CMA Exam Prep — Part 1: Financial Planning, Performance, and Analytics

About this course

What you'll learn

• Apply US GAAP recognition and measurement and identify major IFRS differences.
• Prepare budgets and forecasts, including pro forma statements and cash flow projections.
• Analyze variances, responsibility centers and performance measures.
• Compare costing systems and apply overhead allocation and process improvement tools.
• Evaluate internal controls, governance and system security measures.
• Use information systems, data governance and analytics to support finance decisions.

Course details

Level

advanced

What's included

• 18 lessons
• Progress tracking
• Certificate of completion

Requirements

• Working knowledge of financial statements, time value of money, statistics and business economics (assumed by ICMA).

Curriculum

1. 01

   Lesson 1: The Basic Financial Statements

   The balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in equity and statement of cash flows: their structure, the information each one conveys, and how a management accountant links figures across all four statements.

   85m
2. 02

   Lesson 2: Consolidated Statements and Integrated Reporting

   When and how an entity consolidates a subsidiary, the mechanics of eliminating intercompany transactions and recognizing noncontrolling interest, and the purpose and structure of integrated reporting beyond the traditional financial statements.

   80m
3. 03

   Lesson 3: Recognition, Measurement and Valuation

   How assets, liabilities, equity transactions, revenue and income are recognized and measured under U.S. GAAP, and the major differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS a management accountant must be able to identify.

   90m
4. 04

   Lesson 4: Strategic Planning and Budgeting Concepts

   SWOT and other strategic analysis tools, mission and long-term goals, cascading tactics from strategy, characteristics of a sound strategic planning process, operations and performance goal setting, characteristics of a successful budget process, resource allocation, and other core budgeting concepts such as budgetary slack and participative budgeting.

   85m
5. 05

   Lesson 5: Forecasting Techniques and Budgeting Methodologies

   Regression analysis for cost and revenue forecasting, learning curve analysis for labor-intensive processes, expected value for decisions under uncertainty, and the full menu of budgeting methodologies: master budgets, project budgets, activity-based budgeting, zero-based budgeting, rolling (continuous) budgets, and flexible budgets.

   90m
6. 06

   Lesson 6: Annual Profit Plan, Supporting Schedules, and Top-Level Planning

   Operational budgets (sales, production, direct materials, direct labor, overhead, selling and administrative), financial budgets (cash budget, budgeted balance sheet), capital budgets, pro forma income statements, financial statement projections, and cash flow projections that tie the annual profit plan together.

   90m
7. 07

   Lesson 7: Cost and Variance Measures

   Static versus flexible budgets, management by exception, standard cost systems, and the direct material, direct labor, variable overhead, fixed overhead, and sales volume/mix variances with full worked computations.

   85m
8. 08

   Lesson 8: Responsibility Centers and Reporting Segments

   Cost, revenue, profit, and investment centers; transfer pricing methods and their incentive effects; contribution margin as a performance lens; and segment reporting that distinguishes controllable from allocated costs.

   80m
9. 09

   Lesson 9: Performance Measures

   Product, business-unit, and customer profitability analysis; return on investment and residual income, including investment base measurement issues; key performance indicators; and the balanced scorecard's four perspectives.

   85m
10. 10

    Lesson 10: Measurement Concepts and Costing Systems

    Cost behavior and cost classification; actual, normal, and standard costing; absorption versus variable costing and the reconciliation between them; joint and by-product costing; and job order, activity-based, and life-cycle costing systems.

    85m
11. 11

    Lesson 11: Overhead Costs and Service Department Allocation

    Fixed and variable overhead, corporate versus departmental overhead rates, selecting allocation bases, and allocating service department costs to production departments using the direct, step-down, and reciprocal methods.

    85m
12. 12

    Lesson 12: Supply Chain Management and Business Process Improvement

    Lean resource management, enterprise resource planning, and capacity management within the supply chain; and value chain analysis, value-added concepts, process redesign, continuous improvement, benchmarking, and cost of quality in business process improvement.

    85m
13. 13

    Lesson 13: Governance, Risk, Compliance and the Internal Control Structure

    COSO 2013 Internal Control–Integrated Framework components and principles, management's philosophy and control environment, safeguarding and assurance objectives, corporate governance structures, Sarbanes-Oxley Sections 302 and 404, and external audit requirements including the PCAOB.

    85m
14. 14

    Lesson 14: Internal Control Risk, Testing and Remediation

    Inherent, control and detection risk and how they interact in the audit risk model, testing methods for internal controls (inquiry, observation, inspection, reperformance), and classifying and remediating control deficiencies, significant deficiencies and material weaknesses.

    85m
15. 15

    Lesson 15: System Controls and Security Measures

    General accounting system controls, application controls over input, processing and output, technology controls over access and change, backup control strategies, and business continuity and disaster recovery planning.

    85m
16. 16

    Lesson 16: Information Systems and Data Governance

    Accounting information systems, ERP and enterprise performance management (EPM) systems; data policies and procedures, the data life cycle, data management practices, and controls that guard against security breaches.

    85m
17. 17

    Lesson 17: Technology-Enabled Finance Transformation

    The system development life cycle (SDLC), robotic process automation and other forms of process automation, and innovative applications including artificial intelligence, cloud computing, blockchain and related emerging technologies used to transform finance operations.

    85m
18. 18

    Lesson 18: Data Analytics

    Business intelligence and data mining; the four types of data analytics (descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive); the basics of regression and statistics used to support predictive analysis; and data visualization best practices.

    90m