Career Opportunities in Management Accounting

Management accountants work for public companies, private businesses, and government agencies.

They may also be called cost accountants, managerial accountants, industrial accountants, private accountants or corporate accountants, but all perform similar functions within a company.

Indeed, preparing data for use within a company is one of the features that distinguishes a management accountant’s job from other types of accounting jobs, such as public accounting.

Management Accountant as a Profession

Management accountants are risk managers, budgeters, planners, strategists, and decision-makers. They do the work that helps the company’s owner, manager or board of directors to make decisions.

A management accountant will analyze these basic data and make forecasts, budgets, performance measurements, and plans, then present them to senior management to assist in its operational decision making.

A management accountant may also identify trends and opportunities for improvement, analyze and manage risk, arrange the funding and financing of operations and monitor and enforce compliance.

They might also create and maintain a company’s financial system and supervise its bookkeepers and data processors.

Further, management accountants may have an area of expertise, such as taxes or budgeting.

There are two major professional designations for management accountants; obtaining one of these designations may help you to command a higher salary. The first is the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) designation, offered by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA).

The second is the Chartered Global Management Accountant designation, offered by the American Institute of CPAs in conjunction with the London-based Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

The credential has only been offered since the beginning of 2012.

At its inception, the CGMA program offered the credential based on experience alone; starting in 2015, there will also be an exam requirement.

Career Opportunities in Management Accountants

Management accountants often begin their careers as staff accountants to learn the fundamentals of accounting and how a business functions.

The field of management accounting is quite broad in scope like work performed, and in the type and size of the organization involved.

More employment opportunities exist in this field than in any other area of accounting.

The management accounting career track includes positions such as staff accountant, budget officer, industrial accountant, cost analyst, treasurer, controller, financial vice president, and chief financial officer.

The field of management accounting has evolved over the past years like work performed and its status in the profession.

The increasing complexity and globalization of business and the need for sound financial planning have created the need for individuals trained not only in accounting but in other disciplines as well.

Management accountants are needed in all manufacturing, merchandising and service enterprises, as well as in non-profit organizations such as governmental agencies (such as the IRS, GAO, and the FBI), hospitals, schools, and other institutions.

The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) offers a Certificate in Management Accounting (CMA) to recognize the professional competence of the field.