[FAQs] Certified Management Accountant (CMA) – Preparation Related Questions
- Exam|CMA|
- 9 Min Read
- By Taxmann
- |
- Last Updated on 23 December, 2023
Latest from Taxmann
FAQ 1. Are CMA Examinations MCQ-based?
CMA Foundation consists of four papers, which involve entirely MCQ-based questions. Further, there are 8 papers each in CMA Intermediate and Final which involve some of the MCQ-based questions along with other objective and descriptive-type questions.
FAQ 2. How to crack CMA Exams in first attempt?
Every CMA aspirant desires to pass CMA Exams in the first attempt. There are many cases of students who had failed their 10th grade exams, yet excelled in CMA Intermediate or Final exams in their first attempts. Furthermore, even school/college top performers may suffer a setback in the exam if they lack the necessary intent, determination, and plan of action.
A few steps have been enumerated that can guide a student in clearing CMA Exams in his/her first attempt.
Disclaimer (Step 0.1) before going to Step 1 – Try to minimise the distractions due to smart phones, social media, etc.
Step 1 – Forget Past Exam Results
Step 2 – Prepare a Study Plan & Schedule
Step 3 – Select the Best Reference Books & Study Material
Step 4 – Know the Syllabus & Weightage
Step 5 – Prepare the Important topics
Step 6 – Practice Revision Test Papers
Step 7 – Prepare Previous Exam Question Papers
Step 8 – Attempt ICMAI Mock Test Papers
Final Step – Be persistent and confident.
Dive Deeper:
[FAQs] Certified Management Accountant (CMA) – General Questions
[FAQs] Certified Management Accountant (CMA) – Practical Training Related Questions
FAQ 3. Which are the best books for CMA Course?
Foundation
|
Paper |
Subject |
Book Name |
Author’s Name |
|
1 |
Fundamentals of Economics and Management |
Fundamentals of Business Economics |
C.B. Gupta |
|
Economics |
J. K. Mitra |
||
|
Fundamentals of Business Organization |
Y. K. Bhusan |
||
|
2 |
Fundamentals of Accounting |
Fundamental of Accounting |
N S Zad |
|
Financial Accounting |
Jasmin Kaur |
||
|
Guide to Accounting Standards – Taxmann |
Dr. D S Rawat |
||
|
3 |
Fundamentals of Laws and Ethics |
Fundamentals of Laws and Ethics |
CA Jaishree Soni |
|
Offences under Company Law |
CA Kamal Garg |
||
|
4 |
Fundamentals of Business Mathematics and Statistics |
Fundamentals of Business Mathematics |
Dr. S.R. Arora |
|
Business Mathematics and Statistics |
Somma Garg |
Intermediate
|
Paper |
Subject |
Book Name |
Author’s Name |
|
Group-I |
|||
|
5 |
Financial Accounting
|
ICMAI Study Material |
|
|
Taxmann’s Students’ Guide to Accounting Standards – Including Introduction of Ind AS |
Dr. D S Rawat |
||
|
6 |
Laws and Ethics |
A Handbook on Corporate and Other Laws |
CA CS Munish Bhandari |
|
Law and Ethics |
CA Mohit Agarwal |
||
|
Laws and Ethics Book/ Notes |
CA Raghav Goel |
||
|
Laws and Ethics |
CS LLM Arjun Chhabra |
||
|
7 |
Direct taxation |
CA Inter Compact |
CA Bhanvar Borana |
|
Direct Taxes |
CA Suraj Agarwal |
||
|
Padhuka – Handbook on Taxation |
CA G. Sekar |
||
|
8 |
Cost Accounting |
ICMAI Study Material |
|
|
Group-II |
|||
|
9 |
Operations Management & Strategic Management |
ICMAI Study Material |
|
|
10 |
Cost & Management Accounting and Financial Management |
ICMAI Study Material |
|
|
11 |
Indirect Taxation |
Indirect Taxation |
Dr Priyanka Saxena |
|
GST Regular |
CA Vishal Bhattad |
||
|
12 |
Company Accounts and Audit |
ICMAI Study Material |
|
Final
|
Paper |
Subject |
Book Name |
Author’s Name |
|
Group-III |
|||
|
13 |
Corporate Laws & Compliance |
Corporate Laws & Compliance Book/ Notes |
CA Raghav Goel |
|
Corporate & Economic Laws |
CA CS Munish Bhandari |
||
|
Corporate Laws & Compliance |
CA Mohit Agarwal |
||
|
14 |
Strategic Financial Management |
SFM |
CA Aditya Jain |
|
SFM |
CA Nagendra Shah |
||
|
15 |
Strategic Cost Management – Decision Making |
ICMAI Study Material |
|
|
16 |
Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation |
Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation |
T. N. Manoharan & G. R. Hari |
|
Direct Tax Compact
|
CA Bhanvar Borana |
||
|
Direct Tax and International Taxation |
CA Suraj Agarwal |
||
|
Group-IV |
|||
|
17 |
Corporate Financial Reporting |
CFR |
CA Ranjay Mishra |
|
CFR |
CA Santosh Kumar |
||
|
18 |
Indirect Tax Laws and practice |
Indirect Tax Law |
Dr. Priyanka Saxena |
|
IDT Regular |
CA Vishal Bhattad |
||
|
19 |
Cost and Management Audit |
ICMAI Study Material |
|
|
20 |
Strategic Performance Management and Business Valuation |
ICMAI Study Material |
|
FAQ 4. Which are the best Coaching Institutes for CMA Course?
