CS)?
This job is not typically a clerical or a secretarial job; in fact, it is none of these. A company secretary position is one of the senior management positions in any company, be it a private sector company or a public sector one. A company secretary makes sure that the administration of the company is efficiently handled, making sure that the compliance the regulations and the statutory requirements are met, and also making sure that the decisions of the board of directors are implemented. It is just the name that sounds clerical; however, there is a huge difference in the designation and the job role of a company secretary. Meeting regular legislations and regulations laid down by the government, the company secretary also makes sure that the board of directors is reminded and does follow their legal responsibilities. A CS is also called a company named representative on legal papers who make sure that the company and its board of directors operate its functions within the set laws.
CMA VS CS Exam Requirements
CMA
- You need to first have a bachelor’s degree of 3 to 4 years maximum from an accredited college or an accredited university.
- You then need to have two full and continuous experiences of applying the principles of management accounting and financial management in domains such as preparing financial statements, financial planning and analysis, monthly closure, quarterly closure, and also annual closure, auditing, budgeting, etc.
- Even after becoming a certified CMA, you need to still have 30 hrs of CPE credits along with 2 hours of ethics to maintain the annual IMA membership with an active status.
CS
- To become a CS, you need to be a 10+2.
- After you complete high school, you need to pursue a 3 stage course, which includes the foundation, executive, and professional program.
- In case you are joining the course after clearing your graduation, you can start directly with the executive and professional program.
Why Pursue CMA?
To work towards one of the rarest courses like CMA is defiantly a pleasure, and this pleasure comes to you with definite hard work. This certificate gives you the certification of US-based institutes, which is international recognition in financial management fields and in advanced management accounting. Besides maintaining your membership, you have to be committed to CPE. After being certified, you can easily work for various domains in the finance industry for either a public or a private sector company. CMA certification signifies the knowledge you possess in various domains of the industry. There are more than 75,000 CMA members as of 30th June 2019, out of which around 40,000 active members.
Why pursue CS?
Being a CS gives you an amazingly rewarding career both professionally and financially, for you can work as an independent professional as well as with a company. This course is a correspondence course, which means you do not need to attend any sort of class to crack it. Studying at home and by yourself is the way you do it. Although the registration is valid for 5 years, you can complete the course in a span of 2 to 3 years. As of 15th September 2020, there are more than 62,000 registered CS professionals across 4 regional offices and 72 chapters of the institute.
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