CONTINUING CIMA®
CIMA® never expires; it just needs to be maintained well through demonstrated continuous learning.
The CIMA® qualification is valid for life as the charter holders have qualified the rigorous knowledge specs in all the critical building blocks of investment & management accounting, and the CIMA® designation continuation policy helps CIMA® qualified professionals regularly upgrade and refresh their knowledge and skills and stay in sync with the professional requirements in changing times.
Indeed, though the CIMA® qualification never expires, it needs to be maintained - i.e., kept active and in good standing by charter holders if they wish to continue deriving career benefits out of CIMA®. Continuation of CIMA® membership is also linked to the status of the CIMA® designation. Inactive CIMA® designation will result in membership suspension as well, implying a temporary block to the myCIMA membership dashboard and resources. No maintenance action needs to be taken for the first two years and the CIMA® program fees and CIMA® Certificate Charter Kit fees cover CIMA® membership for the period. Third year onward CIMA® qualification requires to be refreshed annually by attending the CIMA® webinar and paying the CIMA® annual membership fee.
Continuing the CIMA® designation requires keeping the CIMA® qualification in good standing. Also to be noted, having an active or life CIMA® membership does not exempt any CIMA® qualification holder from the requirements of CIMA® maintenance. CIMA® qualification holders require to know the following regarding CIMA® designation maintenance and continuation:
There is no action required to be taken by a qualification-holder for designation maintenance for the first 2 years after the award of the CIMA® designation. The designation stays active and in good standing unless a breach of the CIMA® Code of Conduct has been reported against a qualification holder.
Third year onward, every CIMA® qualification holder has to attend the CIMA® Review Webinar once every year to keep the CIMA® qualification refreshed and in an active state. The annual membership fee of US$ 150 covers the cost of the CIMA® Review Webinar. Alternatively, CIMA® qualification holders can pay US$ 650 as membership fee for life. Once they have done that, they do not have to pay any fee for maintenance or for attending the CIMA® Review Webinar to keep their designation in the active state.
Payment of membership fee alone is not enough to maintain CIMA® designation. Attending the CIMA® Review Webinar once every year from third year onwards is a must.
The prescribed CIMA® Review Webinar must be completed within two weeks of the scheduled refreshment of the designation, along with payment of the membership maintenance fee as indicated in the clauses above.
The CIMA® Review Webinar includes conversations and talks on the latest developments, trends, and best practices in various areas of investment & management accounting.
CIMA® designations that are not refreshed (through attending the CIMA® Review Webinar) even after 4 weeks of scheduled refreshment are automatically made inactive. Inactive CIMA® designations are shown to the public as “inactive” on relevant CIMA® databases, and employers or other stakeholders will be able to verify the status. Hence, even though the CIMA® qualification has not expired for such qualification holders, their designation has been made inactive.
The membership of CIMA® charter holders with inactive designations will be temporarily suspended and access to membership resources may be temporarily barred. Attending the CIMA® Review Webinar will automatically restore full access to membership resources.
CIMA® designations that are not refreshed (through attending the CIMA® Review Webinar) even beyond 8 weeks of the scheduled refreshment date are put in the suspension mode, and the designation is shown as “suspended” on all the publicly viewable databases. Hence, even though the CIMA® qualification has not expired for such qualification holders, their designation has been suspended.
Suspended designations can be refreshed by paying an extra fee of US$ 150.00 over the standard fee due as indicated in the clauses above. Even life members are required to pay the suspension-revocation fee, without any exception.
The suspension revocation fee is billable annually. Hence, if a designation has not been refreshed for two years, the CIMA® qualification holder will be required to pay the membership fee as well as the suspension fee for two years to revoke the suspension. Life members, however, have to only pay the suspension-revocation fee for two years, to get their designation back into the active state.
CIMA® designation holders who do not wish to continue with their designation may request for surrender and subsequent retirement of their CIMA® designation. The clauses of maintaining CIMA® cease to apply to a surrendered and retired CIMA® designation. Surrendered and retired CIMA® designations show as “Retired in Good Standing” on all public databases.
The CIMA® qualification is valid for 2 years after the first award. The qualification continuation and maintenance policy are as follows:
| First 2 years | No action to be taken by the holder |
|---|---|
| Third year onward | Annual Membership fee of US$ 150 and attending the CIMA® Review Webinar once annually.
OR One-time fee of US$ 650 to obtain a lifetime membership. Life-time membership-holders of CIMA® certification also require to attend the CIMA® Review Webinar once every year. |
Requirements of maintenance and refreshment may be relaxed in certain cases for CIMA® qualification holders who are:
Waivers are considered on a case-by-case basis. The request should be sent at [email protected] accompanied by appropriate documentation. Being too busy at work, changing a job, or temporary unemployment are not considered special circumstances and will not be approved.