Following are some of the best coaching institutes for CMA Course:
| CMA Stage of Examination | Paper/ Subject | Details of Coaching Institute |
| Foundation |
Paper 1: Fundamentals of Economics and Management (FEM) Paper 2: Fundamentals of Accounting (FOA) Paper 3: Fundamentals of Laws and Ethics (FLE) Paper 4 : Fundamentals of Business Mathematics and Statistics (FBMS) |
Unacademy, Nikhil Education
|
| Intermediate – Group I | Paper 5: Financial Accounting (FAC) | CA Mohit Agarwal |
| Paper 6: Laws & Ethics (LNE) | Prof. L K Soni, | |
| Paper 7: Direct Taxation (DTX) | Arpit Gupta, Neeraj Gupta, Yogesh Verma | |
| Paper 8: Cost Accounting (CAC) | CA Prakash Saraf, Satish Jalan | |
| Intermediate – Group II | Paper 9: Operations Management & Strategic Management (OMSM) | Satish Jalan |
| Paper 10: Cost & Management Accounting and Financial Management (CMFM) | B. L Chakravarti, Prakash Saraf | |
| Paper 11: Indirect Taxation (ITX) | CA Vikram Biyani | |
| Paper 12: Company Accounts & Audit (CAA) | CA Mohit Agarwal | |
| Final – Group III | Paper 13: Corporate Laws & Compliance (CLC) | Divay Miglani, CA Shivangi Agrawal, Amit Bachhawat |
| Paper 14: Strategic Financial Management (SFM) | CA Nagendra Sah, CA Gourav Kabra | |
| Paper 15: Strategic Cost Management – Decision Making (SCMD) | CA Gourav Kabra, CA Siddharth Agarwal | |
| Paper 16: Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation (DTI) | CA Nikkhil Gupta, CA Ashish Deolasi | |
| Final – Group IV | Paper 17: Corporate Financial Reporting (CFR) | CA Bishnu Kedia, CA Santosh Kumar, CA Avinash Sancheti |
| Paper 18: Indirect Tax Laws and Practice (ITP) | Priyanka Saxena, Adv Amit Kumar | |
| Paper 19: Cost and Management Audit (CMAD) | Satish Jalan | |
| Paper 20: Strategic Performance Management and Business Valuation (SPBV) | CA Nikkhil Gupta |
FAQ 5. Subject-wise Topic Weightage in CMA Examination.
