Certified Management Accountants are Earning 55 Percent More in Compensation According to IMA's 2019 Global Salary Survey

USA - English

• Middle East - English

DUBAI, UAE, March 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- IMA's® (Institute of Management Accountants) 2019 Global Salary Survey, shows that CMA^® (Certified Management Accountant) certified professionals globally earn 57 percent more in median salary and 55 percent more in median total compensation than non-CMAs. Young accountants particularly reap the benefits of becoming certified, as CMAs in their 20s earn 70 percent more in total compensation than their peers who do not have the CMA and those in their 30s earn 67 percent more.

"The CMA program's focus on planning, analysis, and decision support aligns closely with the skills management accounting and finance professionals need now and will need in the future," said Hanadi Khalife, director of MEA and India operations at IMA. "In the region, we're particularly encouraged to see CMAs continue to reap the benefits of the certification and move up the career ladder, to become trusted business advisors to their organizations."

According to responses from more than 5,200 IMA members, the survey also finds that the CMA empowers finance professionals as the digital age makes its way into accounting and finance. For example, 72 percent of respondents agree the CMA strengthens their job security in the digital age and 78 percent agree that the CMA strengthens their ability to move across all areas of the business. Further, more than 76 percent agree the certification provides additional career opportunities.

Gender Pay Gap
Globally, there's a different story. In the last year, the global gender pay gap in both median salary and total compensation became virtually nonexistent, according to survey respondents. This is up from last year when women earned 90 percent of men's median salary and total compensation. The gap for respondents in their 20s improved significantly this year, with women's median base salary exceeding their male counterparts by 25 percent.

This year, respondents are significantly younger across all regions with an overall average age of 37 years old. The report highlights that the Middle East/Africa region, which includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon, and others, has the youngest respondents, yet this region also has the highest percentage of respondents in senior or top management positions (39%). This shows that promotions at an early age are common in this region.

"After years of slowly shrinking the gender wage gap, we're happy to see the overall improvement in the global 20-29 age group," Krumwiede said. "Of course, this global report combines many different countries with very different gender pay gaps. We must be careful not to celebrate the end of the pay gap. The demographics of the respondents have much to do with the median results. But the most recent year is a good indicator of women's continued upward mobility in the workplace. This marks the third year in a row we have seen the global gender wage gap shrink."

IMA's Global Salary Survey, authored by Shannon Charles, CPA, is the cover story of this month's edition of Strategic Finance, IMA's award-winning flagship publication. The global and U.S. data is available on IMA's Survey website where additional regional reports are forthcoming.

About IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants)
IMA®, named the 2017 and 2018 Professional Body of the Year by The Accountant/International Accounting Bulletin, is one of the largest and most respected associations focused exclusively on advancing the management accounting profession. Globally, IMA supports the profession through research, the CMA® (Certified Management Accountant) program, continuing education, networking and advocacy of the highest ethical business practices. IMA has a global network of more than 100,000 members in 140 countries and 300 professional and student chapters. Headquartered in Montvale, N.J., USA, IMA provides localized services through its four global regions: The Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe, and Middle East/India. For more information about IMA, please visit www.imanet.org.

SOURCE IMA (Institute of Management Accountants)

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