What is in the CMA Foundation Exam?

Brief Overview of The Post

In this post, we will talk about The Institute of Cost Management Accountants of India’s entry level requirements into the Cost Management Accountancy Course. The nature of exams, number of papers and weightage of each topic. Whether it is offline based or online based. We will also give you some pointers on how to pass!

Keep in mind that the syllabus is relevant for the June 2019 attempts onward.

Let’s now see what this paper is all about.

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What's in the CMA Foundation Exam?

What’s on this page:

Introduction

Eligibility Requirements and Registration

The Papers of the CMA Foundation Exam: Overview

Paper 1: Fundamentals of Economics and Management

Paper 2: Fundamentals of Accounting

Paper 3: Fundamentals of Laws and Ethics

Paper 4: Fundamentals of Business Mathematics & Statistics

General Study Tips and Passing Requirements

Introduction

The exam is known as the CMA Foundation exam. ICMAI is the conducting body. The full form is the The Institute of Cost Management Accountants of India. Previously the body was known as the Institute of Cost & Works Accountants of India.

The CMA Foundation exam is a pen and paper based offline descriptive exam. There are four papers in the exam. Each is worth 100 marks and is of 3 hours’ duration. The exam is conducted over four days. It is held twice yearly. Once in June and the other in December.

Now, not everyone can register and appear for the exam. You’ll have to fulfil some minimum requirements. Let’s now look at what those are.

Eligibility Requirements and Registration

You’ll have to appear for The Secondary School Examination (10+2) or its recognised equivalent by the Central Government.

If you’ve met this prerequisite, you can register. Note that if you are waiting for your results, you can apply for provisional registration.

You can register in one of two ways:

• Offline registration
• Online registration

If you choose offline registration, you’ll have to mail in your application to your respective regional councils/chapters.

Here is a table containing the address of regional councils and the areas they serve:

Table 1: ICMAI Regional Councils

For online registration, you will need to register on the ICMAI website itself. Here are more details of the process. Deadlines for registration are as follows:

Table 2: Deadlines for Registration to CMA Foundation Exam

The Papers of the CMA Foundation Exam: Overview

As we said before, there are four papers in the exam. The duration of each paper is 3 hours. Each paper is worth 100 marks. The table below shows the breakdown.

Table 3: Papers of CMA Foundation Exam 

Now, let’s see what each paper contains.

Paper 1: Fundamentals of Economics and Management (100 Marks Total)

According to the ICMAI, the objective of this paper, Fundamentals of Economics and Management is for you to “gain basic knowledge in Economics and understand the concept of management at the macro and micro level.” In addition, you should be able to “conceptualize the basic principles of management.”

The total duration of the paper is 3 hours. The paper is split into two sections. Section A deals with the Fundamentals of Economics while Section B deals with the Fundamentals of Management. It is a descriptive paper and the mode is offline (pen and paper based). The paper is worth 100 marks. Each section is worth 50 marks respectively.

Here is the breakdown of the syllabus and the marks allocated to each topic:

Table 4: Paper 1 - Fundamentals of Economics and Management Syllabus Breakdown

Here is the above information visualised in the form of a pie-chart: Fig 1: Paper 1 - Fundamentals of Economics and Management Syllabus Breakdown

Looking for CMA Foundation Online Video Lectures that Cover the Entire Syllabus of Paper 1: Fundamentals of Economics and Management? Sign up below:

Paper 2: Fundamentals of Accounting (100 Marks Total)

According to ICMAI, the objective of the paper is for you “to gain comprehensive understanding of all aspects related to financial statements, principles, procedures of accounting and their application to different practical situations.”

The duration of the paper is 3 hours. It is split into two sections. Section A deals with the Fundamentals of Financial Accounting. Section B deals with the Fundamentals of Cost Accounting. It is a descriptive paper and the mode is offline (pen and paper based). The paper is worth 100 marks. Section A is worth 80 marks while Section B is worth 20 marks.

