CIMA Designation / Wharton

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PalacioHill

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Does anybody know anything about the CIMA designation? I noticed that a lot of mutual fund wholesales have this designation. I’ve also noticed that on their linkedin page, many of they claim to have gone to the Wharton School to obtain the designation. It sounds like complete BS to claim association with the Wharton School of Businss. Don’t they just take the exam there or something? From what I understand the CIMA is like a “CFA Light” designation that you just sign up for and pass an easy exam based on some mutual fund knowledge. Anybody care to chime in?
 
sounds like an awesome business opportunity..anyone wanna join me to start one of these and partner with harvard? easiest $ ever made
 
damn..beat to the punch..again..last time this happened it was the ipod
 
I work for Investment Management Consultants Association® (IMCA®), and we deliver the CIMA® certification. It is actually a quite challenging certification to earn and a majority of our certificants are top financial and investment advisors.
Since 1988, CIMA certification has been the only credential designed specifically for advanced investment advisors and consultants. Last year, CIMA certification was recognized as the only financial services designation in the United States to earn accreditation by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) under an international personnel certification standard (ISO 17024). Among the hundreds of financial certifications and certificates currently offered, very few meet a similar standard.
The CIMA certification process takes most candidates nine months to a year to complete, but only one in three individuals who start the certification process successfully finish. To earn CIMA certification, applicants must demonstrate at least three years of financial industry experience and study for approximately 500 hours in addition to passing a background check, qualification exam, and certification exam. CIMA certificants must also complete advanced investment management consulting coursework provided through The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania or the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Click here for information about CIMA exam pass rates.
IMCA feels that advisors who work in client-facing investment advisory roles – retail or institutional – should hold CIMA certification. Some mutual fund wholesalers hold CIMA certification – and we encourage them to earn the certification to enhance their knowledge and professionalism – but they represent a minority of IMCA’s membership. Click here to view IMCA’s membership profile.
The CIMA curriculum tests candidates on five major domain areas, each with dozens of supporting topics, including: developing and recommending investment policy statements for both individuals and institutional clients; making portfolio recommendations based on risk and beta analysis; analyzing performance measurement and recommending the selection of managers; analyzing and recommending specific investments (equities, fixed income, alternatives); and analyzing ethical and legal implications (including understanding fiduciary responsibilities for various client engagements). Click here for the candidate handbook that details the steps to CIMA certification and topic areas for both the qualification exam and certification exam.
If you have any questions about CIMA certification, please email me at [email protected] or visit our website at http://www.imca.org/ for more information.
Ryan Hoffman
 
OK. I should be studying, but I got sidetracked. I’m really pissed about this. Read on:
I taking a study break, looking to see what the demand for CFA’s was in my area. I happened to notice that a new money-management firm had opened up in my area. (This is big news where I live–this happens all the time in NY or SF, but not so much in rural West Texas.) Both of the founders stated that they had ATTENDED THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, where of course, they earned this most prestigious designation–the CIMA!
At first, I was in awe. I mean, here are two guys who went to the best (IMHO) business school in the US, and possibly in the world. And they were opening up a PWM shop right here in Smalltown, Texas. I was ecstatic! Finally, I might get the opportunity to work with HNW clients in a real portfolio-managment setting!!! Two bright young upstarts who were giving Merrill Lynch the finger, and starting their own business–800 million bucks worth of business.
Upon further research (which consisted of searching for CIMA on AF), I realized that the CIMA, in all its glory, was nothing more than an extremely watered-down version of CFA Level 3. Moreover, did these two guys get an MBA from an Ivy League school? Nope. Were they accepted into the graduate business school of the University of Pennsylvania? Nope. In fact, only one of them lists having a Bachelor’s degree–from Local State. He’s also a CFP, and apparently they poached a CRPC from Merrill, too. (The other co-founder doesn’t list any other education, other than studying at Wharton. Some of the rest of the team went to a big regional university and majored in Family Financial Planning.)
So now I’m pissed. I’ve been busting my ass to try and pass this exam and get what I believe is the premier finance certification in the world, (except for maybe an MBA from a Wharton/Harvard/Stanford/Kellogg/Stern)and these two pansies are out claiming that they “attended the Wharton School of Business achieved the Certified Investment Manager Analyst (CIMA®) designation from the Investment Manager Consultants Associate (IMCA).” (Of course, they both support local charities and youth groups. How delightful of them.)
This is intentionally dishonest, at best. At worst, this is outright fraud. This should be an outright violation of CIMA ethics, FINRA ethics, CFA ethics, CFP ethics, CFFP ethics, and these hucksters should be forced to take down their allusion to having an Ivy League diploma.
 
