CGMA study plan

Build a one-page map of the three primary financial statements showing how each line links to the others

Compute and interpret 12 core ratios (liquidity, solvency, activity, profitability) from a set of published accounts you construct yourself

Explain in writing how revenue recognition and inventory costing choices change reported profit and the balance sheet

Solve 15 time-value-of-money problems (NPV, IRR, annuities, perpetuities) without notes, logging every error and its cause

Construct a full absorption-costing statement and reconcile the difference in profit against a variable-costing statement

Calculate material, labour and overhead variances and write a two-sentence business explanation for each favourable and adverse result

Rank three investment proposals using NPV, IRR and payback, then justify in writing which method should dominate the decision

Prepare a cost-volume-profit analysis identifying break-even point, margin of safety and operating leverage for a multi-product business

Diagram a process flow for a service and a manufacturing operation and identify the constraint in each

Classify 20 costs as fixed, variable, step-fixed or mixed and defend each classification in one sentence

Draft a balanced scorecard for a named business with two measures per perspective and a stated data source for each measure

Evaluate three supply-chain or quality initiatives and rank them by expected impact on cost and on customer outcomes

Build a 12-month cash budget and a supporting operating budget from a stated set of assumptions

Compute working-capital ratios and propose three specific actions to shorten the cash conversion cycle, quantifying the cash released

Analyse a variance report and separate controllable from non-controllable items with a recommended management response for each

Reconcile budgeted to actual profit and present the bridge as a ranked list of causes by monetary impact

Apply a PESTEL and a five-forces analysis to one named industry and state the two forces that most affect profitability

Position three competitors on a value-curve or strategy canvas and identify an unserved customer segment

Evaluate organic growth against acquisition for a stated scenario, listing three financial and three non-financial decision criteria

Explain in writing how a chosen competitive position translates into pricing, cost structure and capital investment choices

Build a stakeholder map for a decision scenario and rank each group by power and by interest

Identify five ethical and governance failures in a constructed scenario and cite the principle each one breaches

Assess a capital project using both financial and strategic criteria and write a recommendation that addresses the conflict between the two

Draft a one-page risk register with likelihood, impact, owner and mitigation for six identified risks

Design a divisional performance measure set that avoids the dysfunctional behaviour of a simple ROI target

Compare three transfer-pricing methods and state the behavioural consequence of each in a two-line summary

Explain how two motivation theories would change the design of an incentive scheme in a stated business

Produce a one-page plan for implementing a change initiative, naming the resistance points and the response to each

Sit two full-length timed mock exams under exam conditions and self-mark against published-style rubrics

Rewrite every incorrect mock answer into a corrected version with the underlying principle stated in one sentence

Re-drill the 30 weakest items from weeks 1 to 7 until each is answered correctly twice in a row

Produce a one-page exam-day plan covering question sequencing, time allocation per mark and a rule for abandoning a question