The Certified Internal Auditor and the Certified Management Accountant are both credentials for people who work inside organizations rather than for outside clients, which is why they end up on the same shortlist. They certify different jobs. The CIA, awarded by the Institute of Internal Auditors, says you can give independent assurance on governance, risk and control to the Global Internal Audit Standards. The CMA, awarded by the Institute of Management Accountants, says you can plan, measure and steer an organization’s finances: budgets, forecasts, costing, performance measures, corporate finance and investment decisions. One tests whether the organization’s decisions and controls are sound. The other helps make the decisions.
That distinction settles most cases, but the two overlap more than most comparisons admit. Internal controls are 15 percent of CMA Part 1, enterprise risk management and professional ethics sit in Part 2, and IMA counts internal audit work as qualifying experience for the CMA. So the question for many readers is not only which one, but which first, and whether the second is worth the effort. This guide compares the two on what they signal, what the exams test, the 2026 change to the CMA exam format, eligibility, cost, time, upkeep and career payoff, then gives a decision by candidate profile. Figures are those the IIA and IMA published as of September 2026. For the CIA in full, see the CIA exam guide; for IMA’s own description of its credential, see the CMA certification page.
In this guide
- The short answer
- What each credential says about you
- The two credentials side by side
- What the exams test, and where they overlap
- The 2026 change to the CMA exam
- Qualifying: education, experience and membership
- What each costs
- How long each takes
- The two ethics codes
- Keeping the credential
- Where each one opens doors
- Three candidates, three answers
- Doing both, and in what order
- Common mistakes when choosing
- Questions candidates ask about the CIA and the CMA
- Related guides
The short answer
If you want a career in internal audit, and especially if you want to lead a function one day, earn the CIA first. It is the profession’s own credential, its syllabus is the job you do, and a search for an audit manager or chief audit executive will assume you hold it. If your career runs through financial planning and analysis, cost accounting, controllership or a finance leadership track in industry, earn the CMA first. It is built for those roles, and the IIA’s credential adds little to them. If you are an internal auditor who expects to move into finance within a few years, or a finance professional who has landed in internal audit, the answer is often both, in the order of the job you hold today.
| Your situation | First credential | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Staff or senior internal auditor who plans to stay in internal audit | CIA | The syllabus is the job, and the credential is expected on the path to management |
| Internal auditor aiming at audit manager, director or chief audit executive | CIA | Running an internal audit function is examined in the CIA and nowhere in the CMA |
| Internal auditor who expects to move into FP&A, controllership or plant finance | CIA now, CMA before the move | The CIA secures the current role; the CMA is the credential finance hiring managers in industry read |
| FP&A analyst, cost accountant or financial analyst in industry | CMA | Planning, costing, performance management and corporate finance are the exam, and they are the work |
| Controller or finance manager who has inherited the SOX program | CMA, with the CIA optional | Internal controls are 15 percent of CMA Part 1; add the CIA only if you move to the assurance side |
| Accounting graduate undecided between internal audit and corporate finance | Choose the path first | Each takes a year or more of study, and the wrong one first costs that year |
| Auditor without a degree | CIA, entering through the IAP | The CIA is on IMA’s list of certifications that satisfy the CMA’s education requirement, if you want the CMA later |
What each credential says about you
The CIA is the global designation of the internal audit profession, held, the IIA says, by more than 220,000 people in 170 countries. The 2025 syllabus covers the whole mandate of an internal audit function: the Global Internal Audit Standards, independence and ethics, governance, risk and control, fraud risk, engagement planning, evidence and analysis, and the management of the function itself, including quality and the reporting of results to the board. To a hiring manager it says two things: that you know how an audit should be run and reported, and that you have committed to the profession rather than passing through it.
The CMA is IMA’s credential for management accountants and financial professionals in business. IMA lists twelve competencies behind it: external financial reporting decisions; planning, budgeting and forecasting; performance management; cost management; internal controls; technology and analytics; financial statement analysis; corporate finance; business decision analysis; enterprise risk management; capital investment decisions; and professional ethics. To a hiring manager in industry, a CMA says you can explain the numbers and use them to support a decision, not only report them. IMA has more than 120,000 members and more than 200 local chapters, and it reports that CMAs earn a median annual compensation 21 percent higher than their noncertified peers. That is a self-reported survey figure, so read it as a direction rather than a promise.
