Recently, we at IMA® have been talking a lot about technology and analytics. I’ve met with IMA members as well as other accounting and finance professionals around the world, at organizations both large and small, to discuss how digital technology is creating risks and opportunities. As a leading global association for the accounting and finance profession, IMA takes seriously its role in helping our members contend with these risks and opportunities, including helping them learn the skills needed to maintain their relevance and increase their influence.
As part of that leadership role, IMA has begun an organization-wide initiative focused on providing more technology and analytics content and offerings for our members and the profession. This includes magazine articles, research reports, educational courses, podcasts, and a variety of other resources, many of which will be highlighted on our Technology & Analytics Center webpage
One of the new offerings debuting early this spring will be a Data Analytics and Visualization Fundamentals certificate course. This four-part online course aims to help members understand how to become data-driven, how to visualize the present and predict the future, and how to apply data analytics and visualization to address core business challenges.
In addition, this month marks the launch of the new CMA® (Certified Management Accountant) exam, CMA 2020, which incorporates new content in technology and analytics. It’s a change we’ve been planning for a long time, and I’m excited to see it realized. This update to our exam content ensures that the CMA is more relevant than ever to the work that accounting and finance professionals are being asked to do.
Within IMA, we’re heeding our own advice by pursuing “mastering technology” as one of our core strategic goals. We recently hired our first-ever director of analytics, who will be using some of the latest analytics tools to help us deliver more value to our members. Last year, we upgraded our enterprise resource planning (or back-end) systems, enabling us to provide new products and better service, such as automatic credit-card renewal. This year, we’re embarking on a new project to reimagine the IMA website and improve the user experiences for mobile and personal devices, and we’ll be seeking your input on these front-end engagement opportunities.
I’m looking forward to what we’ll accomplish together in 2020 as we continue to seek out new ways to use technology to benefit members and the profession. I hope you are as well.
January 2020
