The Certified Management Accountant (CMA®) exam is a 2-part professional exam made up of multiple-choice questions and either essays or Case-Based Questions (CBQs)—depending on if you’re taking the exam before or after the upcoming CMA exam changes go into effect.

The CMA exam is developed and offered by the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (ICMA®) and Institute of Management Accountants (IMA®).

The exam is designed to ensure you can perform the duties of a Certified Management Accountant and tests you on topics like financial planning and strategic financial management.

The CMA exam has two parts that you’ll take separately. Each part tests different topics, but they follow the same structure.

For each exam part, you’ll have 4 hours to complete the 100 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and 2 essay/CBQ scenarios. The essay/CBQ scenarios can each contain up to seven questions. That breaks down to 3 hours for the MCQs and 1 hour for the essays/CBQs.

You have to get at least 50% of the MCQs correct to move on to the essays/CBQs. If you finish your multiple-choice questions early, your remaining time will carry over to the next section.

The goal of the CMA exam is to validate that candidates have the necessary skills to meet the demands placed on CMAs by their industry. To best accomplish this, the CMA exam is split into two parts that test the different topics CMAs need to be skilled in.

IMA Opens in new window, the association of accountants and financial professionals in business, conducts regular studies to find out the scopes of work CMAs are expected to perform. ICMA, the certification branch of IMA, uses this information to keep the exam up-to-date and relevant.

They release two documents that serve as the syllabus for the CMA exam—the Content Specification Outlines (CSOs) and the Learning Outcome Statements (LOSs).

In addition to the information above, CMA candidates are expected to possess a minimum level of business knowledge. This minimum level includes knowledge of basic financial statements, time value of money concepts, and elementary statistics.

The best way to ensure you’re prepared for the CMA exam is to work with a review provider that will do the heavy lifting for you. Mapping your studies to the CSOs and LOSs can be a full-time job on its own and would waste valuable time you could be spending preparing for the CMA exam.

CMA Part 1 tests your knowledge and skills in financial planning, performance, and analytics. It is broken up into six content sections. 

Here is a high-level overview of what to expect from each section in Part 1. You can find exhaustive information in the Learning Outcome Statements, which break the Part 1 sections into specific tasks CMAs are expected to perform.

Section A: External Financial Reporting Decisions

The goal of financial reporting is to provide information that is useful in making decisions. There is the technical aspect of acquiring and consolidating data, but CMAs are expected to go further and make use of the financial statements and their components. An understanding of integrated reporting (IR) is increasingly important.

The CMA is an international designation, so CMAs must be aware of the major differences in reporting under IFRS vs. GAAP and the impact each has on analysis. Many large corporations have growing presences internationally, so to advise these companies, CMAs should be able to function effectively in reporting environments across the globe.

Section B: Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting

CMAs should be able to use financial information to set long-term goals (as well as short-term goals that will help accomplish them) in service of their organization’s strategic plan or mission. This includes budgeting for proposed initiatives and forecasting how they will affect future revenues and expenditures.

Section C: Performance Management

CMAs need to be able to determine whether performance standards are being met with respect to operational goals. This includes topics such as standard costing, flexible budgets, variance analysis, the balanced scorecard, and more.

Section D: Cost Management

Being able to monitor and manage costs is crucial to goal setting and project management. As a CMA, you will need to be able to demonstrate an understanding of cost behavior, supply chain management, benchmarking, product market value, and more.

Section E: Internal Controls

Designing internal controls and ensuring they are being maintained is vital for all decision makers. New projects and goals must comply with existing controls and fall into the organization’s existing risk strategy.

Section F: Technology and Analytics

Technological advancement is rapidly changing expectations of CMAs. As time passes, a CMA’s role is being defined as more of a data reporter and critical decision maker. CMAs must understand accounting information system cycles, data governance frameworks, and various forms of data analysis. 

