What is a Management Accountant?
Management Accountants usually work in the Finance department of a single company. Roles are often varied and could involve:
- setting and monitoring monthly budgets for other departments
- supporting new product launches, including setting prices, predicting sales volumes or controlling costs
- looking at strategies to grow and develop the business for the future.
You could even see your career progress to join the Board of Directors as its Chief Financial Officer. There are loads of opportunities for Management Accountants.
What can I expect to earn as a Management Accountant?
A typical starting salary for a qualified Management Accountant is £34,000 a year, with benefits including private pension and healthcare. This can exceed £70,000 as you gain experience. (Taken from PayScale research)
What skills do you need to be a good Management Accountant?
- Strong communication and people skills – you’ll be working with people across the business and will often have to attend meetings and give presentations
- Problem solving – you’ll need to love problem solving and will often have to think creatively to come up with solutions to problems
- Commercial awareness – you’ll always be thinking about what is best for the business, helping them to reduce costs or maximise revenue
How do I get into a career in Management Accounting?
To become a Management Accountant, you’ll need to study a Chartered Accountancy qualification, the most common of which is CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants).
Most people new to Accountancy start the Certificate in Business Accounting (Cert BA) qualification, which gives you a strong introduction to accountancy and management topics. This will also help you secure your first role in an accounts department, giving you the opportunity to apply the knowledge you learn in a practical setting.
From there (or if you already have exemptions from Cert BA), you can then progress onto the CIMA Professional Qualification and secure your role as a trainee Management Accountant.
We have plenty of CIMA materials on our site to help you with your studies.