The real difference is posture. An internal auditor evaluates whether management’s processes, controls and decisions are sound, from a position of independence. A management accountant is part of management: the budget owner’s partner, the author of the forecast, the person who prices the product and argues for the capital project. One person can do both jobs across a career, but not in the same role at the same time, and the Standards’ objectivity requirements are the reason. The ethics and professionalism domain of the Standards sets out what an auditor must protect; IMA’s ethics statement sets out what a management accountant owes the organization and its stakeholders. Both codes value objectivity, but they apply it from opposite sides of the table.
The two credentials side by side
| Dimension | CIA (IIA) | CMA (IMA) |
|---|---|---|
| What it certifies | Internal audit practice to the Global Internal Audit Standards | Management accounting and financial management in business |
| Scale | More than 220,000 CIAs in 170 countries | IMA reports more than 120,000 members worldwide |
| Exams | Three parts, taken in any order | Two parts, taken in any order |
| Format | Multiple choice only: Part 1 has 125 questions in 150 minutes; Parts 2 and 3 have 100 questions in 120 minutes each | Four hours per part: 100 multiple-choice questions in three hours, then two case-based questions in one hour |
| Where and when | Pearson VUE test centers, year-round | Prometric test centers, in three windows a year: January/February, May/June and September/October |
| Scoring | Scaled 250 to 750; 600 to pass | Scaled 0 to 500; 360 to pass |
| Time limit | Three years from application approval to pass all three parts | Three years from entering the program to pass both parts |
| Education | Sets the experience requirement; no degree is needed if you enter through the IAP | A bachelor’s degree or an approved professional certification, completed within seven years |
| Experience to certify | One year with a master’s, two with a bachelor’s, five through the IAP route | Two continuous years in management accounting or financial management, which IMA says includes auditing |
| Membership | Optional in most countries; lowers the fees | Required: only active IMA members can enroll in and hold the CMA |
| Exam fees at first attempt | $990 for IIA members and $1,515 for non-members, including the application | $1,390 for professional members ($300 entrance fee and $545 per part); $1,039 for student and academic members |
| Upkeep | 40 CPE hours a year for practicing CIAs, two of them in ethics | 30 CPE hours a year, two of them in ethics, plus IMA membership and a $30 annual CMA fee |
Three structural differences matter more than the rest. First, the CIA tests year-round and the CMA tests in three windows, so a CMA candidate who misses a window waits months, while a CIA candidate reschedules for $75. Second, the CMA requires IMA membership for as long as you hold it, while the IIA leaves membership optional in most countries and uses it only to lower fees. Third, the CMA is a two-sitting credential with a calculation-heavy second section, while the CIA is three sittings of judgment questions. Candidates who are strong at computation and weak at reading the Standards tend to find the CMA easier than they expected and the CIA harder, and the reverse is just as common.
What the exams test, and where they overlap
The CIA’s three parts follow the life of an internal audit function. Part 1, Internal Audit Fundamentals, weights foundations at 35 percent, ethics and professionalism at 20, governance, risk and control at 30 and fraud risks at 15. Part 2, Internal Audit Engagement, is half engagement planning, 40 percent information gathering, analysis and evaluation, and 10 percent supervision and communication. Part 3, Internal Audit Function, covers operations at 25 percent, the audit plan at 15, quality at 15 and engagement results and monitoring at 45.