Foundation
|
Paper |
Subject |
Contents |
Weightage |
|
1 |
Fundamentals of Economics and Management |
Section A: Fundamentals of Economics |
50% |
|
1. Basic Concepts of Economics 2. Forms of Market 3. Money and Banking |
20% 20% 10% |
||
|
Section B: Fundamentals of Management |
50% |
||
|
Management Process |
50% |
||
|
2 |
Fundamentals of Accounting |
Section A: Fundamentals of Financial Accounting |
80% |
|
1. Accounting Fundamentals 2. Accounting for Special Transactions 3. Preparation of Final Accounts |
35% 20% 25% |
||
|
Section B: Fundamentals of Cost Accounting |
20% |
||
|
Fundamentals of Cost Accounting |
20% |
||
|
3 |
Fundamentals of Laws and Ethics |
Section A: Fundamentals of Commercial Laws |
70% |
|
1. Indian Contract Act, 1872 2. Sale of Goods Act, 1930 3. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 |
40% 20% 10% |
||
|
Section B: Fundamentals of Ethics |
30% |
||
| Ethics and Business |
30% |
||
|
4 |
Fundamentals of Business Mathematics and Statistics |
Section A: Fundamentals of Business Mathematics |
40% |
|
1. Arithmetic 2. Algebra |
20% 20% |
||
|
Section B: Fundamentals of Business Statistics |
60% |
||
|
1. Statistical representation of Data 2. Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion 3. Correlation and Regression 4. Probability |
10% 30% 10% 10% |
Intermediate
|
Paper |
Subject |
Contents |
Weightage |
|
Group I |
|||
|
5 |
Financial Accounting |
Section A: Accounting – Basics |
25% |
|
1. Fundamentals of Accounting 2. Accounting for Special Transactions |
|||
|
Section B: Preparation of Financial Statements |
40% |
||
|
1. Preparation of Final Accounts of Profit Oriented organizations, Non-Profit Organizations and from Incomplete Records 2. Partnership Accounts |
|||
|
Section C: Self Balancing Ledgers, Royalties, Hire Purchase & Installment System, Branch & Departmental Accounts |
20% | ||
|
1. Self-Balancing Ledgers 2. Royalties, Hire-Purchase and Installment System 3. Branch and Departmental Accounts |
|||
| Section D: Accounting in Computerised Environment and Accounting Standards |
15% |
||
|
1. Overview of Computerised Accounting 2. Accounting Standards (Specified only) |
|||
|
6 |
Laws and Ethics
|
Section A: Commercial Laws |
30% |
|
1. Laws of Contracts (Advanced level) 2. Laws relating to Sale of Goods (Advanced level) 3. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (Advanced Level) 4. Indian Partnership Act, 1932 5. Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 |
|||
|
Section B: Industrial Laws |
25% |
||
|
1. Factories Act, 1948 2. Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 3. Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 4. Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 5. Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 6. Minimum Wages Act, 1948 7. Payment of Wages Act, 1936 8. Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 |
|||
|
Section C: Corporate Laws |
35% |
||
| Companies Act, 2013 | |||
|
Section D: Ethics |
10% |
||
| Business Ethics | |||
|
7 |
Direct Taxation |
Section A: Income Tax Act Basics |
10% |
|
1. Introduction to Income Tax Act, 1961 2. Income which do not form part of Total Income (Section 10, 11 to 13A) |
|||
|
Section B: Heads of Income and Computation of Total Income and Tax Liability |
70% |
||
|
1. Heads of Income and Computation of Total Income under various heads 2. Clubbing Provisions, Set off and Carry forward of Losses, Deductions 3. Assessment of Income and tax liability of different persons |
|||
|
Section C: Tax Management, Administration Procedure and ICDS |
20% |
||
|
1. TDS, TCS and Advance Tax 2. Administrative Procedures 3. Income Computation and Disclosure Standards – (ICDS) |
|||
|
8 |
Cost Accounting |
Section A: Introduction to Cost Accounting |
40% |
|
1. Cost Ascertainment – Elements of Cost 2. Cost Accounting Standards 3. Cost Book Keeping |
|||
| Section B: Methods of Costing |
30% |
||
| Section C: Cost Accounting Techniques |
30% |
||
|
Group II |
|||
|
9 |
Operations Management & Strategic Management |
Section A: Operations Management |
70% |
|
1. Operations Management – Introduction 2. Operations Planning |
15%
|
||
|
3. Designing of Operational Systems and Control 4. Production Planning and Control 5. Productivity Management and Quality Management |
35%
|
||
|
6. Project Management 7. Economics of Maintenance and Spares Management |
20% |
||
|
Section B: Strategic Management |
30% |
||
|
1. Strategic Management Introduction 2. Strategic Analysis and Strategic Planning 3. Formulation and Implementation of Strategy |
