CIMA - TOPCIMA
Course Code: NCITOP

CIMA - The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants - is a leading membership body that offers an internationally recognised professional qualification in management accountancy, which focuses on the education and training of management accountants in business. Studying for CIMA and training to become an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (ACMA) will help you develop the skills required to succeed in business. CIMA members are at the forefront of some of the world’s most successful organisations.

The Test of Professional Competence in Management Accounting (TOPCIMA) is the final exam you will sit. You must sit this exam after you have completed all other CIMA exams in line with guidelines produced by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).

The aim of the Test of Professional Competence in Management Accounting (TOPCIMA) is to test the capabilities and competence of students, to ensure that they:

Course Structure

The CIMA syllabus is built on three pillars of learning – culminating in the Test of Professional Competence in Management Accounting (TOPCIMA). The pillars are called:

The Test of Professional Competence in Management Accounting (TOPCIMA) is the final exam you will sit. You must sit this exam after you have completed all other exams in line with guidelines produced by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).

The TOPCIMA has no specific syllabus content. Material from any of the Managerial and Strategic level subjects could be relevant. It is based upon a case study and set within a simulated business context. Unlike other accountancy qualifications, TOPCIMA (the case study and final test of professional competence) tests for business awareness and higher level cognitive skills such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation. This requires students to take account of business, financial, ethical and human resource strategy issues – all taught through the syllabus. By passing this exam you will prove that you have the ability to transfer your strategic and practical knowledge to a real life business situation.

CIMA will publish the case study on the website at least six weeks before the exam, along with the assessment matrix.

Rationale

The TOPCIMA will provide an integrated test of syllabus content that is mainly included within the three Strategic level papers. However, it will also draw upon content covered within the six Managerial level papers.

The TOPCIMA will require the student to deal with material in less structured situations than that encountered in previous Strategic level papers, and to integrate a variety of tools in arriving at a recommended solution. It is unlikely that there will be a single right answer to a complex business problem and students will be expected to recognise the possible alternatives in dealing with a problem.

The emphasis will be on assessing candidates' capabilities and competence in the practical use of appropriate, relevant knowledge, the ability to demonstrate the application of the higher level skills of synthesis, analysis and evaluation, and skill in effectively presenting and communicating information to users.

Learning Outcomes:

Students will be required to go through the following stages to prepare for, and to answer, the requirement of the case, set within the TOPCIMA:

A - Preparatory to the TOPCIMA Exam:

• analyse and identify the current position of the organisation;
• analyse and identify the relevant problems facing the organisation.

Note: Activities undertaken using published ‘pre-seen’ case study materials.

Assessment

There will be a three-hour written TOPCIMA examination paper, with a limited number of questions (requirements). They will normally be answered through a report and/or presentation, with supporting documents, to a variety of users. The questions will be based upon a case study, which will be published on the CIMA website, at least six weeks in advance of the examination. This will provide sufficient time before the examination to allow the student to undertake preparatory analysis based upon the pre-seen material. Further information regarding the case will be added as part of the examination paper.

As a guide to the volume of material within the case, it is likely to be between fifteen and twenty sides of A4, published in advance of the exam and up to six sides of A4 contained within the examination paper.

Questions will test the student’s capabilities and competence in the application of appropriate knowledge and the processes undertaken in dealing with the problems identified in the examination, together with their ability to present and communicate information. The pass mark for TOPCIMA is 50%.

A 'TOPCIMA Assessment Matrix' will be published on the CIMA website, with the pre-seen case material and it is your responsibility to download the published material and familiarise yourself with it before the exam. The matrix will identify the list of assessment criteria, performance bands and range of marks that will be used to assess the capabilities and competence of candidates.

Entry Requirements

You must sit this exam only after you have completed all other exams at Managerial and Strategic Levels, in line with guidelines produced by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).

Exemptions

There is no exemption available for TOPCIMA.