Cost and Management Accountant

Overview

Who is Cost and Management Accountant?

Cost and Management Accountant (CMA) is a certification provided by the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICAI). CMA is one of India's toughest professional examinations and typically has a pass percentage between 5% to 25%. Due to its tremendous industry reputation, CMA is attaining prominence among commerce students considering becoming accounting and finance professionals. The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI) has transformed its identity into the Institute of Cost Management Accountants of India (ICMAI). ICWA course was retitled as CMA course. A Cost and Management Accountant can utilise methods to assess the expense of goods and services to report in financial statements and guide management to optimise an organisation's costs and resources in the best course of action.

Typical day at work

What does Cost and Management Accountant do?

Cost and Management Accountant is responsible for Planning, Studying, and collecting data to determine costs of business activity such as raw material purchases, inventory, and labour. Their duties also involve pricing of goods and services, verification or certification of Cost Records and Taxation, especially in Indirect Taxation.

• Constructing structures and controls to analyse systems for data collection and reporting 
• Coordinate and examine variances in cycle counts and fix problems 
• Collect and apply overhead costs as needed 
• Decide and execute cost accounting methods and procedures. 
• Gather historical cost data to predict existing or potential product costs
• Consult with clients, suppliers, other departments' personnel, or construction foremen to analyse and prepare estimates and address difficulties.
• Prepare calculations utilised by management for planning, coordinating, and scheduling purposes. 
• Examine blueprint and other documents to prepare estimates of time, cost, supplies and labour
• Conferring improvements and modifications to cost estimates with owners, engineers, architects, contractors and subcontractors 
• Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of goods, projects or facilities, and actual document costs relative to bids as the project evolves. 
• Formulate estimates for use in vendor or subcontractor selection
• Develop cost monitoring and reporting procedures and systems 
• Establish and sustain tendering processes, and carry out negotiations 
• Prepare and preserve a directory of contractors, suppliers and subcontractors. 
• Evaluate the material, and labour needs to determine whether manufacturing or buying components is more cost-effective.
• Carry out special studies to create and define standard hour and associated cost data or to reduce costs 
• Prepare cost and expense statements and other required documents for the duration of a project at regular intervals. 
• Go to the site and record drainage, access and topography information, and the availability of facilities like electricity and water.

Abilities & aptitude needed

What are the skills, abilities & aptitude needed to become Cost and Management Accountant?

• Cost and management accountants are required to focus extensively on having a broad understanding of analytical and theoretical knowledge associated with financial principles like business law, corporate organisation, financial analysis, money and finance, economic principles, and information technology (IT). 
• Greater and greater importance is placed on soft competencies, such as leadership and communication. As a result, recruiting Cost and Management Accountants is rapidly becoming distinctive for many organisations.
• The confidential and careful handling of classified information and the ability to communicate complicated concepts in a clear, non-fashionable manner should make any future applicant naturally more appealing to an employer. A Cost and Management Accountant usually operates in an office setting, so it is assumed that he/she should know all manufacturing processes and visit all departments of a company on a regular basis.
• A proper formal education coupled with outstanding analytical abilities, the skill to work with a multi-department team and the knowledge of managing massive databases would make you more than qualified to assume the role.

Courses

Which course I can pursue?