|||
|
10 |
Cost & Management Accounting and Financial Management |
Section A: Cost & Management Accounting |
50% |
|
1. Cost and Management Accounting – Introduction 2. Decision Making Tools 3. Budgeting and Budgetary Control 4. Standard Costing and Variance Analysis 5. Learning Curve |
|||
|
Section B: Financial Management |
50% |
||
|
1. Introduction to Financial Management 2. Tools for Financial Analysis and Planning 3. Working Capital Management 4. Cost of Capital, Capital Structure Theories, Dividend Decisions and Leverage Analysis 5. Capital Budgeting – Investment Decisions |
|||
|
11 |
Indirect Taxation |
Section A: Canons of Taxation – Indirect Tax GST |
80% |
|
1. Introduction 2. Levy and Collection of Tax 3. Time, Value and Place of Supply 4. Input Tax Credit 5. Registration under GST Law 6. Tax Invoice, Credit and Debit Notes and other documents under GST 7. Accounts, Other Records 8. Payment of Tax 9. TDS & TCS under GST 10. Returns 11. Matching Concept under GST 12. GST Audit by Professionals 13. E – Waybills under GST – Basics |
|||
| Section B: Customs Laws | 20% | ||
|
1. Basic Concepts 2. Types of Duties 3. Valuation under Customs 4. Import and Export Procedures 5. Customs (Import of Goods at Concessional Rate of Duty) Rules, 2017 |
|||
| 12 | Company Accounts & Audit | Section A: Accounts of Joint Stock Companies | 50% |
|
1. Accounting of Shares and Debentures 2. Presentation of Financial Statements (as per Schedule III) 3. Cash Flow Statement |
25% | ||
|
4. Accounts of Banking, Electricity and Insurance Companies 5. Accounting Standards (AS – 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19) |
25% | ||
| Section B: Auditing | 50% | ||
| 1. Auditing Concepts | 20% | ||
| 2. Provision relating to Audit under Companies Act | 30% | ||
Final
|
Paper |
Subject |
Contents |
Weightage |
|
Group III |
|||
|
13 |
Corporate Laws & Compliance |
Section A: Companies Act |
60% |
|
1. The Companies Act, 2013 |
50% |
||
|
2. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 |
10% |
||
|
Section B: Other Corporate Laws |
25% |
||
|
1. SEBI Laws and Regulation 2. The Competition Act, 2002 and its role in Corporate Governance 3. Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 4. Laws related to Banking Sector 5. Laws related to Insurance Sector |
|||
|
Section C: Corporate Governance |
15% |
||
|
1. Corporate Governance 2. Social, Environmental and Economic Responsibilities of Business |
|||
|
14 |
Strategic Financial Management |
Section A: Investment Decisions |
25% |
|
1. Investment Decisions, Project Planning and Control 2. Evaluation of Risky Proposals for Investment decisions 3. Leasing Decisions |
|||
|
Section B: Financial Markets and Institutions |
20% |
||
|
1. Institutions in Financial Markets 2. Instruments in Financial Markets 3. Capital Markets 4. Commodity Exchange |
|||
|
Section C: Security Analysis and Portfolio Management |
25% |
||
| Security Analysis and Portfolio Management | |||
|
Section D: Financial Risk Management |
30% |
||
|
1. Financial Risks & Management 2. Financial Derivatives-Instruments for Risk Management 3. Financial Risk Management in International Operations |
|||
| 15 | Strategic Cost Management – Decision Making | Section A: Cost Management | 20% |
| Cost Management | |||
| Section B: Strategic Cost Management Tools and Techniques | 50% | ||
|
1. Decisions Making Techniques 2. Standard Costing in Profit Planning 3. Activity Based Cost Management – JIT and ERP 4. Cost of Quality and Total Quality Management |
|||
| Section C: Strategic Cost Management – Application of Statistical Techniques in Business Decisions | 30% | ||
| Application of Operation Research and Statistical Tools in Strategic Decision Making | |||
| 16 | Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation | Section A: Advanced Direct Tax Laws | 50% |
|
1. Assessment of Income and Computation of Tax Liability of Various Entities 2. Tax Management, Return and Assessment Procedure 3. Grievance Redressal 4. Penalties and Prosecutions 5. Business Restructuring 6. Different aspect of Tax planning 7. CBDT & Other Authorities 8. E-commerce Transaction and Liability in Special Cases 9. Income Computation and Disclosure Standards (ICDS) 10. Black Money Act, 2015 |
|||
| Section B: International Taxation | 30% | ||
|
1. Double Taxation and Avoidance Agreements [Sec. 90, 90A and 91] 2. Transfer Pricing |
|||
| Section C: Case Study Analysis | 20% | ||
| Group IV | |||
| 17 | Corporate Financial Reporting | Section A: GAAP and Accounting Standards | 20% |
