4 minute read
IMA and VU Amsterdam
IMA, the worldwide association of accountants and financial professionals in business, is dedicated to advancing the management accounting profession by offering members opportunities to continue learning throughout their careers. To expand knowledge and build quality in the field, IMA offers the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) certificate. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam has been offering preparatory courses since 1991 to people taking the international CMA exam. According to Brigitte de Graaff, CMA programme director at VU Amsterdam and global board director at IMA, and Alain Mulder, managing director of IMA Europe, continuing to learn and advance throughout your career is vitally important. Why should people invest in upskilling when the employment market is at an all-time high? Alain: “Sure, the unemployment rate is at a historic low and accountants and finance professionals seem to be in high demand everywhere. They really have an edge at tthere’s a dangerous side to it. that’s also a danger. It won’t always be like this, and so you have to start preparing for a time when
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the job market may not be as good. Also bear in mind that getting a degree or qualification is not something that is done overnight, which is why it’s even more important to start preparing, especially now.”
Brigitte: “Added to that, the accounting field is changing rapidly. We have been saying this for many years, but it continues to be true. More recently, that change has centred around issues of automation and artificial intelligence, so trends connected with technology and analytics. These things are still very important, but there is another big change happening now – and I may be slightly biased as it’s also my PhD research topic – but sustainability is a big factor. It is going to impact management accountants and the finance profession in ways not everyone understands yet. So, you need to be prepared for that. If you’re not keeping up, you’re falling behind.”
Alain: “I also think that people always talk about the job market as if it stops at national borders. But, actually, there is no such thing as just the ‘Dutch’ job market anymore. It has become global, even more now with remote working. I hear many hiring managers say that if they can’t find recruits in the Netherlands, they are fine with hiring them from somewhere else. That’s something people need to bear in mind and why you should try to stand out by keeping up your professional training.” IMA has created a Sustainable Business Management Task Force that set out some fundamental principles for building a successful and sustainable accounting ecosystem. Could you explain more about that? Brigitte: “As the chair of this task force, I’ve seen that the ESG side of the accounting field is focused mostly on financial accounting right now. However, I think it’s of the utmost importance to figure out how to tackle these issues, instead of just reporting on them financially. Sure, you can report on your carbon footprint, but what’s more interesting is what you are doing internally to change your impact. Are you adapting to future changes in this environment? The accounting profession is very focused on the external reporting side whereas the management side is sometimes somewhat overlooked and not heard enough in the discussion. That is why we started this task force: to help businesses and professionals prepare for the future while complying with the rules.”
IMA and VU Amsterdam have been working together for quite some time now, is that right? Alain: “Yes, and it has been great to partner with VU Amsterdam in offering these courses. They were the first education provider outside the US to start teaching CMA over thirty years ago, so they really were a global frontrunner. That’s also why CMA now has such a strong base in the Netherlands and such a great focus on lifelong learning.”
Brigitte: “Here at VU Amsterdam, we basically have the best of both worlds. We are an academic institution, so we have In dept knowledge at all these different topics that are covered under the CMA program. We have an entire accounting department with loads of colleagues that I can discuss current trends with, and who are in that sense all involved in the programme’ may be cchanged into ‘and who are very experienced with life long learning trajectories for accounting professionals. We can easily combine the academic perspective with the practical side. Our lecturers know about the complexities and how theory and practice can sometimes be a little different, and they are definitely bridging that. And that’s precisely what we are trying to achieve through the CMA programme: to show and teach people what the accounting or finance world is like and how it is changing, beyond their own organizations.”
Institute of Management Accountants ITO Tower Gustav Mahlerplein 28 1082 MA Amsterdam +31 (0)20 308 06 10 www.imanet.org
