(soft upbeat music) Welcome to the Finance Leadership Program, your pathway to the CGMA designation. This seminar will introduce you to the program and show you how to progress
through the learning and eventually into the CGMA case study exam. The program is broken down into three levels, operational, management, and strategic. The operational level introduces essential business concepts and provides a strong foundation in the technical skills in href="https://cashnews.co/finance" style="font-weight: bold; color: #1a73e8; text-decoration: none;">Finance
completes your professional skill set with new insights and a valuable toolkit to help you lead at the enterprise level. Your entry level into the program is dependent on your prior education or certifications, which you’ve already submitted during the registration process. To earn the CGMA
designation, you must complete all applicable learning and case study exams from the level you start on. Once you log into the Finance Leadership Program, you’ll find yourself on your
CGMA Learning Dashboard. At the top of the screen, you can find the level of the program that you’re currently working on. This area shows you the current learning topic that you’re working on, and access to that learning. This area allows you to set weekly goals for yourself, which
also provides you with some statistics on your weekly performance. This is a great tool to help you plan for the exam date that works best for you. You can view your overall progress here, which shows how much of the learning in the current level you’ve completed. The Schedule Exam button
allows you to schedule the case study exam date that works best for you. The Messaging Center provides important notifications about the program including new features or content updates. Competencies are the major subjects that you’ll be learning about throughout the program. To complete
each level of the program, you must pass all of the competencies in that level. Each competency consists of several subgroups called skill sets. Skill sets show you the objectives that you’ll be tasked with. Each of these smaller bubbles represents a skill set. Once you complete all of
learning in the skill set, you’ll see a checkmark inside that bubble. You’re able to complete the skill sets and competencies in any order that you’d like. So feel free to take the pathway that makes most sense to you. The pieces of learning that make up a skill set are called
topics. Topics are the smallest unit of learning, which go into detail on a particular subject. When you first arrive at a topic, you will see that it gives you a brief introduction on what that topic will cover. You can see all of the topics that will be covered in the skill set by clicking the
View More Topics link. Unlike skill sets and competencies, you must complete topics in order as they oftentimes build upon each other. Topics consist of both textbook-like information, as well as application of the learning in real-world scenarios. As you progress through the learning, you’ll
be presented with knowledge checks along the way. These are questions intended to demonstrate how well you’re picking up on the subject matter. Knowledge checks can be given in several different formats, and allow you to retake them if you get the answer incorrect. Feedback is provided to
give you the reasoning behind the correct answers. You’ll notice a purple bar at the top of your screen. This bar shows you how far along you are within your current topic. When you reach the end of the topic, you’ll see a Next button, that takes you to an assessment. An assessment is
given after every topic, and measures your proficiency on that topic. After you answer each question, you will be told if it’s correct or incorrect. You must pass these assessments to show that you’ve fully grasped the material given. Once you’ve completed all topics within a
skill set, you will be told if you’ve passed that skill set, or if you need to revisit some of the learning. Some topics have pre-assessments, which allow you to assess out of having to complete the topic if you pass a short assessment. There are also a few non-assessed topics in each level
that require you to go through the topic but do not have an assessment at the end. After completing all of the skill sets in a competency, a Business Simulation Assignment is unlocked. This assignment bridges the learning you received in that competency with real-world scenarios. All BSAs are
linked to a single scenario, placing you in a key role within an organization where you will be required to complete a series of tasks. These tasks will provide you with the opportunity to integrate the learning you have acquired within a competency area, apply it to a variety of realistic business
situations, and help develop the skills you need to succeed in the case study exams. You also receive feedback at the end of each task, whether you provided a correct or incorrect answer. These assignments do not require a passing score. When we revisit the competency list after you’ve passed
your assessment, you’ll now see that you’ve received a checkmark for completing the competency. As you progress through the program, you’ll want to make sure to schedule your CGMA case study exam. The exam is given four times a year. In February, May, August, and November.
