CMA's in Toronto - Flooded??

[onetruguju]

Is it just me, or are there waaaaay to many CMA's in Toronto?
I obtained the letters a few years back - but am finding that theres more, and MORE graduating every year...

[xg3]

Is it just me, or are there waaaaay to many CMA's in Toronto?
I obtained the letters a few years back - but am finding that theres more, and MORE graduating every year...

I see these posts everywhere!!!

CMA,CA,PMP are designations, they set a baseline of what the individual is capable of. Lets say, we rank everyone by 0(no exp) - 10(awesome exp), a designation will be put u 1.5-10.. so you are not 100% incompetent.

But most successful people have really good soft skills that compliments their hard skills. Thats what seperate one candidate from another, the charisma, presentation, attitude and etc.

Judging from your comment, you clearly have not understood this concept, you are worried to be just another CMA.

[onetruguju]

You're bang on with your comment. Its the soft skills that separate you from the others.
I'm just surprised with the number of us on RFD, and in toronto.

Not complaining about career opps, just wondering how many CMA's there are in this city...

[jedi1648]

Is it just me, or are there waaaaay to many CMA's in Toronto?
I obtained the letters a few years back - but am finding that theres more, and MORE graduating every year...

I went to attend the CMA graduation ceremony in toronto for a relative, and there were about 2000 graduating, and then u add the CGA and CA graduates....

I guess these days, the professional accounting association appears to be run like a big business. Just imagine $1000 annual membership fee for next 30 yrs, plus the required professional development annually , etc. will add a lot to the association.

[Sum_guy]

You're bang on with your comment. Its the soft skills that separate you from the others.
I'm just surprised with the number of us on RFD, and in toronto.

Not complaining about career opps, just wondering how many CMA's there are in this city...

Right now it seems that you can't get a job without a designation - that's changed over the last 8 years. So now you see everyone getting their letters whereas 10 years ago if you had a B.Comm you wouldn't need it and maybe wouldn't get it.

[djpr]

I am personally stuck in the predictament as we speak. I did some accounting at my previous position and I consider accounting to be something I enjoy. My current position has nothing to do with accounting so I'm not sure if I should start working towards it or leave it be.

[moofur]

This may have something to do with it...

http://www.cma-canada.org/index.cfm/ci_id/4109/la_id/1/document/1/re_id/0

Seems like this has made the CMA program much easier... Graduate from any of those programs and you're now exempt from the entrance exam. Go through 2 years of the SLP (which essentially is group work and university level courses) and bam you're a CMA, assuming that you have the requisite experience, which is not exactly that difficult...

In comparison, it would seem that the CGA program is much more difficult... but anyway

[Sammmy]

This may have something to do with it...

http://www.cma-canada.org/index.cfm/ci_id/4109/la_id/1/document/1/re_id/0

Seems like this has made the CMA program much easier... Graduate from any of those programs and you're now exempt from the entrance exam. Go through 2 years of the SLP (which essentially is group work and university level courses) and bam you're a CMA, assuming that you have the requisite experience, which is not exactly that difficult...

In comparison, it would seem that the CGA program is much more difficult... but anyway

:facepalm:

[onetruguju]

Totally believe its a Toronto thing...
Once you get 100km out of Toronto - you cant find an accountant...
Here, you'll find one down the street to do your bookkeeping, taxes, etc...

[onetruguju]

just did a quick search...

2011 cma convocation stats

Ontario - 1145
BC - ~170
Alberta - ~250

DAAAAAAAAMN....

Move west young accountant, move west!!

[Nucks]

just did a quick search...

2011 cma convocation stats

Ontario - 1145
BC - ~170
Alberta - ~250

DAAAAAAAAMN....

Move west young accountant, move west!!

For some reason, no one wants to do the CMA out here in BC.
In my final class, a sizable chunk of the graduating class wanted to do their CA and those that failed to get into recruit (or didn't have confidence to try) would go the CGA route. A handful of people I knew wanted to do CGA from the start because they wanted nothing to do with taxation.
Then I knew a single girl that wanted to do her CMA. In fact, in my year, I heard they had difficulty finding a decent pool of students for this CMA entrance scholarship that was being offered.