| Section B: Accounting of Business Combinations & Restructuring (Ind AS) | 20% | ||
| Section C: Consolidated Financial Statements (Ind AS) | 20% | ||
| Section D: Developments in Financial Reporting and other item of Reporting | 25% | ||
|
1. Recent Trends in Financial Reporting 2. Valuation, Accounting and Reporting of Financial Instruments and others (Ind AS) 3. Share Based Payments (Ind AS) 4. Reporting through XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) |
|||
| Section E: Government Accounting in India | 15% | ||
| 18 | Indirect Tax Laws & Practice | Section A: Advanced Indirect Tax and Practice | 80% |
|
1. Goods and Services Tax Act & Rules 2. Customs law 3. Foreign Trade Policy |
50% 20% 10% |
||
| Section B: Tax Practice and Procedures | 20% | ||
| Case Study Analysis | |||
| 19 | Cost and Management Audit | Section A: Cost Audit | 35% |
|
1. Nature, Scope, Utility and Advantages of Cost Audit 2. Companies (Cost Records & Audit) Rules, 2014 3. Professional Ethics, Misconduct, Offences and Penalties 4. Cost Accounting Standards 5. Cost Auditing and Assurance Standards 6. Format of Cost Audit Report – XBRL – Salient Features |
|||
| Section B: Management Audit | 15% | ||
|
1. Management Reporting issues under Cost Audit 2. Management Audit – Meaning, Nature, Scope etc. 3. Energy Audit, Efficiency Audit, Propriety Audit and Systems Audit 4. Evaluation of Corporate Image – Corporate Development Audit 5. Impact of Environmental Pollution |
|||
| Section C: Internal Audit, Operational Audit and Other Related Issues | 25% | ||
|
1. Concept of Internal Audit 2. Provisions of Internal Audit under Companies Act, 2013 3. Audit Planning, Audit Program, Audit Working Papers 4. Receivables Audit, Audit of Services and Local Bodies |
|||
| Section D: Case Study on Performance Analysis | 25% | ||
| 20 | Strategic Performance Management and Business Valuation | Section A: Strategic Performance Management | 50% |
|
1. Conceptual Framework of Performance Management 2. Performance Evaluation & Improvement Tools 3. Economic Efficiency of the firm – Impact analysis on Performance 4. Enterprise Risk Management |
|||
| Section B: Business Valuation | 50% | ||
|
1. Business Valuation Basics 2. Valuation in Mergers and Acquisitions 3. Fair Value in Accounting Measurement 4. Valuation of Intangibles |
|||
FAQ 6. Is there any negative marking for wrong answers to MCQs in CMA Examinations?
CMA Foundation consists of four papers, which involve questions of objective type with no negative marking for any incorrect answer. Moreover, some papers of CMA Intermediate and Final Examinations involve MCQs, but there is no negative marking for any wrong answer.
Disclaimer: The content/information published on the website is only for general information of the user and shall not be construed as legal advice. While the Taxmann has exercised reasonable efforts to ensure the veracity of information/content published, Taxmann shall be under no liability in any manner whatsoever for incorrect information, if any.
Taxmann Publications has a dedicated in-house Research & Editorial Team. This team consists of a team of Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries, and Lawyers. This team works under the guidance and supervision of editor-in-chief Mr Rakesh Bhargava.
The Research and Editorial Team is responsible for developing reliable and accurate content for the readers. The team follows the six-sigma approach to achieve the benchmark of zero error in its publications and research platforms. The team ensures that the following publication guidelines are thoroughly followed while developing the content:
- The statutory material is obtained only from the authorized and reliable sources
- All the latest developments in the judicial and legislative fields are covered
- Prepare the analytical write-ups on current, controversial, and important issues to help the readers to understand the concept and its implications
- Every content published by Taxmann is complete, accurate and lucid
- All evidence-based statements are supported with proper reference to Section, Circular No., Notification No. or citations
- The golden rules of grammar, style and consistency are thoroughly followed
- Font and size that’s easy to read and remain consistent across all imprint and digital publications are applied
Sign Up
To subscribe to our weekly newsletter please log in/register on Taxmann.com
Latest Books
Everything on Tax and Corporate Laws of India
To subscribe to our weekly newsletter please log in/register on Taxmann.com