The CMA Part 2 exam tests your business management knowledge and skills. It’s where the nuts and bolts of Part 1 come together to support CMA decision-making. You’ll still be tested on your ability to calculate, but in service of making a strategic recommendation to management. Similar to Part 1, it also has six content areas.

Here is a high-level overview of what to expect from each section in Part 2. The sections are further broken into specific tasks CMAs are expected to perform in the LOSs.

Section A: Financial Statement Analysis

CMAs take the basic information reported in the financial statements and extrapolate data for use in decision-making. You will need to calculate and understand the uses of the current ratio, the quick (acid-test) ratio, the cash ratio, the cash flow ratio, and the net working capital ratio. Advanced accounting knowledge is a prerequisite to recommending or defending a course of action. You have to know how the numbers support your claims.

Section B: Corporate Finance

CMAs should know how to raise and work with capital. You will need to understand how organizations generate a return long term, how interest and exchange rates affect revenues over time, and how international diversification can offset the costs inherent to cross-border transactions.

Section C: Business Decision Analysis

CMAs need a firm understanding of product and production decisions. CMAs must employ cost-volume-profit and marginal analysis at an advanced level. The exam may ask you to calculate a break-even point, calculate the effect of operating income on a make-or-buy decision, evaluate and recommend pricing strategies, etc.

Section D: Enterprise Risk Management

Risk assessment involving different types of systematic and unsystematic risks is integral because risks are a factor in every high-level business decision. An understanding of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is generally required, more specifically, COSO Enterprise Risk Management—Integrated Framework).

Section E: Capital Investment Decisions

CMAs should understand capital budgeting with regard to investment decisions and be able to use the two main discounted cash flow (DCF) methods, net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR), to recommend project investments. This is an extension of the ideas established in Corporate Finance, but with an applied focus on investment decisions.

Section F: Professional Ethics

Underpinning all of this is the IMA’s focus on professional ethics, which may be tested in conjunction with any topic area. CMAs must understand ethical considerations for management accounting and financial management professionals. 

As a reminder, each part of the CMA exam will have 100 multiple-choice questions and 2 essay/CBQ scenarios that contain up to seven questions.

The CMA exam is nondisclosed, which means exam questions and solutions are not released to outside parties until they are retired by the ICMA and no longer included on the exam. IMA is partnered with several review providers, but no exam prep provider has inside knowledge of the exam.

That’s a crucial distinction to keep in mind as you consider CMA review courses. Every review provider, including Gleim, creates their own study materials, including practice questions and mock exams.

In 1981, our very own Dr. Gleim created the first CMA review course. Since then, more candidates have trusted us to help them pass the CMA exam than any other provider. We incorporate feedback from our candidates to improve our materials and provide comprehensive coverage of CMA exam topics. So many candidates pass with Gleim because our course is designed to make sure you feel confident when you sit for your exam.

There are two different types of MCQs you might encounter on the exam.

The CMA essays don’t sort so neatly into categories. Broadly speaking, the essays will be one of three types: calculations, analyses, and explanations.

CMA exam essays exist to test your “real-world” skills in a way that MCQs cannot. You’ll have to evaluate data, make a judgment, and defend your position. Essay scenarios typically ask 4-7 questions each and you can receive partial credit, so make sure to show your work if a calculation is involved and include everything on-topic that you can think of.

Case-Based Questions are replacing the CMA essays in late 2026 on the English CMA exam. CBQs test the same exam content, but they use a new format. Instead of writing essay responses to scenarios, you’ll answer up to seven questions that will vary in type. 

You’ll receive a mix of question types and may see the same question type more than once in a CBQ. Learn more in our Guide to CMA Case-Based Questions. 

Getting comfortable with answering questions on a time crunch will help you prepare for exam day. Each part of the CMA exam is 4 hours—3 hours for multiple-choice questions and 1 hour for the essays/CBQs. Managing your time well is critical to passing the CMA exam. The only information you get during your exam is a clock providing the hours, minutes, and seconds remaining. There will be no guidance for breaks or time allocation within each section.

Here are our tips for how to manage your time.