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.

• We've simplified the process while maintaining our high standards
• We’ve taken action on feedback from students and employers that highlighted areas to improve
• We’ve improved the relevancy in the assessment of the work experience (core activities), professional skills and behaviours required

You can start recording your experience, skills and achievements at any stage in your CIMA journey. Applicants can submit their membership application once they have passed all three strategic level objective test exams (E3, F3, P3), or if they have been exempted from them. FLP students can submit their applications once they’ve completed all Strategic level competencies. 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

The enhanced application process is currently an email route using the Word templates below. A fully online solution will be launched in 2023.

• Record of My Practical Experience form
• PER supervisor's form 

Note: Email your application as 1 PDF file which combines your Record of my practical experience application form, and all PER supervisors forms.