CPA Australia SMA study guide
CPA Australia SMA · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
Strategic Management Accounting (SMA) is one of the core segments of the CPA Program offered by CPA Australia, the professional body whose home page describes the qualification as a pathway to "a limitless future" for accountants. Candidates typically encounter SMA after completing the foundational segments, and it suits accountants who want to move beyond financial reporting into analysis that supports managerial and strategic decisions: costing systems, budgets and control, performance measurement, relevant costing, and how strategy and value creation are framed in a sustainability-conscious organisation. The CPA Australia SMA study guide has 5 sections and about 2,051 words.
01Strategic management accounting fundamentals and cost management
Domain 1 - Strategic management accounting fundamentals and cost management - tests whether you can classify costs for decisions, trace overhead to cost drivers, and choose cost-management techniques that support strategy. Expect contrasts between absorption costing and activity-based costing (ABC), and questions on target, life-cycle, Kaizen and throughput methods.
446 words, about 2 min02Planning, budgeting and control
Domain 2 - Planning, budgeting and control - tests the budget architecture, behavioural consequences, and variance analysis used to steer strategy. Questions often require you to separate volume effects from price and efficiency effects.
413 words, about 2 min03Performance measurement and management
Domain 3 - Performance measurement and management - tests whether you can select financial and non-financial measures that align behaviour with strategy. Expect ROI, residual income (RI), EVA, the balanced scorecard, performance prism and transfer pricing.
394 words, about 2 min04Decision making and relevant costing
Domain 4 - Decision making and relevant costing - tests short-term decisions using only costs and revenues that differ between alternatives. Expect special orders, make-or-buy, product mix with a constraint, shutdown, sell-or-process-further and cost-volume-profit analysis.
403 words, about 2 min05Strategy, value creation and sustainability
Domain 5 - Strategy, value creation and sustainability - tests how strategy is formulated, how value is created across the value chain, and how environmental and social performance is measured and reported. Expect Porter, five forces, resource-based advantage, strategy maps, triple bottom line, ESG, integrated reporting and environmental management accounting.
395 words, about 2 min