The CMA’s two parts follow the work of a finance function. Part 1, Financial Planning, Performance, and Analytics, weights external financial reporting decisions at 15 percent, planning, budgeting and forecasting at 20, performance management at 20, cost management at 15, internal controls at 15 and technology and analytics at 15. Part 2, Strategic Financial Management, weights financial statement analysis at 20 percent, corporate finance at 20, business decision analysis at 25, enterprise risk management at 10, capital investment decisions at 10 and professional ethics at 15.
| Subject area | In the CIA | In the CMA |
|---|---|---|
| Internal controls | Governance, risk and control is 30 percent of Part 1, and control evaluation runs through every engagement in Part 2 | Internal controls is 15 percent of Part 1: governance, risk and compliance, and system controls and security measures, from management’s side |
| Risk management | The risk management process, appetite and tolerance, within Part 1’s governance, risk and control domain | Enterprise risk management, 10 percent of Part 2 |
| Ethics | 20 percent of Part 1, built on the five principles of the Standards | 15 percent of Part 2, built on IMA’s Statement of Ethical Professional Practice |
| Fraud | 15 percent of Part 1 | Not a separate section |
| Financial reporting | Not a syllabus domain since 2025 | External financial reporting decisions, 15 percent of Part 1 |
| Budgets, forecasts and performance measures | Examined only as processes an auditor evaluates | Planning, budgeting and forecasting plus performance management: 40 percent of Part 1 |
| Cost accounting | Dropped from the syllabus in 2025 | Cost management, 15 percent of Part 1 |
| Technology and analytics | Technology options and analytical approaches, inside Part 2’s information-gathering domain | Technology and analytics, 15 percent of Part 1 |
| Corporate finance and investment decisions | Not examined | Corporate finance, business decision analysis and capital investment decisions: 55 percent of Part 2 |
| Audit engagements and running an audit function | All of Parts 2 and 3 | Not examined |
The overlap is real but narrow: controls, risk management and ethics, which together make up about a fifth of the CMA and much of CIA Part 1. Everything else diverges. The CIA never asks you to compute a variance, price a transfer or rank projects by net present value; the CMA never asks you to scope an engagement, grade a finding or design a quality program. The styles differ too. CIA questions are scenario-based multiple choice where two answers are defensible and only one matches the Standards, which is why experienced auditors fail Part 1 on instinct; the CIA difficulty guide explains why. CMA questions are heavier on calculation and on applying a technique to a set of numbers, and the new case-based section adds exhibits to read under time pressure.
For an internal auditor, the controls material in CMA Part 1 will feel familiar in substance and odd in angle: it asks what management should design, not how an auditor should test it. The COSO principles and the control types you already know carry over. The ground you will not have covered is the analytical core of Part 2: capital budgeting, cost of capital, working capital, pricing and marginal analysis.
The 2026 change to the CMA exam
Much of what is written comparing these credentials still describes CMA essays. They are gone. IMA launched case-based questions in May 2026. During the May/June window candidates could choose the essay or the case-based version, and from the September/October 2026 window the case-based version is the only one offered in the English exam sold through IMA’s global purchase page. IMA sells the exam through separate pages for China, Taiwan and Japan, where review providers report the essay format continues, so candidates there should check their region’s page.
Each case-based question opens with a short case of about 250 words and supporting exhibits, followed by a set of items that IMA describes as drag and drop, fill in the blank, select from a list and calculation questions. Each part carries two of them after the multiple-choice section. What did not change: each part is still four hours, the multiple-choice section is still 100 questions in three hours worth 75 percent of the score, candidates still need at least half of the multiple-choice questions right to reach the second section, and the fees and content outline are the same.
The practical consequence is for study material. Essay practice rewarded writing a clear explanation and earned partial credit for a sound approach; case-based items reward exact calculations and precise selections, and a wrong input can cost several linked items. If you are buying second-hand materials or reusing a colleague’s notes, anything built around essay practice is now the wrong rehearsal for the second hour.
