ICMAI Full Form, Old Name ICWAI and What It Does

ICMAI stands for The Institute of Cost Accountants of India, the statutory body that runs the CMA (Cost and Management Accountant) course and regulates the cost and management accountancy profession in India. Until 2012 it was called The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI); ICMAI's CMA Prospectus 2025 says Parliament recognised the new name with effect from 1 February 2012. It was set up under the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959 and functions under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (ICMAI, History).

ICMAI, ICWAI and related short forms

Short form	Full form
ICMAI	The Institute of Cost Accountants of India
ICWAI	The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India, the Institute's name until 2012
CMA	Cost and Management Accountant, the title of ICMAI's qualified professionals; also the name of the course
CMA Inter	CMA Intermediate, the second of the course's three levels
ACMA / FCMA	The letters used by Associate and Fellow members of ICMAI
AICWA / FICWA	The letters Associate and Fellow members used until 1 February 2012
CIMA	Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, London, a separate UK body

The legal name has no "Management" in it, but the Institute uses the short form ICMAI for itself, on its website icmai.in and in its documents. "Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of India", which some websites use, is not its name.

ICMAI's History page explains the change. The Institute began in 1944 in Calcutta (now Kolkata) as a company registered under the Companies Act, became a statutory body on 28 May 1959 under the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959, and was renamed by an amendment to that Act in force from 1 February 2012. ICMAI says the new name aligns it with management accounting bodies abroad, and its professionals are now known as Cost and Management Accountants (CMAs).

The members' letters changed at the same time. The Cost and Works Accountants (Amendment) Act, 2011 replaced "AICWA" and "FICWA" with "ACMA" and "FCMA" in section 5 of the Act from 1 February 2012 (ICMAI's copy of the Act, as amended in 2011). The Regulations were brought into line by a notification dated 29 November 2013, which amended Regulation 7(7). So if an older book, certificate or job advert mentions ICWAI or ICWA, it refers to this Institute and its course, now called the CMA course.

Not to be confused with ICAI, ICSI or CIMA

ICAI (the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) runs the CA course, and ICSI (the Institute of Company Secretaries of India) runs the CS course. CIMA, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, London, is a UK body. ICMAI's prospectus lists passing the Final examination of ICAI, ICSI or CIMA among the qualifications that allow direct admission to the CMA Intermediate course.

ICMAI at a glance

Detail	ICMAI
Full name	The Institute of Cost Accountants of India
Name in Hindi	भारतीय लागत लेखाकार संस्थान (Bharatiya Lagat Lekhakar Sansthan)
Former name	The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI)
Started	1944, in Calcutta, as a company registered under the Companies Act
Statutory body since	28 May 1959, under the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959
Works under	Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India
Headquarters	CMA Bhawan, 3 Institutional Area, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003
Other offices	CMA Bhawan, 12 Sudder Street, Kolkata 700016 (home of the Directorate of Studies); CMA Bhawan, C-42, Sector 62, Noida 201309
Network	4 regional councils (Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai), 113 chapters and 11 overseas centres
Members and students	More than 1,00,000 qualified members and more than 6,00,000 students
International bodies	Founder member of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants (CAPA) and the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA)
Website and email	icmai.in; student enquiries: studies@icmai.in

The Hindi name is from ICMAI's home page, the addresses from its Contact Us page, and the network and member figures from its campus placement brochure of September 2026 and the CMA Prospectus 2025. ICMAI's History page and the 2025 prospectus give 112 chapters. The History page also describes ICMAI's more than 1,00,000 qualified professionals as being "all over the globe".

The overseas centres are in Bahrain, Botswana, Canada (Toronto), Dubai, London, Muscat, Nepal, Singapore, Tanzania, Washington and Zambia (ICMAI, Overseas Centres). For the four regional councils, their offices and their chapters, see our guide to ICMAI's regional councils.

What ICMAI does

ICMAI is governed by a Council under the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959. As part of regulating the profession, it enrols students for the CMA course, provides coaching, organises professional development programmes for its members and carries out research in cost and management accountancy (CMA Prospectus 2025).

The Institute lists these objectives on its History page:

to develop cost and management accountancy as a tool of management control in all spheres of economic activity;
to promote scientific methods in cost and management accountancy;
to develop its members and equip them to carry out their functions;
to keep up with new cost and management accounting principles and practices;
to supervise people entering the profession and make sure they follow strict ethical standards;
to hold seminars and conferences on professional subjects across the country;
to carry out research and publish books and booklets for members in industry, commerce and education in India and abroad.

Its vision is that the Institute "would be the preferred source of resources and professionals for the financial leadership of enterprises globally".

