CMA Practice Test

The Certified Management Accountant (CMA) certification exam is designed to assess the knowledge and skills of accountants, as well as increase credibility in the industry.

Click “Start Test” above to take a free CMA practice test, and check out our premium-quality CMA test prep resources by clicking the links below!

CMA Exam Eligibility

To be eligible for this exam, you must meet the following criteria:

• You must hold at least a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university
• You must have at least two consecutive years of professional experience in management accounting or financial management
• You must have paid the CMA entrance fee and completed the CMA program in the last three years
  • Professional members: $280
  • Student/academic members: $210

CMA Exam Outline

The CMA exam is split into two parts, each containing 100 multiple-choice questions and two essays. Each part is timed at 4 hours.

Part 1: Financial Planning, Performance, and Analytics

The questions on this part of the exam are designed to assess your knowledge and skills in the following areas:

External Financial Reporting Decisions (15%)

• Financial statements
• Recognition
• Measurement
• Valuation
• Disclosure

Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting (20%)

• Strategic planning
• Budgeting concepts
• Forecasting techniques
• Budgeting methodologies
• Annual profit plan and supporting schedules
• Top-level planning and analysis

Performance Management (20%)

• Cost and variance measures
• Responsibility centers and reporting segments
• Performance measures

Cost Management (15%)

• Measurement concepts
• Costing systems
• Overhead costs
• Supply chain management
• Business process improvement

Internal Controls (15%)

• Governance, risk, and compliance
• System controls and security measures

Technology and Analytics (15%)

• Information systems
• Data governance
• Technology-enabled finance transformation
• Data analytics

Part 2: Strategic Financial Management

The questions on this part of the exam are designed to assess your knowledge and skills in the following areas:

Financial Statement Analysis (20%)

• Basic financial statement analysis
• Financial ratios
• Profitability analysis
• Special issues

Corporate Finance (20%)

• Risk and return
• Long-term financial management
• Raising capital
• Working capital management
• Corporate restructuring
• International finance

Decision Analysis (25%)

• Cost/volume/profit analysis
• Marginal analysis
• Pricing

Risk Management (10%)

• Types of risk
• Risk identification and assessment
• Risk mitigation strategies
• Managing risk

Investment Decisions (10%)

• Capital budgeting process
• Capital investment analysis methods

Professional Ethics (15%)

• Business ethics
• Ethical considerations for management accounting and financial management professionals
• Ethical considerations for the organization

CMA Exam Registration

To register for the exam, you must be approved by ICMA and receive an authorization letter. Once, you have this letter, you may schedule your exam appointment and pay the $460 exam fee ($345 for student/academic members).

Test Day

On test day, you should arrive 15-30 minutes early to the testing center. This will allow time for the check-in process. The check-in process involves checking your ID and signing a confidentiality form.

Before entering the testing area, you will be asked to place all personal or prohibited items in a secure locker outside the testing area, and you will be given a piece of scratch paper and two pencils to take notes with during the exam.

Once you are ready, the proctor will lead you to the testing station and provide a brief introduction to the testing system before the exam begins.

How the CMA Exam is Scored

Your CMA exam score is calculating using a scaled scoring system. This system takes your raw score (the number of questions you answered correctly) and converts it to a numerical score on a scale from 0 to 500. To pass, your final scaled score must be at least 360 on each part of the exam.

Retaking the Exam

If you wish to retake the exam, you must re-register and pay the necessary examination fees in full.

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