Qualifying: education, experience and membership
| Rule | CIA | CMA |
|---|---|---|
| To start | An approved application; degree holders and IAP holders can sit before completing the experience | Active IMA membership and the entrance fee; the exams can be sat before the education and experience are complete |
| Education | A master’s, a bachelor’s or the Internal Audit Practitioner designation; the level sets the experience requirement | A bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution, or a professional certification on IMA’s approved list, which includes the CIA, the CPA, the ACCA, the CFA and the CFE |
| Experience to certify | One year with a master’s, two with a bachelor’s, five through the IAP route (two of them within the last three years), in internal audit or an equivalent field such as external audit, compliance, risk management, quality assurance or internal control | Two continuous years of professional experience in management accounting or financial management; IMA’s handbook lists auditing, internal or external, among the qualifying positions |
| Part-time work | Assessed by the IIA against the requirement | Continuous part-time work of at least 20 hours a week counts at one year for every two |
| Deadline for education and experience | Within the three-year program window, for candidates entering with a degree or the IAP | Before, or within seven years of, passing the exams |
| Ethics and conduct | Agreement to the IIA’s ethics requirements; experience verified by a supervisor | Agreement to IMA’s Statement of Ethical Professional Practice, a felony agreement and a confidentiality agreement at enrollment |
| Membership | Optional, except for residents of the UK, Ireland and South Africa | Required from enrollment for as long as you hold the credential |
The overlap in qualifying experience is the most useful fact in this comparison for an internal auditor. Because IMA counts auditing as qualifying work, a practicing internal auditor usually meets the CMA’s two-year requirement without changing jobs. The reverse is weaker. The IIA accepts internal audit and a set of equivalent fields, and pure FP&A or cost accounting work does not obviously fall into them. A management accountant moving into internal audit should expect to earn the CIA’s experience in the new role, or to document the control, compliance and risk work done in the old one. The CIA requirements guide lists the equivalent fields and the documents the IIA asks for.
The education rules have a quieter consequence. An auditor without a degree can reach the CIA through the Internal Audit Practitioner route, and the CIA then appears on IMA’s list of professional certifications that satisfy the CMA’s education requirement. For that candidate, the CIA is not only the right first credential for the job; it is also the door to the CMA.
What each costs
| Item | CIA, IIA member | CIA, non-member | CMA, IMA professional member | CMA, IMA student member |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Membership | $290 a year in North America; free for students | None | $295 a year, required | $49 a year, required |
| Program entry | Application, $120 | Application, $240 | Entrance fee, $300 | Entrance fee, $225 |
| Exams at first attempt | $310 for Part 1; $280 each for Parts 2 and 3 | $445 for Part 1; $415 each for Parts 2 and 3 | $545 per part | $407 per part |
| Exam fees in total | $990 | $1,515 | $1,390 | $1,039 |
| Year one with membership | $1,280 | $1,515 | $1,685 | $1,088 |
| Retakes | The part fee again, after 30 days | The part fee again | The part fee again, in a later window | The part fee again |
| Changing a date | $75 per reschedule inside the 180-day registration | $75 | No move to another window; a missed window means buying the registration again | Same |
| Annual upkeep | CIA renewal, $30, plus dues | CIA renewal, $120 | Membership plus the $30 CMA annual fee | Membership plus the annual fee |
On fees alone the two are close for professionals: $1,280 for a CIA candidate who joins the IIA, and $1,685 for a CMA candidate, whose membership is not optional. The gap widens with retakes, because the CMA’s windows make every failure a four-month delay as well as a fee. Students get the better deal on the CMA side, where the student entrance and exam prices bring the first year to about $1,088, while the IIA’s student route runs through the IAP. The CIA cost guide itemizes the IIA’s fees, including extensions.
Study material is the largest variable on both sides. For the CIA, question banks start around $499 and full courses list from about $899 to $1,599, as the review course comparison sets out. For the CMA, several of the same companies sell review courses, among them Becker, Gleim, HOCK and Surgent, whose program IMA features on its own preparation page; compare their current prices and pass guarantees before buying, and make sure any course you buy has been updated for case-based questions. Many employers pay for one of these credentials and not the other, so ask before you choose: an employer that reimburses the credential for your current role changes the arithmetic more than any price difference.
