CPA Exam Registration Process? – A Step-by-Step Guide
Many individuals uphold a dream to travel and work abroad, in nations like the USA and Europe. Hence, they want to choose a career that can help make this dream come true. Finance and Accounting can be career options for commerce students.
As we all know, Accountancy is a popular career option to pursue as accountants play an incredibly important role in an organization. Hence, it is the best career option for individuals who want to work in an important position and expect swift growth.
If you want to work overseas in the Finance and Accounting profession, it is recommended to have at least an internationally recognized qualification awarded by some reputed accountancy professional bodies, such as ACCA and IMA.
ACCA and CMA USA certifications are two such internationally recognized qualifications, which can help you land a job in nearly every part of the earth. In this article, we will discuss each and every aspect of the jobs after CMA USA and ACCA certifications. Let’s also break down all the differences between the CMA vs ACCA job opportunities on every level, such as the market demand for the qualification, job recognition, salary, and much more.
Before we discuss job opportunities provided by the above two qualifications – CMA and ACCA. Let’s first get to know a little more about these qualifications.
Issued by the IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) in the US, CMA is one of the most prestigious certifications in Managerial Accounting. The credentials signify that the individual holding it possesses all the knowledge in several fields of accountancy, such as financial planning and Strategic Management.
CMA certification digs deeper and puts more emphasis on management accounting as well as financial management. Hence, it eventually becomes more comprehensive and preferred by a lot of individuals. Besides, if you are someone who wants a managerial and senior-level position in a company, then doing a CMA course is the best way to go. Worried about the jobs after CMA? It can open several paths to many senior-level positions in a company, and you can even reach the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) position in a company with CMA certification with you.
A Bachelor’s degree and two consecutive years of Managerial work experience are necessary for CMA USA Certification. The applicant must clear two examinations (with a total of 4 hours of time duration for each exam), in order to get certified as a CMA. The first part of the exams comprises 100 MCQs carrying 375 marks and the second part comprises 2 essay questions carrying 125 marks in total.
Once you have acquired it, there is no shortage of well-paying jobs after CMA.
We will discuss the opportunities for jobs after CMA in detail, in the later section of the article.
Now, let us first grasp the meaning of ACCA certification.
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants is a globally recognized professional body of accountancy, in effect since 1904. This official body offers a professional certification in accountancy by the same name, ACCA (Chartered Certified Accountant) qualification.
ACCA is a globally recognized qualification with more than 200,000 fully qualified members from nearly 180 different countries spread all around the globe. The qualification is well known to provide its applicant with a strong foundation in the field of accounting, which helps them build their careers in the field of finance. ACCA is quite comprehensive, similar to the CMA certification. It provides the candidate with a world-class education at reasonable prices – a combo of the ACCA certification course which is quite hard to find these days.
With recognition from over 180 countries around the globe, ACCA has an immense global presence, larger than any other accounting qualification. Hence, there are many ACCA job opportunities overseas waiting for you, more than the jobs after CMA.
The field of accounting, also known as the “language of business” is responsible for providing a lot of jobs worldwide. Talented and smart accountants are in great demand as the global economies are becoming more and more organized and structured. With the rapid integration of new and ever-evolving technology, the role of an accountant and accounting have also evolved accordingly, but still, the key components remain the same. The accounting job overseas still holds an important position in a company.
There are a ton of job opportunities overseas as an accountant. Whenever there is business, there is a need for accountants, and guess where the most of the business happens. It happens overseas – from western nations, trade capitals, and trade hubs. Just to name a few –
Above are the locations where your skill as an accountant is in most demand.
There are some prerequisites for working overseas as an accountant, which is as follows:
As we mentioned earlier, CMA and ACCA are both globally recognized certifications. But what does it mean to you? It simply means that once you get any of these two certifications, you will be eligible to get a job nearly anywhere around the globe. There are a lot of overseas jobs after CMA or ACCA certification.
