The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants,based in the United Kingdom, offers qualifications for accountants around the world. Accountants seeking ACCA qualification have to pass a serious of rigorous examinations before they can qualify. ACCA exams cover all the aspects of management, both theoretical and technical. The programs offered are similar to Master of Business Administration programs, but with a greater practical emphasis. The organization has students in more than 170 countries, with a network of 83 offices and centers across the world; its qualifications are recognized in many countries as the equivalent of those offered by local universities.
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants is a professional institute for management accountants. It offers qualification for Chartered Management Accountants, which is recognized globally. At the time of publication, CIMA has 183,000 members and students in 168 countries. Its headquarters are in London and it has offices in Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and Australia.
There are several differences between CIMA and the ACCA. CIMA's practices focus mostly on business practice and cover operations, change management, relationship and project management, and marketing. ACCA, on the other hand, focuses entirely on professional practice and covers the areas of taxation of both corporate and non-corporate organizations, external audits and law.
CIMA courses lay more emphasis on human resource management as well as applied management and accounting techniques. The courses offered by the ACCA place more emphasis on information systems. To put it in simple terms, the ACCA courses teach accountants to work as external parties, while CIMA's courses train those in the management of companies. ACCA-qualified accountants have to work under a certain framework and follow certain standards and norms; CIMA-qualified accountants work within a company and compile data to assist decision-making, so they do not have a strict set of standards to adhere to.