CMA Articleship: Practical Training for CMA Course

What is CMA Articleship?

CMA articleship refers to the practical training one has to go through in order to complete his/her CMA course and be eligible to become an official member of The Institute of Cost Accountants of India. It is gaining practical experience by working in an organization as a trainee and learn to apply his/her theoretical knowledge to practical use in a professional field. Every student pursuing a career in CMA has to do his practical training a.k.a. CMA articleship, in accordance with the guidelines provided by ICMAI (The Institute of Cost Accountants of India). To understand the significance of CMA articleship better, lets look at the objectives that CMA practical training aims at and what students get to learn out of it.

Objectives of CMA Articleship

CMA Articleship aims at the following objectives:

1. To provide job experience to students as cost and management accountant in a professional field.
2. To make students learn how to apply theoretical knowledge to practical use.
3. To ready the students with necessary skill sets for future employment and success.
4. To make students learn the discipline and ethical values required in a professional field. 

After successful completion of CMA articleship, a student learns all the skill sets, discipline, and values required to work as a professional. He gains practical knowledge of what it is like out in the real world and is also able to determine what areas or departments he might be more interested in and best suited for.

According to the ‘New Practical Training Scheme 2020’ provided by ICMAI, the time period or the CMA articleship duration is to be strictly 3 years of training, which is then further divided, to create gaps, so as to allow students to give exams in the middle and not lose their flow of studying and exams. To understand this better, let’s first look at when a student is supposed to start his CMA articleship, what are the eligibility criteria?

Eligibility for CMA Articleship

A student can start his/her CMA articleship as soon as he registers for CMA intermediate course (students who have registered for the intermediate course after 11^th February 2020). He/she doesn’t have to have given intermediate examinations to be eligible to apply, but can start as soon as he registers. 

A student is required to complete his 3 years of training in the following way:

A student is required to complete 10 months of his CMA articleship 4 months before the month in which he is giving his final examination and 15 months of articleship before the declaration of his CMA final result. Therefore, after you have applied and started your training, make sure to complete 10 months of training 4 months before your final examination month and thereafter complete you 15^th month before declaration of result.

For students appearing for final exam in the month of December, the cut-off date for completing 10 months of training is 31^st August and for students appearing for the same in the month of June, it is 28^th/29^th February.

The rest of the training i.e. 21 months are to be completed later on, after clearing final exam.

Organisations and Areas for Training

A student can pursue his/her CMA articleship as a cost accountant in any of the organizations mentioned below:

• Any Cost and Management accounting firm
• Central Government or Stare Government
• Banks/ Insurance or other financial institutions
• Public sector undertakings
• Universities or any other recognized educational institutes
• Co-operative societies and NGOs
• Any CA/CS firm that has a separate division for management consultancy (CA/CS articleship will not be entertained, the work done by the student should be of CMA)
• Any organization with a turnover of Rs.25 Lakhs for service sector and Rs.50 Lakhs for others.

A student can work in the following areas or department:

• Management Accounting
• Financial Accounting
• Cost Accounting
• Financial Management
• Auditing
• Regulatory compliances
• Direct Taxation
• Indirect Taxation
• Corporate Laws, Industrial Laws, Commercial Laws
• System Analysis, Information Technology
• Project Management
• Banking Operations
• Insurance
• Insolvency and Valuation
• Financial Services
• Teaching in finance, accounts, costing, taxation and management
• Management Consultancy

Intimation – Procedure of informing the institute 

A student after joining an organization for his/her CMA articleship is required to inform the institute within 30 days from the date of joining about his/her training. To do so he/she will fill out and submit Form No. T-1 (in case of working in a cost accountants firm) and Form No. T-4 (in case of working under any other organizations mentioned above). The Form is available online on the official website of ICMAI and is to be submitted online only. 

Exemption – Procedure for being exempted form Training

If a student has already or is presently working in any of the organizations and in areas mentioned above, he can apply for exemption from CMA articleship. To do so he/she will have to fill and submit Form No. T-3 and pay Rs.2000. Student can submit the form after registering for CMA intermediate course. When appearing for final exam in the month of June, the form should be submitted by 31^st May and 30^th November when appearing in December.

Following Documents will also be required to submit:

1. Experience certificates (designation, area and duration)
2. Copy of balance sheets of employer or proof of turnover 
3. Copy of salary slip

Forms – CMA Articleship

Here is a list of forms to be submitted for training:

1. Form T-1 – To inform or intimate the institute of your training (in cost accountants firm)
2. Form T-4 – To inform or intimate the institute of your training (in any other organizations mentioned above)
3. Form T-3 – To inform or intimate the institute of Exemption from training
4. Form T-5 – To inform or intimate about 10 months of training before final exam

Important Guidelines for CMA Articleship 

As per the ‘New Practical Training Scheme 2020’, students should follow certain guidelines for their CMA articleship. These are to be strictly followed.

• Working hours should be – 35 hours per week
• The candidate would be given one day leave with pay per month 
• The candidate would be given a 60 day leave without pay for examinations
• The CMA articleship stipend in a cost accountant firm is Rs.2000 for 1st year, Rs.3000 for 2nd year and Rs.4000 for 3rd year
• The CMA articleship stipend in a corporate or organization is Rs.8000-10,000 for 1st year, Rs.10,000-12,000 for 2nd year, and Rs12,000-15,000 for 3rd year.
• Maximum no of trainees in the program while practicing cost accountant (associate member) = 10
• Maximum no of trainees in the program while practicing cost accountant (fellow member) = 15

For more information visit: ICMAI’s New Practical Scheme 

Now that we know everything there is to know about CMA articleship, how do we find a job? Ready to apply all your hard work and knowledge out in the real world? To covert your theoretical knowledge to practical use? 

Toplad, India’s largest learning platform for CMA, CA and CS students, also provides you with amazing job opportunities from the best companies like Accenture, Amazon, Ernst & Young, Ford, Tata Power and more. Here you can find or post jobs. Students can easily find the best jobs and apply. Fresh and exciting new jobs are published regularly. Ready to get placed?

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