The CMA course

ICMAI's CMA course has three levels, Foundation, Intermediate and Final, with 20 papers in all under Syllabus 2022: 4 at Foundation, 8 at Intermediate and 8 at Final. The exams are held twice a year, in the June and December terms. Final students must complete the Industry Oriented Training Programme before filling in the exam form for both groups or their remaining group, and 15 months of practical training before appearing for both or the remaining group of the Final exam (CMA Prospectus 2025).

Passing the Final exam does not make you a member straight away. To apply for Associate membership (ACMA), you also need at least three years of practical experience in costing or industrial accounting in a responsible position, gained before or after the Final. An Associate can apply to become a Fellow (FCMA) after five continuous years of qualifying experience. ICMAI's Advancement from ACMA to FCMA Guidelines, 2025 (in force from 3 April 2025, printed in the CMA Prospectus 2025) count practice in India as a cost accountant, a Chief Cost Accountant or equivalent post, government service (not in a PSU), a post at Costing Officer or Accounts Officer rank or above in a related field, teaching at a recognised university, college or institute, and work as an individual management consultant. Periods under different heads can be added together.

The paper list and passing marks are in our guide to CMA exams, and what ICMAI charges at each level is in our CMA course fees guide.

Using the ICMAI website

ICMAI rebuilt its website, so many older links, such as the placement pages under icmai.in/CPT/, no longer work. These are the current places for common student tasks:

Task	Where
Take admission to Foundation, register for Intermediate or enrol for Final	Online on the student portal, or with the form from a regional council, chapter or accredited institution
Get the syllabus and study notes	CMA Syllabus 2022 and Study Materials pages
Apply for an exam	Online Application for Examination
Check results	Result page
Get answer papers verified	Apply within 30 days of the result (₹250 per paper); only totalling mistakes and unmarked answers are checked, and there is no revaluation. A photocopy of an answer script costs ₹500 if you apply within 21 days.
Find placement notices and vacancies	Campus Placement, Current Openings and placement News and Updates
Check whether someone is a member	Search Members
Raise a query or complaint	Help Desk, or email studies@icmai.in

The verification and photocopy rules and fees are from the CMA Prospectus 2025. How to use the free study notes is explained in our guide to CMA study material.

Placements and career counselling

ICMAI's placement cell, its Placement Directorate, works with both qualified and semi-qualified CMAs. According to its placement page, it keeps databases of students and of recruiting companies, organises pre-placement orientation, training and workshops, arranges campus recruitment and helps students find industrial training before or after they complete the course.

Campus placement programme

After each exam term, ICMAI holds a CMA Campus Placement Programme for that term's newly qualified CMAs. Recruiters shortlist candidates from ICMAI's database of qualified CMAs, only shortlisted candidates attend, and a candidate who gets more than one offer on the same day must accept the first one (ICMAI's Campus Placement page and its campus placement brochure of September 2026).

December 2025 term: Phase I drives were held in April and May 2026 in Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Vijayawada, and a Phase II "Summer Campus" in June and July 2026 in Bengaluru, Cochin, Delhi, Mumbai, Surat, Vijayawada and Kolkata.
June 2026 term, Phase 1: Delhi 12 to 14 October, Mumbai 28 to 30 October, Bengaluru 3 to 5 November, Kolkata 17 to 19 November and Chennai 25 to 27 November 2026. ICMAI says it will also hold drives in Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Vijayawada, Kochi and Hyderabad during November and December 2026.

Schedules change, so check the Campus Placement page for the current term. Before the drives, ICMAI runs a 12-day Advanced Skill Training Programme (ASTP) for newly qualified CMAs, covering practical skills, soft skills and industry readiness.

ICMAI's brochure says 81 organisations took part in the December 2025 term's programme, most of them from IT and consulting (18), manufacturing (13), FMCG, pharma, agri-business and hospitality (12) and financial services and banking (11). It gives a highest CTC of ₹36 lakh offered in its campus programmes from 2018 to 2025 and an average CTC of ₹12 to 14 lakh. These are ICMAI's own figures. The prospectus names recruiters such as Coal India, ONGC, SAIL, Indian Oil, ICICI Bank, HSBC, Deloitte, Infosys and Tata Steel.

Job and trainee vacancies

Between campus drives, ICMAI posts vacancies on its placement News and Updates page, many of them for CMA Intermediate candidates; notices with closing dates between July and September 2026 included Indian Oil Corporation, MSTC, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, Genpact and BNY. The Current Openings page sorts openings into those posted by organisations for Final-qualified CMAs, those posted for Intermediate students and those gathered from newspapers and other sources.

Career counselling

ICMAI also has a Career Counselling department. Its page says counselling is meant ideally for students in standards 8 to 11 who are choosing subjects and a career, and lists three functions: career planning, performance management (finding the causes of under-performance) and career transition. The department offers counselling to individuals and at school, college and university level, takes part in career, job and book fairs, runs career advancement programmes at corporate level and holds mega career counselling events.