[bhrm]

:facepalm:

:facepalm: +1

[jedi1648]

For some reason, no one wants to do the CMA out here in BC.
In my final class, a sizable chunk of the graduating class wanted to do their CA and those that failed to get into recruit (or didn't have confidence to try) would go the CGA route. A handful of people I knew wanted to do CGA from the start because they wanted nothing to do with taxation.
Then I knew a single girl that wanted to do her CMA. In fact, in my year, I heard they had difficulty finding a decent pool of students for this CMA entrance scholarship that was being offered.

There is no much difference in pay for employee with CMA or CGA or CA, and CMA may the the easiest of the three to get. To get a CA is brutal and no life for many young men, as the required years of articling, low pay, work pressure, study pressure, and the tough 4-day uniform final exams.

[forthewinwin]

Lol the market will become further flooded with more and more Uni grads in general. Nothing going to get any easier.

[iEyeCaptain]

Bachelor's = new High School Diploma
Master's = new Bachelor's
Professional designation = new Master's

Go figure.

[BananaHunter]

Nowadays I think there's a flood of everything. There's a massive flood of students wanting to be CAs. You can say the same for pretty much any field. This is what happens when most people want a desk job working 9-5.

When I was in school (which wasn't that long ago), I recall how students had certain egotistical perspectives on which designation is better. Most frequently in GTA, it's CA > CMA > CGA. The truth is, the majority want to get their CA. When they fail, they go for either CMA/CGA. It's funny that so many students think CMA is better just because it has the word "management" in it and the CMA body tries to market it as a "leadership" based program. The reality is that leadership is something you demonstrate and develop. It's not something you can learn in a class room. Now that CMA is the easiest of the 3 to get, it's small wonder that everyone jumps on it. This creates an obvious oversupply of CMAs which will eventually devaluate the designation in the job market.

I actually don't think this devaluation has a big impact. At the end of the day, it's YOU that gets the job, not the designation. I find that most employers are indifferent between CMA and CGA as long as you have the right skill set and personality for the job. The moral of the story is to stop worrying about what designation you have and focus more on developing your skill set and industry exposure. Work on your soft skills and develop a network of contacts in your field.

[Sum_guy]

All three designations have their strengths and all three have their weaknesses. Once you've worked for ten or so years it pretty much evens out.

In the end it becomes less about the technical skills and more about the soft skills.

[setell]

Your skills and abilities will land you that job vs somebody else with the designation. You can have a designation but you have to prove your ability to perform to move to the next level. There will always be tough competition but you have to be always one step ahead of the game. Arm yourself with skills that is easily transferable and valued by employers of all industries.

[toskadrummer2]

There are only so many accounting jobs in Toronto. If twice there are twice that number of accountants... you do the math. Criticizing someone's "soft skills" doesn't change the fact that "here waaaaay to many CMA's in Toronto". There are CA's working as bookkeepers for competitive rates in Toronto, so it isn't just CMA's. The truth is, Toronto is a bit of a one-horse town, and that horse if financial services. If you're young and personable, you might consider taking a mutual fund course and the Canadian Securities course and looking for a job in a financial institution. They're always looking for people.

[BTech2009]

This may have something to do with it...

http://www.cma-canada.org/index.cfm/ci_id/4109/la_id/1/document/1/re_id/0

Seems like this has made the CMA program much easier... Graduate from any of those programs and you're now exempt from the entrance exam. Go through 2 years of the SLP (which essentially is group work and university level courses) and bam you're a CMA, assuming that you have the requisite experience, which is not exactly that difficult...

In comparison, it would seem that the CGA program is much more difficult... but anyway

I'll also add that the entrance exam itself is only a multiple-choice test, not the old case exam it once was. The Accelerated Program takes less time to complete than CGA Levels 3 and 4.

[noreason]

For some reason, no one wants to do the CMA out here in BC.
In my final class, a sizable chunk of the graduating class wanted to do their CA and those that failed to get into recruit (or didn't have confidence to try) would go the CGA route. A handful of people I knew wanted to do CGA from the start because they wanted nothing to do with taxation.
Then I knew a single girl that wanted to do her CMA. In fact, in my year, I heard they had difficulty finding a decent pool of students for this CMA entrance scholarship that was being offered.

In industry there's very few CMA's in Vancouver or I've never had the chance to work with many of them compared to the other two designations. So most people do either CA or CGA here, where as it sounds like in the East it's either CA or CMA.