rhoffman wrote:
I work for Investment Management Consultants Association® (IMCA®), and we deliver the CIMA® certification. It is actually a quite challenging certification to earn and a majority of our certificants are top financial and investment advisors.
Click to expand...
Namely, whom?
rhoffman wrote:
Since 1988, CIMA certification has been the only credential designed specifically for advanced investment advisors and consultants. Last year, CIMA certification was recognized as the only financial services designation in the United States to earn accreditation by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) under an international personnel certification standard (ISO 17024). Among the hundreds of financial certifications and certificates currently offered, very few meet a similar standard.
Click to expand...
Funny–the North American Securities Administrators Association has a few designations that allow a person to qualify for state registration. However, CIMA is NOT one of them.
http://www.nasaa.org/industry-resources/investment-advisers/ia-links/professional-designations/

rhoffman wrote:
The CIMA certification process takes most candidates nine months to a year to complete, but only one in three individuals who start the certification process successfully finish.
Click to expand...
Does that nine months include the time it takes to do the background check? And do the other 2/3 of people balk at the 10,000 dollar price tag? I think that’s about the same as the nationwide college success rate.
rhoffman wrote:
To earn CIMA certification, applicants must demonstrate at least three years of financial industry experience and study for approximately 500 hours in addition to passing a background check, qualification exam, and certification exam.
Click to expand...
500 hours–is that for the qualification exam, the certification exam, or both? Where do the 2/3 of candidates usually drop out?
rhoffman wrote:
CIMA certificants must also complete advanced investment management consulting coursework provided through The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania or the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Click to expand...
So, does that qualify me to put on my CV that I “attended the Wharton School of Business”?
rhoffman wrote:
IMCA feels that advisors who work in client-facing investment advisory roles – retail or institutional – should hold CIMA certification.
Click to expand...
Really? The organization that issues (and makes money off of) the CIMA certification encourages people to take (and pay for) the CIMA certification? Who would have figured that?
rhoffman wrote:
The CIMA curriculum tests candidates on five major domain areas, each with dozens of supporting topics, including: developing and recommending investment policy statements for both individuals and institutional clients; making portfolio recommendations based on risk and beta analysis; analyzing performance measurement and recommending the selection of managers; analyzing and recommending specific investments (equities, fixed income, alternatives); and analyzing ethical and legal implications (including understanding fiduciary responsibilities for various client engagements).
Click to expand...
Sounds vaguely familiar…I would be interested to see the actual curriculum, and see how it differs from the CFAI curriculum. I wonder if CFAI is aware of this.
 
ddrobinett wrote:
rhoffman wrote:
I work for Investment Management Consultants Association® (IMCA®), and we deliver the CIMA® certification. It is actually a quite challenging certification to earn and a majority of our certificants are top financial and investment advisors.
Click to expand...
Namely, whom?
rhoffman wrote:



