CGMA study guide
CGMA · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA®) qualification is described by its awarding body as the premier management accounting credential, indicating advanced proficiency in finance, operations, strategy and management. It is intended for management accountants and finance professionals who want global recognition of their business acumen, ethics and commitment to the profession. The site is brought to you by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, the global voice of the accounting and finance profession, founded by the American Institute of CPAs and The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Because the curriculum is structured around the four broad areas of finance, operations, strategy and management, preparation should be built around those pillars rather than around memorising isolated rules: expect to work through quantitative finance and performance-measurement topics alongside operating decisions, competitive and corporate strategy, and the people and ethics dimensions of management. The CGMA study guide has 4 sections and about 1,565 words.
01Finance: Cost of Capital, Investment Appraisal and Performance Ratios
The finance section tests cost of capital, capital budgeting, ratio and working-capital analysis, and cost-volume-profit behaviour. Build WACC as wd·kd(1−t) + wp·kp + we·ke, with ke from CAPM (rf + β × equity risk premium) or the dividend growth model.
383 words, about 2 min02Operations: Capacity, Inventory, Quality and Standard Costing
Operations questions cluster around capacity and throughput, inventory management, lean thinking, quality economics and standard costing variances. Understand the Theory of Constraints sequence (identify the bottleneck, exploit it, subordinate everything else, elevate it) and Little's Law: work in progress = throughput × flow time.
396 words, about 2 min03Strategy: Competitive Position, Portfolio Choices and Value Creation
Strategy questions test industry analysis, generic positioning, resource-based advantage and portfolio logic. Apply Porter's five forces to judge industry profitability, remembering the forces are structural, not firm-specific.
402 words, about 2 min04Management: Motivation, Control, Budgeting Behaviour and Performance Measurement
Management questions combine organisational behaviour with management accounting control. Know the motivation theories: Maslow's hierarchy, Herzberg's two-factor split between hygiene factors and motivators, and expectancy theory linking effort, performance and reward.
384 words, about 2 min