January traditionally marks a time for new beginnings and, equally important, an opportunity to review the past and set a course for even better things in the future. As president and CEO of this great organization, I want to share highlights from the past year, noting with pride the many major milestones we’ve reached—accomplishments that reflect the value we deliver to enrich our members’ careers, our organizational capability, and the public interest.
Here are some of the achievements IMA delivered in 2017:
Sustained Growth. We crossed the 90,000-member mark, which represents an 11% annual growth rate for this year and a 40% growth rate for the past five years, and we’re on track to surpass 100,000 members by our 100th Anniversary in 2019. This past year, we also saw record-breaking growth in our CMA® (Certified Management Accountant) program, with a 40% increase in the number of total candidates, reaching an all-time high of 41,000. In addition, student membership grew by 30% and now totals more than 21,000 individuals around the world.
Global Expansion. IMA has been increasing its global footprint for more than a decade, and in 2017 we strengthened our position as the leading advocate for the management accounting profession around the world. To that end, we expanded into new markets in India, Singapore, and The Netherlands, as well as broadened our presence in Brazil and Saudi Arabia. This past year also marked the 10th Anniversary of the CMA exam being offered in Chinese, another indicator of our growing global presence. To date, we’ve certified 55,000 CMAs worldwide, with more than 50% of our new CMAs residing in countries other than the United States.
Creative Innovation. We also introduced a variety of differentiated products and services to help meet our members’ evolving needs. Among the most important is our new global credential, the CSCA® (Certified in Strategy and Competitive Analysis), which enables CMAs to better drive strategic planning, build resilient financial plans, and manage risk to help their organizations sustain competitive advantage. We published a new management accounting textbook, expanded our IMA website and social media presence, and introduced a multimillion-dollar integrated advertising and marketing campaign to help increase awareness of the CMA certification in the U.S. Further, we partnered with numerous diverse organizations with strong reputations around the world—including Robert Half International, Deloitte, and NABA (National Association of Black Accountants)—to grow the CMA program, thought leadership, and member career development.
All of these initiatives reaffirm our commitment to be future focused and to strive every day to improve the value proposition we deliver to the profession and our members.
January 2018