How long each takes
The IIA publishes no study-hour guidance for the CIA; the CIA study hours guide sets out realistic ranges by part and by experience, and most working auditors plan on a few hundred hours across the three parts. For the CMA, IMA’s guidance, as review providers quote it, is 150 to 170 hours per part, or roughly 300 to 340 hours for both. The totals are similar. The calendar is not.
| Stage | CIA | CMA |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Days to a few weeks for application approval in the IIA’s candidate system | Immediate once you are a member and have paid the entrance fee |
| Scheduling | Any week of the year at a Pearson VUE center, within a 180-day registration per part | Three windows a year; book at least 72 hours ahead, and a part can be taken only once per window |
| Study and sittings | Six to eighteen months for three parts around a full-time job | Consecutive windows put the two parts about four months apart; with study before the first, most working candidates need eight to twelve months |
| Results | Within about three weeks since the IIA introduced delayed scoring in April 2026 | Several weeks after testing, on IMA’s published score release schedule |
| Experience | One to five years depending on education, usually already met by working auditors | Two continuous years, which a working auditor usually already has |
| What kills the timeline | Letting the three-year program lapse after a failed part | Failing a part late in a window and waiting four months, or letting the three-year clock expire a passed part |
The CMA’s windows turn planning into a calendar exercise. Two parts in consecutive windows, say May/June and September/October, finish the exams about four months after the first sitting. A failure pushes that part to the next window, and a second failure can put a passed part at risk, because IMA expires passed parts if both are not complete within three years and asks for the entrance fee again. The CIA’s year-round testing is more forgiving: a failed part can be retaken 30 days later, and the retake plan shows how to use those weeks. If you want a free day-by-day plan for the CIA, the CIA Study Planner builds one from your dates and hours.
The two ethics codes
Ethics is examined in both credentials, and the two codes read differently because they govern different jobs. The IIA’s ethics requirements sit inside the Global Internal Audit Standards as Domain II, Ethics and Professionalism, with five principles that the standards turn into requirements. IMA’s Statement of Ethical Professional Practice sets four overarching principles and four standards that members must comply with, and adds guidance on resolving an ethical conflict inside the organization.
| IIA: Domain II principles | IMA: principles | IMA: standards |
|---|---|---|
| Demonstrate Integrity | Honesty | Competence |
| Maintain Objectivity | Fairness | Confidentiality |
| Demonstrate Competency | Objectivity | Integrity |
| Exercise Due Professional Care | Responsibility | Credibility |
| Maintain Confidentiality |
The words overlap: integrity, objectivity, competence and confidentiality appear in both. The situations do not. The IIA’s objectivity principle is about the auditor’s independence of mind from the activities under review, which is why an auditor who designed a control should not audit it. IMA’s credibility standard is about communicating information fairly and objectively and disclosing what a user would need to understand a report, which is the management accountant’s version of the same value from inside the reporting line. For exam purposes, a CIA question on objectivity will usually turn on an impairment and its disclosure; a CMA question will usually turn on what to do when a superior asks for a number to be shaded. The Domain II guide covers the IIA’s side in full.
Keeping the credential
Practicing CIAs report 40 hours of continuing professional education a year, including two of ethics, and those not practicing report 20; reporting runs from 1 October to 31 December, and the renewal fee is $30 for IIA members and $120 for non-members. The CIA maintenance guide covers what counts and how the IIA audits reports. CMAs report 30 hours a year, including two of ethics, keep their IMA membership active and pay the $30 annual CMA fee; letting IMA membership lapse lapses the CMA.
For a dual holder the hours overlap more than the rules suggest. Courses on internal control, risk management, data analytics, fraud and ethics usually count for both bodies, so a CIA who also holds the CMA can meet both requirements with roughly the CIA’s 40 hours, provided the records are kept in a form each body accepts. The recurring cost of holding both is the part that adds up: IIA dues if you keep them, IMA dues, which you must keep, and two renewal fees.