It’s important to schedule your exam early as testing centers often fill up quickly. You will be notified when registration opens for each exam window. About six weeks prior to your exam, you’ll also have access to the case study review course, which will help you prepare with mock
questions, personalized feedback, and a full analysis of the pre-seen material. By clicking on your name at the top of the screen, you’re able to access your account details, take a quick tour of the text-decoration: none;">Finance Leadership Platform, and provide feedback on the program. Once again, we thank you for joining us on your journey through the Finance Leadership Program.
(soft upbeat music)
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CIMA’s reputation is falling fast by their own doing (introducing a “buy your qualification” model with FLP), just google it and look through the discussion boards. Most qualified members don’t know about it or there would be uproar.
My view is that FLP is a cynical, money-making con concocted by CIMA’s American parent company (AICPA), designed for only one purpose: to exponentially increase membership income by handing out the CGMA qualification on a plate to anybody that pays the entry price, with minimal testing of candidates’ abilities. This has all been presented to us under the guise/smokescreen of “adapting the profession in a digital world”, and “offering flexibility to modern students.”
If you peek behind the thin veil of their bullshit sales pitch, the shocking reality of FLP is that 13 out of 16 exams have been removed and replaced by what is essentially online text books that students will need to read through. At the end of each chapter, they are required to complete a small bank of questions outside of exam conditions – they are not timed, the student’s identity is not verified, and the student has full access to all materials (as well as the entire internet) whilst completing the questions. Anyone with a basic grasp of the English language would be capable of passing these questions with little effort, or even asking a friend to do it for them if, for some incomprehensible reason, they find them to be a challenge. An entire stage of studying in detail to understand syllabus content (in preparation for the requirement to pass an exam in it) has been removed and students are now assumed to be fully capable after reading through the text book once and stumbling past some piss-easy end of chapter quizzes.
The 3 case study exams remain, and do offer assurance that candidates can at least string a sentence together in a finance/business context. However, they contain little to no in-depth financial content and calculations required in these exams are always brief and perfunctory (a quick profitability ratio for example – one number over the other). Under the traditional route to qualification, this is permissible because the candidate has been rigorously tested in these areas of study already, whereas under FLP, it is possible for candidates to pass the entire CIMA syllabus and call themselves a qualified accountant, when they may not even be capable of producing a simple journal entry or accrual, never mind a comprehensive capital investment appraisal. For CIMA to tell us with a straight face that these aren’t necessary competencies for a qualified accountant under a meek and nebulous reference to “AI taking over”, and the world’s transition towards a “digital future”, is nothing short of a disgrace to the profession. You will never see another profession or professional body sell out their members and degrade the importance of their work in such an egregious manner.
How long can we realistically expect it to be until CIMA decides to do away with the 3 remaining exams and maybe even PER in their race to the bottom? At least they will be well funded with membership fees, that is, until the gravy train ends and everyone realises CGMA isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.
With FLP, CIMA has stopped providing a rigorous and respected finance qualification (such as those offered by ACCA et. al.) and now offers what can only be described as a short-course in general business management with a light seasoning of finance. This is a monumental change to what many of us signed up for and its impact is being downplayed by CIMA, who are gaslighting us all with low effort sales patter; the fact that it was implemented with no consultation with qualified members is an abhorrent action by CIMA and part of a pattern of disrespectful behaviour that began soon after they triumphantly walked out on CCAB, hand in hand with AICPA who have since held them over a barrel.
Competing for jobs against ACA/ACCA qualified candidates in a competitive labour market just got a whole lot more difficult; ACAs/ACCAs now actually have a good reason to look down on CIMA qualified accountants and they will not hesitate to do so. I don’t blame them, I would not have chosen to study with this professional body had I known what it would become. Because of CIMA’s myopic greediness, we all face the unenviable prospect of potentially having to pick exams up again in the future with a reputable CCAB body if we are to remain a viable candidate for many employers. In a world where finance jobs continue to increase in complexity and demand more, CIMA is demanding significantly less – all they care about is the colour of your money.
The only redemption possible for CIMA’s tattered reputation would be the full withdrawal of the disastrous FLP experiment and a return to their roots, and original USP: rigorously training accountants for a successful career outside accounting practice.
Awesome. How much time to complete the Finance Leadership Program?
Is CIMA & CGMA syllabus r same ??
Very good explanation of the video
What about getting job in india?
Nice