CIMA: The Global Passport

Clancy Peiris, Photo: courtesy

Clancy Peiris, ACMA, CGMA, is Attorney at Law and Study Support & Learning Manager - CIMA, UK. With decades of experience in teaching and training students, teachers and learners, Peris feels that CIMA is probably one of the best ways to see the 'big picture'. "When I was in the legal practice, the problem solving, analytical evaluation skills I developed through my CIMA qualification helped me enormously in my legal practice to come out with creative and unconventional solutions to the complicated and varied issues of my clients," he says. "CIMA has empowered me to see the 'big picture' of an organisation through numbers and relate the organisation to the environment it relates to. This enormously helped me in setting up and directing Wisdom Business Academy in Sri Lanka to be the world's largest single-location CIMA tuition provider with 6,000 annual student intake, by the time I left Sri Lanka in 2008."

CIMA is not just a qualification, it is a 'life-changing' experience," he says. "This is the key theme I heard from the thousands of students I met in the last decade not only in the South Asia, but around the globe. The necessary competencies and confidence acquired through the CIMA qualification have opened doors in the world of employment both in accounting and non-accounting careers. CIMA has given the students both economic prosperity and social recognition, making a drastic difference in the way we see and interact with the world."

Today, CIMA Members are driving successful organisations around the world, and powerful contributions by CIMA graduates can make it both in the corporate world of Bangladesh and in the wider society. "I constantly encourage young professionals to expose themselves to different work practices and cultures in other countries so that they could reach the best they could be in their career. CIMA qualification will give our students and members a 'global-passport' to realise their best potentials," he adds.

There are so many professional qualification programmes. Clearly, CIMA stands out from all. "CIMA is not just another accounting or finance qualification, training people to record transactions and report 'what has already happened'! The carefully designed competency-based syllabus enables CIMA graduates to put the numbers into the context and come out with innovative solutions to complex and varied business problems, so it's a forward-thinking qualification," he says. "The CIMA computer-based assessments simulate the 'world-of-work' and certify that our students are 'business-ready' management accountants. This enhances employability in the international business. The operational, management and strategic levels in the qualification are designed to give knowledge and competencies required to perform the tasks required at each respective level in an organisation, hence each time our students complete a level by exams, it's a 'promotion' to the next level with more capability – this means a potential promotion in the career prospects too."