Tag Archives: Accountancy

Why study CIMA?

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It’s easy to lose track of why we’re studying CIMA. The path to becoming fully qualified is an arduous one and can take years to complete – especially if you fail exams along the way. With this in mind, it’s good to remind ourselves WHY we are studying CIMA and the potential career opportunities that await us in the end.

CIMA Qualified Salary

You check the average salary for CIMA qualified jobs across the globe by using the 2015 CIMA Salary Insights tool here – it’s an eye opener and a clear reminder of why we are studying!

Average Salary in the UK

  • The below image shows the average salary for CIMA students who work in the pharmaceutical industry in the finance department.
  • You’d be expected to be earning around £34k a year, however qualified CIMA members can expect to earning nearly DOUBLE that figure at £66k a year.

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Average Salary in India

  • Likewise, I done the same for people working in India who are CIMA students and qualified members working the accountancy industry.
  • Here you can see that CIMA students would be earning around 3,116,349 rupees a year, but qualified CIMA member would earning over double that figure.

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The criteria I selected is based on NEWLY qualified CIMA members – so really, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to earning potential. The possibilities and benefits are endless. So when you want to put off your studies and delay your next exam, just remember what’s on offer once you complete the strategic level and relevant experience!

Career Opportunities

Just to show the substance behind these numbers, I’ve browsed the job sections on the CIMA jobs website and you can see that newly qualified management accountants in London can be expected to be earning around £50-55k+

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As well, as part-qualified accountants in Milton Keynes earning to be earning in the region of £35k+. Moreover, when you look at being up the career ladder at such positions as Financial Controller and Finance Manager positions you can see the starting salaries are even higher.

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Career Progression

Nevertheless, it’s not just about earning the highest salary possible that will fulfil your ambitions. Being rewarded with a challenging position that will get the best out of your skills will be the motivation for some students and becoming CIMA qualified will give you more opportunities.

For example; if a hiring manager has a choice between two candidates and one is CIMA qualified and one isn’t – you’d expect the CIMA qualified candidate to have a huge advantage and you’re likely to be a much more attractive employee for the company to employ.

Working Abroad

Likewise, having a globally recognised accounting qualification will also give you opportunities to travel across the world and work in a host of different environments and cultures. Here is an inspiring story from a CIMA member who has worked in Portugal, Cuba, Peru and London.

You can find the 2015 CIMA salary calculator here.

And the CIMA Jobs website is located here.

So, when you are struggling for motivation or failed yet another CIMA exam, remember WHY you are studying CIMA and what’s on offer when becoming a qualified member.

Happy Studying!

 

Big Data: a hot CIMA topic

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When looking at the 2010 CIMA study texts you will find very little on the subject of Big Data. But it seems to be a hot topic these days and I am sure the CIMA examiner will look to squeeze in a question on Big Data whenever they can.

The use of Big Data is becoming vital for companies to find that competitive edge or to serve their customers better by understanding their needs.

One of the classic examples of Big Data would be the supermarket industry. The amount of data they gather on their customers is staggering and the introduction of loyalty cards has made it even easier to collect data on consumer habits and trends.

Supermarkets and Big Data

For example, supermarkets realised there was a connection between the purchase of baby nappies and beer. Clearly, the parents would stop at Tesco (or any other retailer) on the way home from work to pick up some nappies and at the same time pick up some alcohol too. So to make it easier for the customer they placed the baby products closer to the alcohol selection. Win, win!

It’s the small details like this that Big Data can pick out and allows the business to cater for every aspect of the customers needs.

Big data allows you to draw on vast quantities of data to spot unusual trends and correlations that would be usually difficult to spot.

GARNERS THREE V’s

In a 2001 research report Garner identified three key challenges that organisations face – Volume, Velocity and Variety.

VOLUME – increasing volumes of data mean there is a lot more to manage and harder to extract key information from it.
VELOCITY – there is an increasing speed of data in and out, means data can quickly change. So analysis needs to be quick to spot and react to the changes.
VARIETY – the range of data types and sources of data can be varied making analysis difficult. Data in different IT systems can hard to link and analyse together.

There are 7 key stages to Big Data collection:
1. CAPTURE – what kind of data is needed and how will it be captured?
2. STORAGE – Big Data sets need physical systems that can take up vast amount of space – also need to be secure!!
3. CURATION – Once the data is captured it needs to be organised, controlled and maintained. Daily upkeep of the data.
4. ANALYSIS – The process of interpretation the data. Splitting it out into categories or make links between different types of data.
5. VISULATION – Once analysed, it needs to be put into illustration in a clear digestible format.
6. SEARCH – Once compiled, you must be able to search the data to find what you want. i.e. Google!
7. DATE SHARING AND TRANSFERS – Data must be able to be shared with those who need it.

Big Data is also massively important in marketing – by using twitter, Facebook, chat rooms and forums – companies can build up a picture of consumers and this kind of personal data is unique due to the personal nature.

It can also help identify new customers by using demographics and it also help discover new niche markets by grouping people in terms of interests and behaviour.

It’s a relatively new topic in CIMA but it’s one of the more interesting topics as you can relate to everyday life. So don’t get caught short when studying for your next case study exam – as understanding and applying Big Data could make a BIG difference in passing your next exam.