Where each one opens doors
| Role | Usually looks for | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Staff and senior internal auditor | CIA | The profession’s baseline credential, often listed as preferred and sometimes as required for promotion |
| Audit manager, director, chief audit executive | CIA, often with a CPA, CA or CMA | The committee expects command of the Standards; a finance credential strengthens the financial side of the conversation |
| Internal auditor in manufacturing, retail or distribution | CIA first; CMA knowledge valued | Inventory, costing and margin analysis are core audit topics in these sectors |
| SOX and ICFR program lead in a finance function | CPA or CMA, with CIA valued | The role sits in management; financial reporting depth matters more than the Standards |
| FP&A analyst or manager | CMA | Planning, forecasting and performance management are the exam |
| Cost accountant, plant controller, operations finance | CMA | Cost management and decision analysis are the daily work |
| Controller, finance director, CFO track in industry | CMA or CPA | Both are read as finance leadership credentials; the CPA dominates where external reporting is central |
| Second-line risk or internal control team | Either; CIA for testing roles, CMA for control-owner roles | Depends on whether the job evaluates controls or runs them |
Two patterns show up in real careers. The first is the internal auditor who spends three to five years in audit and then moves into finance, a common exit that the exit opportunities guide maps by destination. For that person the CIA pays off in the audit years and the CMA pays off in the move, and the CMA’s experience rule, which counts auditing, makes the timing easy. The second is the finance professional who joins internal audit as a manager, often from FP&A or controllership. For that person the CMA they already hold is respected, but the CIA is what makes the move credible to a chief audit executive and an audit committee. The internal audit career ladder shows where the CIA is expected by level, and the salary guide explains how to price a second credential in a negotiation.
Three candidates, three answers
The choice gets clearer in particular cases. The three below are composites of common situations rather than real people.
A senior internal auditor at a consumer goods manufacturer, three years into the profession, whose audit plan is full of inventory, standard costing and trade promotion spend. She is tempted by the CMA because the audits she finds hardest are the costing ones. The better answer is the CIA now, because it is what her next promotion depends on, and the cost topics can be learned on the job and from inventory audit work. If she decides in two years that plant finance is where she wants to go, the CMA is the right bridge, and her audit years already count toward its experience requirement.
An FP&A analyst four years out of university who has been asked to join a SOX remediation project and has enjoyed the controls work more than the budgeting. He should not start the CIA yet. The CMA fits the job he holds and would be paid for by his employer; the controls project may or may not become a career. A secondment to internal audit, or a conversation with the chief audit executive about the function’s rotation program, would test the interest at far lower cost. If he moves, the CIA follows, and his CMA experience will need to be supplemented with audit experience before he can certify.
An internal audit manager without a degree who entered the profession through a finance clerk role and has ten years of audit experience. She should look first at whether she qualifies for the CIA Challenge Exam’s experience-based pilot, whose first application cycle closes on 30 September 2026, and otherwise take the IAP route into the CIA. Once she holds the CIA, it satisfies IMA’s education requirement, so the CMA becomes available to her if she later wants a finance leadership role, something that would have been closed to her without a degree.
In each case the profession decided the credential, and the credential’s details decided only the order and the timing. That is the pattern for almost everyone comparing the two.
Doing both, and in what order
Holding both makes more sense than most pairings, because the professions touch: internal audit functions audit the finance function, and finance leaders inherit controls. If you plan both, a few rules make the second one cheaper. Take the credential for your current role first, because your employer is more likely to pay for it and your daily work is study for it. Do not study for both at once; each is a few hundred hours, and the content barely overlaps outside controls, risk and ethics. Use the overlap deliberately: CIA Part 1’s governance, risk and control domain is a head start on CMA Part 1’s internal controls section, and the CMA’s financial statement analysis and corporate finance sections fill the gap the 2025 CIA syllabus left when it dropped financial management.
One shortcut does not exist. The CMA is not one of the routes into the CIA Challenge Exam, which is open to holders of CPA and chartered accountant designations from approved accounting bodies, to CISA holders and, in the 2026 pilot, to experienced professionals. A CMA who wants the CIA sits the three parts, although the controls and ethics material will not be new. The reverse shortcut does exist in a small way: the CIA is on IMA’s approved list for the education requirement, which matters only to candidates without a degree.
