These two lead to different jobs. The CMA (Certified Management Accountant) is for FP&A, management accounting and the corporate finance path toward controller and CFO. It's two exam parts, about $1,090 in exam fees, a bachelor's degree and two years of experience. The FRM (Financial Risk Manager) is for market, credit and operational risk at a bank, and it's two exam parts, about $2,000 all-in and two years of risk experience. The pay figures you'll see for the two come from different surveys and years, so I'd choose on the job.
FreeFellow has free CMA practice questions for both parts of the IMA blueprint and FRM practice questions for Parts I and II, all with written solutions. The full banks are free with an account, and you can try sample questions without one.
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| CMA (Management Accountant) | FRM (Financial Risk Manager) | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Management accounting and corporate finance credential (IMA) | Financial risk credential (GARP) |
| Exams | 2 parts | 2 parts |
| Exam fees | ||
| Degree required | Bachelor's degree | None to sit; a degree is typical |
| Experience | 2 years in management accounting or finance | 2 years of risk-related work |
| Planning study time | Part 1 170 hr; Part 2 170 hr | Part I 275 hr; Part II 250 hr |
| Pass-rate basis | 45% Part 1; 45% Part 2, January-February 2020, English-language exams worldwide | Approximate historical estimates: 47% Part I; 55% Part II; period unverified. Not a matched comparison. |
| Time to finish | ~15 months | ~15 months |
Who should pick the CMA
Pick the CMA if your career is on a company's finance team: FP&A (budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis and decision support), management or cost accounting, internal controls, or treasury. It suits people working up from senior financial analyst to FP&A manager, controller and eventually CFO on the industry side, and it pairs well with the CPA for corporate roles. The CMA shows you can turn a company's numbers into decisions, which is what FP&A and controllership teams hire for.
Who should pick the FRM
Pick the FRM if your career is in risk at a financial institution: market, credit or operational risk at a bank or asset manager, regulatory capital (Basel III/IV), or stress testing (CCAR, DFAST). It's known for its quantitative depth in value at risk, the Greeks, credit models and term-structure work, and it's the credential for the path from risk analyst to chief risk officer inside financial institutions. Because it's so specialized, it's worth a lot inside a risk function and much less outside one.
Where they overlap
The two rarely compete for the same person. If you picture yourself building the budget, owning the forecast and working with the operating units, get the CMA. If you picture yourself sizing a portfolio's tail risk, setting limits and answering to regulators, get the FRM. There's a small overlap in corporate treasury and enterprise risk, where some people value both, but for most people it comes down to industry finance (CMA) or risk at a financial institution (FRM), depending on the job they want.
The finance credential ROI map has the full economics for every finance credential, with sources, and CFA vs FRM compares risk with the investment path.