Nichola,  you obviuosly disagree with my personal views. I would like to believe that any ACMA seeking to become an FCMA does not require any help.

It reminds me of the time that CIMA had to publish an article in the Financial Management advising passed finalists , 'how to fill in a membership application form'.

Some may wish to call me a 'grumpy old man'.

Best regards

Cliff Moggs - gracefully retired.

advice... yes...

anonymised copy - that to me sounds like it should have zero content!!

agree with cliff - its like people asking for examples of PER

B,

No need to thank me.  I was given a lot of help and was happy to pass it on.

Polar Bear,

"Anonymised" means that certain names and references have been removed while the overall tone remains there. Although, as I was a civil servant, some may say it had zero useful content!

Hi Clifford,

I think we are very different, I believe the best results come from education and collaboration.

I don't believe joining a CIMA Community Discussion board to learn from the experience of others who have been through the process is showing a lack of initiative or resourcefulness.

After a quick google on you :-)  I am surprised at someone who advises 'be approachable and ask questions' should critise so publically one who does.

Thank you for the banter,

Nichola

PB,

I realised you were on the wind-up, so no offence taken.

Nicola,

I will send it soon.

Al.

don't mess with the moggs - easily the best poster on here...

a new and improved version with the paragraph seperation :)

Alan,

I have to disagree with your view.  My view is that both are important in both spheres.

Gosh, that's 2 people I've disagreed with here.  I must be turning into a grumpy old wotsit. (Polar Bear, you don't need to comment!!)

Cliff,

I don't think the extra means a lot to people.  In my experience in the civil service, most people just want the letters to get the salary that goes with qualification.

I personally went for my F for 3 main reasons:

1. I wanted to prove to myself I could reach that grade of membership (and do the type of job that would get me there) ;

2. I was a Branch and Regional officer and wanted to be elected to Council some day, and;

3. My 2 best friends in CIMA are Fellows and kept winding me up about "just being an associate".  My pride wasn't going to let them keep saying that!

I have now acheived all 3 and for someone who called accountancy "girl's work" when at a macho school I am proud of my acheivement (as all CIMA members should be in my opinion).

I have found this a very interesting discussion 

I very much would like to become an FCMA one day as there is no point in not aiming for the top - the trouble is in determining my experience and whether it fits the bill. I take the view that it is what I can do in an organisation that influences the board/senior management in their direction of travel. There is no shame in being an ACMA as that is no mean feat itself but the FCMA sets you out from the rest of us.

I very much agree with Alistair's first comment and also proving to others, most notably employers that I am well equipped to move into strategic management.

A lot of members do not understand what is involved and then do not necessarily think they have the experience to apply for Fellowship and CIMA really needs to break down this barrier. The requirements are so much more vague than for ACMA and that is one of the problems. I may contradict myself here as that a lot of senior level information is less clear cut and being able to take a significant decision for the business in light of this is what sorts out hte big boys from the rest of us.

We've discussed the differences several times at the voluntary Regional Board, and the 'official' CIMA line seems to be that Fellowship is intended to reflect a greater experience of strategic issues than Associate level. Presumably that's the reason for restricting Council membership to FCMAs. 

So I'd certainly agree with Simon and Cliff that FCMA is within the abilities and experience of many more than that 15% of our people. 

It's perhaps an unfortunate human side-effect to then rank them as FCMA being above ACMA, although like Alistair I confess I am inordinately proud of my FCMA and maybe unjustifiably so in going straight there. (And I think what we're all saying here is that all CIMA members and students should be proud of their achievements at each and every level.)

I don't really know! I was Financial Services Manager at a hospital group at the time, and had worked on a lot of Group strategic issues - business development plans, corporate objectives, and the like; plus I've always been involved in people-development and mentoring. I guess that helped.

I'll always remember that my certificate arrived a week or two before the confirmation letter, but as it was in a roll-tube too big to go through the letter-box, I had to go to the post-office to collect it ... and the label had those magic letters on.

On a gross number it seems that 85% of potential (willing) candidates are being automatically excluded, for what good reason?

Best regards

Dear Nichola/Alistair

I have tried to contact you both privately but it doesn't seem to have worked.

Please would one of you contact me as I also need to do an FCMA application and would be interested in seeing a completed one so that I know I have the right format as I have all sorts of paper mostly based on my ACMA application.

I had a face to face assessement at the beginning of last year and the assessor confirmed that I did have the experience for FCMA - didn't know I could go straight though and have been procastinating ever since - doh! 

 Would really appreciate your help

Thanks

Sarah

Going to disagree with Cliff on this one. I can't see a problem with asking for advice about the best to to structure and style your application. It's no different to asking the best way to write a TOPCIMA report, which lecturers and the institute themselves are happy to provide.

The foolish man is that man that never asks for help.

I have been an Associate for about 15 years and since then have headed a practice for one of the Big 4, been on the main board of some large organisations as an executive director and am a non-exec chairman or director for 4 businesses, with a combined £10bn balance sheet and £1bn turnover. I chair 3 audit committees and specialise in corporate strategy. I thought it was about time I applied to become a Fellow, as amongst my peer group, I was the only one who was "only" an Associate. I have struggled for months to get any sense from the Institute about the process, having been rejected one. I am at a point when I am considering resigning, as not being a member is less emarassing than being seen as an Associate among Fellows.

I have only now realised how backward the Institute is, as it does not seem to want people to become Fellows.