| Path | Best for | How it runs |
|---|---|---|
| CIA, then CMA | Internal auditors who expect to move into finance | The CIA over six to eighteen months; the CMA two windows later, with audit experience already counting toward IMA’s two years |
| CMA, then CIA | Finance professionals moving into internal audit leadership | The CMA in the finance role; the CIA after the move, earning the IIA’s experience in the new role |
| CIA only | Career internal auditors, including future chief audit executives | Add financial depth through CPE and engagements rather than a second credential |
| CMA only | Career management accountants and finance leaders | The CIA adds little unless you move to the assurance side |
Common mistakes when choosing
| Mistake | What it looks like | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Choosing by prestige instead of by job | An internal auditor earns the CMA because it sounds more senior, then finds audit managers ask about the Standards | List the roles you want in five years and check which credential those postings name |
| Studying from essay-era CMA material | Practicing written answers for a section that is now case-based | Buy material updated for case-based questions, and practice exhibits and calculations under time |
| Ignoring the CMA’s windows | Planning Part 2 for “next month” and discovering the next window opens in four months | Plan both parts against IMA’s three windows before paying the entrance fee |
| Letting IMA membership lapse | Treating membership as optional after passing | Budget dues as part of holding the CMA; a lapsed membership lapses the credential |
| Assuming the CMA opens the CIA Challenge Exam | Planning a one-exam route to the CIA that is not available | Check the Challenge Exam pathways; the CMA is not among them |
| Sitting CIA Part 1 on management experience | A finance manager answers as the control owner would, not as the auditor must | Study the Standards themselves and practice with scenario questions from the free CIA question bank |
| Studying for both at once | Two exams, two sets of windows, neither passed | One credential at a time, the one for the job you hold first |
Questions candidates ask about the CIA and the CMA
Which is harder, the CIA or the CMA?
They are hard in different ways. The CIA’s difficulty is judgment: questions where two answers are reasonable and only the Standards’ answer scores, spread over three sittings; the IIA currently publishes pass rates of 44, 48 and 56 percent for Parts 1 to 3. The CMA’s difficulty is breadth of calculation under a four-hour clock, with a hurdle of half the multiple-choice questions before the case-based section counts. IMA does not publish current pass rates on its certification pages; review providers still quote figures of about 45 percent from 2020. Most candidates find whichever exam is further from their daily work the harder one.
Does internal audit experience count for the CMA?
Yes. IMA’s handbook lists auditing, internal or external, among the positions that meet the CMA’s requirement of two continuous years in management accounting or financial management. The experience can come before the exams or within seven years after them.
Does FP&A or cost accounting experience count for the CIA?
Not automatically. The IIA accepts internal audit and equivalent fields such as external audit, compliance, risk management, quality assurance and internal control. Finance roles with a documented control or compliance component may qualify in part; pure planning or costing work usually does not. Check with the IIA before relying on it.
Can I take the CMA without a degree?
You can sit the exams, but to certify you need a bachelor’s degree or a professional certification on IMA’s approved list, within seven years of passing. The CIA, CPA, ACCA, CFA and CFE are among the certifications on that list.
Can I take either exam from home?
No. The IIA ended online proctoring for the CIA in May 2025, and every part is sat at a Pearson VUE test center. The CMA is sat at Prometric test centers during IMA’s testing windows.
I already hold the CMA. Is the CIA worth adding?
It is if you work in internal audit or intend to lead an internal audit function, because the CIA is the credential a chief audit executive and an audit committee read. It is not if you are building a finance career: the CIA’s Parts 2 and 3 are about running engagements and an audit function, which a controller or FP&A leader will not use.
Related guides
- The CIA exam, explained — parts, fees, scoring and study plans.
- Internal audit certifications compared — every credential on one page.
- CIA vs CPA — the licensed accountant’s comparison.
- CIA vs ACCA — for readers where ACCA is the default accountancy route.
- CIA vs CISA — the technology audit alternative.
- CIA vs CFE — the fraud specialist’s credential.
- CIA vs CFA — for auditors near investments.
- IAP vs CIA — the IIA’s entry credential and the route to the CIA.
- A certification roadmap by career stage — what to earn when.
- The CIA Study Planner — a free day-by-day plan with every IIA deadline.
- CIA flashcards — spaced repetition for the Standards and the 2025 syllabus.
- SOX 404 explained — the controls work where auditors and management accountants meet.
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