The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), headquartered in London, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), headquartered in New York, are launching a joint venture that would give management accountancy a far higher profile in the United States and promote its development across the world.
The step, which requires ratification from the institutes' respective governing bodies, would combine the strength of the AICPA in North America with CIMA's presence in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and elsewhere.
CIMA and AICPA would create a new not-for-profit joint venture to be called the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. This would promote a new professional accounting designation with new designatory letters, which will be announced in due course. Existing CIMA members could retain their current "FCMA" or "ACMA" letters after their names, or alternatively, they would have the option to use these as appropriate in conjunction with the new designation. This joint venture would also promote the US Certified Public Accountant (CPA) qualification, as a world-wide standard of professional excellence in public accounting.
The agreement is subject to approval by governing bodies of both organisations and will be voted on separately by both the CIMA and AICPA Councils in May. George Glass, CIMA President, said: "This agreement would give CIMA and AICPA truly global reach. The new venture would have an unrivalled depth of resources to meet the needs of both organisations and their individual members around the world. We believe that the new qualification designation would prove hugely appealing in mature and emerging markets."-PR