The table below shows the breakdown of the syllabus and marks allocated to each topic:

Table 5: Paper 2 - Fundamentals of Accounting Syllabus Breakdown 

And here’s the same information in the form of a pie-chart:Fig 2: Paper 2 - Fundamentals of Accounting Syllabus Breakdown 

Want CMA Online Video Lectures that Cover the Entire Syllabus of Paper 2: Fundamentals of Accounting? Sign up on our mobile app below:

Paper 3: Fundamentals of Laws and Ethics (100 Marks Total)

According to ICMAI, the objective is “to gain basic knowledge in Laws and Ethics to understand the concepts of regulatory compliance, requirements and desired ethics expected from professionals.”

The duration of the paper is 3 hours. It is split into two sections. Section A deals with the Fundamentals of Commercial Laws. Section B deals with the Fundamentals of Ethics. It is a descriptive paper and the mode is offline (pen and paper based). The paper is worth 100 marks. Section A is worth 70 marks while Section B is worth 30 marks.

The table below shows the breakdown of the syllabus and marks allocated to each topic:

Table 6: Paper 3 - Fundamentals of Laws and Ethics Syllabus Breakdown 

And here’s a pie-chart outlining the above information in a visual manner:Fig 3: Paper 3 - Fundamentals of Laws and Ethics Syllabus Breakdown 

Looking for CMA Foundation Online Video Lectures that Cover the Entire Syllabus of Paper 3: Fundamentals of Laws and Ethics? Sign up below:

Paper 4: Fundamentals of Business Mathematics and Statistics

According to ICMAI, the objective is “to gain understanding on the fundamental concepts of mathematics and statistics and its application in business decision making.”

The duration of the paper is 3 hours. It is split into two sections. Section A deals with the Fundamentals of Business Mathematics. Section B deals with the Fundamentals of Business Statistics. It is a descriptive paper and the mode is offline (pen and paper based). The paper is worth 100 marks. Section A is worth 40 marks while Section B is worth 60 marks.

The table below shows the breakdown of the syllabus and marks allocated to each topic:

Table 7: Paper 4 - Fundamentals of Business Mathematics and Statistics Syllabus Breakdown  

And here’s the above represented in a nice visual way:Figure 4: Paper 4 - Fundamentals of Business Mathematics and Statistics Syllabus Breakdown  

Hope that this gives you a brief understanding of the syllabus of all papers. Now, let’s look at the passing requirements.

Before we go on, why don’t you sign up for our online video lectures that cover the entire syllabus of paper 4: Fundamentals of Accounting and Auditing?

General Study Tips and Passing Requirements

As you can see the syllabus is quite vast and extensive. But much of it may already be familiar to you because the level is no higher than PUC level. We suggest that you concentrate on your weak points and brush up on your strong points. You may also want to look at a few general study tips we’ve outlined. Also, if you feel nervous about exams, don’t worry. You can read up here on how to overcome exam fear.

Also, a good place to start is to go over the study material released by ICMAI. Additionally, you can try out our CMA Foundation Online Video Lectures. These are comprehensive and cover the entire syllabus.

Now, regarding passing requirements, you’ll need to fulfill the following two conditions:

1. Obtain at least 40% in all papers; and
2. At least 50% in total

That is, at least 40 in each paper, and a total of 200 when you add up all your marks obtained!

You can get paper-wise exemptions in case you are unable to clear the exam. If you secure 60% or more in any paper or papers, you shall be exempted in that paper(s) from appearing in the immediately successive three terms of examination. After that, your exemption becomes invalid and you'll have to appear for that paper again.

Additionally, you can get qualification-based paper-wise exemptions if you fall among the following categories of students:

• Reciprocal Exemption between ICAI-CMA and ACCA-UK Members as per MoU.
• Clarification on Conversion to Syllabus 2016 and Corresponding exemptions
• Clarification for qualification based subject exemptions granted under syllabus 2012, opting for syllabus 2016
• Exemptions for Engineering Graduates/Engineers pursuing CMA course under syllabus, 2016.
• Exemptions for qualified LLBs pursuing CMA course under syllabus, 2016.

We hope that you have found the information outlined in the post useful. Good luck for your upcoming exams!

Need any clarifications for any part of this post? Tell us in the comment section below. And don’t forget to sign up for our CMA Foundation Online Video Lectures that cover the entire syllabus.