Since 1988, CIMA certification has been the only credential designed specifically for advanced investment advisors and consultants. Last year, CIMA certification was recognized as the only financial services designation in the United States to earn accreditation by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) under an international personnel certification standard (ISO 17024). Among the hundreds of financial certifications and certificates currently offered, very few meet a similar standard.
Click to expand...
Funny–the North American Securities Administrators Association has a few designations that allow a person to qualify for state registration. However, CIMA is NOT one of them.
http://www.nasaa.org/industry-resources/investment-advisers/ia-links/professional-designations/

rhoffman wrote:
The CIMA certification process takes most candidates nine months to a year to complete, but only one in three individuals who start the certification process successfully finish.
Click to expand...
Does that nine months include the time it takes to do the background check? And do the other 2/3 of people balk at the 10,000 dollar price tag? I think that’s about the same as the nationwide college success rate.
rhoffman wrote:
To earn CIMA certification, applicants must demonstrate at least three years of financial industry experience and study for approximately 500 hours in addition to passing a background check, qualification exam, and certification exam.
Click to expand...
500 hours–is that for the qualification exam, the certification exam, or both? Where do the 2/3 of candidates usually drop out?
rhoffman wrote:
CIMA certificants must also complete advanced investment management consulting coursework provided through The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania or the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Click to expand...
So, does that qualify me to put on my CV that I “attended the Wharton School of Business”?
rhoffman wrote:
IMCA feels that advisors who work in client-facing investment advisory roles – retail or institutional – should hold CIMA certification.
Click to expand...
Really? The organization that issues (and makes money off of) the CIMA certification encourages people to take (and pay for) the CIMA certification? Who would have figured that?
rhoffman wrote:
The CIMA curriculum tests candidates on five major domain areas, each with dozens of supporting topics, including: developing and recommending investment policy statements for both individuals and institutional clients; making portfolio recommendations based on risk and beta analysis; analyzing performance measurement and recommending the selection of managers; analyzing and recommending specific investments (equities, fixed income, alternatives); and analyzing ethical and legal implications (including understanding fiduciary responsibilities for various client engagements).
Click to expand...
Sounds vaguely familiar…I would be interested to see the actual curriculum, and see how it differs from the CFAI curriculum. I wonder if CFAI is aware of this.
Click to expand...
Wow, somebody is fired up tonight lol! I also hate it when I see people claiming they studied at H/S/W when they spent a weekend there for some seminar.
 
It is crazy how often I see people claiming to have gone to Wharton and then at the bottom in very tiny print you come to find out that it was a weekend seminar for the GD CIMA program. This should be fraudulant and Wharton should do somthing about this. I once interviewed with a guy and was slightly intimidated because I looked at his Bio and it said he was a Wharton grad……..I later found out it was for the CIMA. I should have eaten him for lunch.
 
Agreed with both of you. I have a legitimate MBA. Albeit from a second-rate school, it is still an MBA from an AACSB-accredited school. I do not try to tell anybody I went to a top-50 program.
I called IMCA to ask whether this would be an ethical violation. I’m waiting on them to call me back. (I’m not holding my breath.)
I also asked about the prerequisites. The prerequisites to entering the CIMA progam are:
  • Three years of financial services experience. (What constitutes “financial services experience”? Being a teller at a local credit union? Bookkeeping at the local McDonald’s franchise?)
That’s it. No bachelor’s degree, no high-school diploma, no Series 7/66 license, no nothing.
 
Build it and they will come. Product differentiation to capture non-degree-holders’ willingness to pay. F the system.
 
Okay, so I was able to speak to an IMCA representative, and he confirmed that stating “I attended the Wharton School of Business” is probably not representative of what the CIMA certification means, and hinted that he would reach out to the individuals in question and ask them to reconsider their verbiage.
I also spoke with him about the certification itself. After talking to him, it seems like it’s similar to the CFA Level 3 curriculum, but not quite as intense. If you could cut out the FRA/CF/Econ stuff from Level 1, cut out the Level 2 test completely, and trim Level 3 back on the asset classes, you would have the CIMA certification.
From what I can tell, it’s probably somewhat harder than the AAMS designation (which is basically the Investments portion of the CFP exam), but not as hard as the CFA exam. It’s probably a good program for somebody who:
  • Has experience in retail financial services,
  • Wants to stay in retail,
  • Doesn’t have a lot of formal education, and
  • Wants to learn more about how to manage investments without learning all of the estate planning/insurance/education planning of the CFP.
Sorry if I went a little overboard. My gripe is less with IMCA, and more with the two individuals that imply that they went to graduate school at an Ivy League school.
 
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