If you want to settle and work in the USA or Canada, the CMA is the way to go. CMA opens the door to not only the USA and Canada market but companies from Middle Eastern and Asian countries are also looking for CMA certified Finance professionals. So, it will be no issue to find overseas jobs after CMA certification.
Getting a CMA certification is no easy task. The individual has put a lot of effort, time, and consistency into this career path. The individual is required to have at least 2 years of relevant work experience and have to clear 2 examinations (4 hours each) on top of having a bachelor’s degree.
All these efforts prove that the individual is quite serious about his/her career in finance. CMA also requires the individual to have fabulous managerial skills. Hence, making the candidate perfect for more advanced level job roles, and because the candidate usually gets a higher level of responsibility, the pay for CMA is also higher than for individuals with similar accounting certification.
The global average salary of a CMA certified Finance professional is around USD $74,344 per year. The actual salary that you may receive, as a CMA, highly depends on your overall performance, your resume, and your experience. Your job position also factors in deciding your salary. Other than this, the work location is another crucial factor in deciding your salary.
The average CMA salary abroad for jobs, according to the job location:
| Country | Average annual salary |
| USA | USD $109,119 |
| Canada | USD $100,000 |
| Dubai | USD $111,000 |
| United Kingdom (UK) | USD $69,426 |
| European countries | USD $81,403 |
| Asian countries | USD $40,354 |
| the Middle East | USD $40,722 |
While in India, after completing the CMA, a person can get an average annual salary of Rs 6-7 lakh (in INR) for freshers from doing jobs after CMA. The salary may go up depending on various factors like the choice of company, experience, etc.
If you have already decided to go abroad to settle and work and want to do it as quickly as possible, then an ACCA qualification might be another great option for you. ACCA has a great global presence, with 178 countries recognizing the certification. After getting the ACCA certification, you can join as an accountant in any of those 178 countries. You will be seen as one of the best accountants in the world.
Even companies, especially European, highly prefer the candidate with an ACCA certification over anyone else. Once you complete this certification, many ACCA job opportunities abroad will be open to you, which can help you in leading a fulfilling career in accounting. With this certification, you will be able to join top MNCs like Google, IBM, Microsoft, etc.
An ACCA certified accountant’s salary depends heavily upon the work location and real work experience of the ACCA. For an ACCA trainee, the salary hovers around $24,000 per annum and for an ACCA part-qualified, the expected salary is USD $32,000 per annum. And for an ACCA finalist, it is safe to assume a salary package of USD $38,400 per annum.
Even with the rise in work from home culture, location still plays an important role in deciding your salary for any job. The average annual salary for ACCA job opportunities, according to the work location, is as follows:
| Country | Average annual salary of an ACCA |
| USA | USD $68,000 |
| United Kingdom (UK) | USD $50,000 |
| Germany | USD $30,000 |
| Singapore | USD $32,000 |
| France | USD $34,000 |
While ACCA Jobs in India can only pay you between 6 lakhs to 15 Lakhs INR per year on average. Based on skills and expertise, it can go further higher.
As mentioned earlier, CMA USA vs ACCA, both designations are well respected all around the world and the growth aspects for them are equally good. Both designations are good in their own way and you can find a ton of CMA and ACCA job opportunities. One should make one’s career decision based on the type of life you wanna live, what type of work-life you want to build, and where you want to work and settle.
Although both qualifications are accepted pretty much everywhere around the globe, still the companies in the Middle Eastern, Asian, and North American countries prefer the accountants with CMA as their qualification certificate which you can easily acquire with a comprehensive CMA certification course. On the other hand, the companies in Europe prefer someone with ACCA.
So, if you want to settle in the USA, Canada, Asia, or the Middle East, US CMA is the way to go. You can find many well-paying jobs after CMA in these regions.
But if you wanna live in Europe, then go for ACCA certification. As there are many ACCA job opportunities in Europe.
Become a CMA or ACCA now by applying to Northstar Academy! Get more information by calling +918147470707
