Practical experience requirements (PER)

To become a Chartered Global Management Accountant® (CGMA®) designation holder, you need three years of verified relevant professional experience.

The PER process is an essential part of the CIMA Professional Qualification and CIMA’s membership application process. They complement the assessments and demonstrate your ability to apply your knowledge and skills in the context of your professional experience.

Your application will be assessed to determine whether you have gained enough experience to be awarded Associate membership — giving you the Associate Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA) and CGMA designations.

You can start recording your experience, skills and achievements at any stage in your CIMA journey. To apply for membership will you need:

Three years of experience in a finance role. CIMA students and members hold a broad range of job titles, so we don’t prescribe a list of acceptable or expected job titles. We focus instead on what you do in your day-to-day work. This ensures the work activities you undertake during your initial professional development are relevant to becoming a qualified management accountant.

You are likely to be working or have worked in one of the following areas:

• Achievement of work activities that are core and critical to the role of the management accountant

• Development of professional skills or behaviours that are essential to the management accountant

We’ve recently updated the PER process to make it more relevant. For your application you will need three years of relevant experience in a finance role, be able to demonstrate the core activities and the professional skills and behaviours as outlined above.

To get started you should:

• Access the application through your My Profile account

• Read the guidance for applicants and other resources available

• Get your PER supervisor on board (find more information in the guidance)

• Start thinking about examples for the core activities and the skills and behaviours you want to use to demonstrate you have met the PER application criteria.

• Check the Practical Experience Requirements FAQ's if you have any questions