ICMA Australia focusing on computer based assessment in financial modelling

The Institute of Certified Management Accountants; ICMA Australia, the accounting body for both non-finance and finance professionals will commence its 2011 intake in June and the highlight of this year’s programme will be shifting to complete computer based assessment of the “Financial Modelling” subject. CMA Australia will give more prominence to this pivotal subject as it will enhance the finance acumen and financial model building skills of non financial professionals which will help when taking vital corporate decisions.

“The importance of finance is much felt in the recent past while the world was undergoing a crisis period.

One has to understand the impact of numbers on their own existence and how the survival of the organisation is ensured by better managing the numbers. In this context, the CMA programme is designed in such a way that a non-finance professional is trained to understand and deal with various financial aspects of a company so as to enable them to handle financial matters confidently” said Chaaminda Kumarasiri — a senior lecturer at the Academy of Finance.

One of the key subjects in the programme is Financial Modelling. This subject deals with useful tools that allow business options and risks to be evaluated in a cost-effective manner against a range of assumptions, identify optimal solutions in evaluating financial returns and understand the impact of resource constraints to make the most effective business decisions.

 “We use spreadsheet (MS Excel) as the platform for modelling and planning to increase the weight on the computer based practical assessment to make it a fully computer based assessment” he further added.

Every year CMA Australia enrols over 100 to 150 students and it is evidence of the popularity of the flexible course of study. The course is structured in such a way that it’ll offer a cutting edge qualification in this dynamic corporate environment specifically for professionals at the senior management level.

 “CMA was a gateway for me to enhance my knowledge in finance. The most important factor is that I could apply what I learnt in my day to day life as a marketer in analysing profitability of a project, marginal contribution etc. As a part of the curriculum we developed models on Microsoft Excel and we had to do a part of the exam on Excel” said a past student of ICMA Australia Orville Simmons, currently the Head of Modern Channel Dialog Axiata PLC.

“It was a user friendly study programme which was very well presented. The lecturers were highly qualified as well as practitioners of finance in the corporate world. The programme was also a platform for networking with senior management professionals who came from different backgrounds and fields” he continued.

 Global and domestic businesses today are highly competitive and complex. In this environment when trying to maximise shareholder value, firms both large and small are faced with conflicting objectives, blinding uncertainty and multifaceted challenges. Managers are constantly struggling with confounding questions such as; which products to be supported, what is the right balance between market share growth and profitability, how should the firms measure the long term effectiveness of different operational & marketing strategies, how should one set the optimum price for a new product, what matrix should the firm use to evaluate operational performance, how best to compensate the sales force, how does one  maximise return from advertising, what is the value of a brand and how best to build further brand equity.

“To effectively find solutions to these questions, taking a holistic view is a challenging task for operational and marketing managers who are often confined in silos and acting independently.

The lack of financial acumen amongst non-finance professionals often widens this gap and deter discussions across functional boundaries with them not being able to justify their cause in financial language” said Kapila Dodamgoda - Managing Director of The Academy of Finance/CEO of ICMA Australia Sri Lanka Branch.

“CMA Australia is an excellent qualification which cater to this gap and therefore well accepted by both the aspiring corporate managers and proven corporate leaders who want to drive shareholder value” he further added.