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I have always wanted to be a CMA first and foremost, I believe I learned about it first in my Intro to Accounting class. Small business are where my heart is. I am currently working full-time at a national CPA firm while finishing school. Unfortunately, when I mentioned this to my bosses, they had no idea what it was and are exclusively focused on CPAs; as is the rest of the hiring in the industry.

So here is my question, for those of you who are both CPAs and CMAs: which order would you recommend taking the tests?

CPA first and then take the CMA; reverse? Simultaneously?

Please advise.

I have always wanted to be a CMA first and foremost, I believe I learned about it first in my Intro to Accounting class. Small business are where my heart is. I am currently working full-time at a national CPA firm while finishing school. Unfortunately, when I mentioned this to my bosses, they had no idea what it was and are exclusively focused on CPAs; as is the rest of the hiring in the industry.

So here is my question, for those of you who are both CPAs and CMAs: which order would you recommend taking the tests?

CPA first and then take the CMA; reverse? Simultaneously?

Please advise.

I have always wanted to be a CMA first and foremost, I believe I learned about it first in my Intro to Accounting class. Small business are where my heart is. I am currently working full-time at a national CPA firm while finishing school. Unfortunately, when I mentioned this to my bosses, they had no idea what it was and are exclusively focused on CPAs; as is the rest of the hiring in the industry.

So here is my question, for those of you who are both CPAs and CMAs: which order would you recommend taking the tests?

CPA first and then take the CMA; reverse? Simultaneously?

Please advise.

I have always wanted to be a CMA first and foremost, I believe I learned about it first in my Intro to Accounting class. Small business are where my heart is. I am currently working full-time at a national CPA firm while finishing school. Unfortunately, when I mentioned this to my bosses, they had no idea what it was and are exclusively focused on CPAs; as is the rest of the hiring in the industry.

So here is my question, for those of you who are both CPAs and CMAs: which order would you recommend taking the tests?

CPA first and then take the CMA; reverse? Simultaneously?

Please advise.

I have always wanted to be a CMA first and foremost, I believe I learned about it first in my Intro to Accounting class. Small business are where my heart is. I am currently working full-time at a national CPA firm while finishing school. Unfortunately, when I mentioned this to my bosses, they had no idea what it was and are exclusively focused on CPAs; as is the rest of the hiring in the industry.

So here is my question, for those of you who are both CPAs and CMAs: which order would you recommend taking the tests?

CPA first and then take the CMA; reverse? Simultaneously?

Please advise.

I have always wanted to be a CMA first and foremost, I believe I learned about it first in my Intro to Accounting class. Small business are where my heart is. I am currently working full-time at a national CPA firm while finishing school. Unfortunately, when I mentioned this to my bosses, they had no idea what it was and are exclusively focused on CPAs; as is the rest of the hiring in the industry.

So here is my question, for those of you who are both CPAs and CMAs: which order would you recommend taking the tests?

CPA first and then take the CMA; reverse? Simultaneously?

Please advise.

I have always wanted to be a CMA first and foremost, I believe I learned about it first in my Intro to Accounting class. Small business are where my heart is. I am currently working full-time at a national CPA firm while finishing school. Unfortunately, when I mentioned this to my bosses, they had no idea what it was and are exclusively focused on CPAs; as is the rest of the hiring in the industry.

So here is my question, for those of you who are both CPAs and CMAs: which order would you recommend taking the tests?

CPA first and then take the CMA; reverse? Simultaneously?

Please advise.

Hi Brielle,

I will throw in my two cents as a dual certificate holder of both the CPA and the CMA. I got my CPA first. If the CPA certification is important to your employer, and it sounds like it is, I would recommend pursuing that first. Additionally, as someone else already mentioned, the CPA is more widely recognized. Studying and prepping for both sets of tests is very time consuming, and for that reason I would not recommend pursuing both at the same time.

I have always wanted to be a CMA first and foremost, I believe I learned about it first in my Intro to Accounting class. Small business are where my heart is. I am currently working full-time at a national CPA firm while finishing school. Unfortunately, when I mentioned this to my bosses, they had no idea what it was and are exclusively focused on CPAs; as is the rest of the hiring in the industry.

So here is my question, for those of you who are both CPAs and CMAs: which order would you recommend taking the tests?

CPA first and then take the CMA; reverse? Simultaneously?

Please advise.

Hi Brielle,

I was planning to do both at the same time in 2019-2020, I did study for both simultaneously and found that the CMA covers 2 parts of the CPA at that time, Business and FAR, I ended up doing the CMA only as Covid-19 travel restrictions hit at the time I was planning to take my exams and they don't have CPA testing in the country I live in. If I had the option, I would do the them at the same time, start with the REG exam in CPA (it is the hardest part) once passed you can do the rest, time your CMA exams with the CPA FAR and Business exams as they are very similar in both.

Good luck

Hi Brielle,

I will throw in my two cents as a dual certificate holder of both the CPA and the CMA. I got my CPA first. If the CPA certification is important to your employer, and it sounds like it is, I would recommend pursuing that first. Additionally, as someone else already mentioned, the CPA is more widely recognized. Studying and prepping for both sets of tests is very time consuming, and for that reason I would not recommend pursuing both at the same time.

I have always wanted to be a CMA first and foremost, I believe I learned about it first in my Intro to Accounting class. Small business are where my heart is. I am currently working full-time at a national CPA firm while finishing school. Unfortunately, when I mentioned this to my bosses, they had no idea what it was and are exclusively focused on CPAs; as is the rest of the hiring in the industry.

So here is my question, for those of you who are both CPAs and CMAs: which order would you recommend taking the tests?

CPA first and then take the CMA; reverse? Simultaneously?

Please advise.

Hi Brielle,

I was planning to do both at the same time in 2019-2020, I did study for both simultaneously and found that the CMA covers 2 parts of the CPA at that time, Business and FAR, I ended up doing the CMA only as Covid-19 travel restrictions hit at the time I was planning to take my exams and they don't have CPA testing in the country I live in. If I had the option, I would do the them at the same time, start with the REG exam in CPA (it is the hardest part) once passed you can do the rest, time your CMA exams with the CPA FAR and Business exams as they are very similar in both.

Good luck

Hi Brielle,

I will throw in my two cents as a dual certificate holder of both the CPA and the CMA. I got my CPA first. If the CPA certification is important to your employer, and it sounds like it is, I would recommend pursuing that first. Additionally, as someone else already mentioned, the CPA is more widely recognized. Studying and prepping for both sets of tests is very time consuming, and for that reason I would not recommend pursuing both at the same time.

I have always wanted to be a CMA first and foremost, I believe I learned about it first in my Intro to Accounting class. Small business are where my heart is. I am currently working full-time at a national CPA firm while finishing school. Unfortunately, when I mentioned this to my bosses, they had no idea what it was and are exclusively focused on CPAs; as is the rest of the hiring in the industry.

So here is my question, for those of you who are both CPAs and CMAs: which order would you recommend taking the tests?

CPA first and then take the CMA; reverse? Simultaneously?

Please advise.

I have always wanted to be a CMA first and foremost, I believe I learned about it first in my Intro to Accounting class. Small business are where my heart is. I am currently working full-time at a national CPA firm while finishing school. Unfortunately, when I mentioned this to my bosses, they had no idea what it was and are exclusively focused on CPAs; as is the rest of the hiring in the industry.

So here is my question, for those of you who are both CPAs and CMAs: which order would you recommend taking the tests?

CPA first and then take the CMA; reverse? Simultaneously?

Please advise.

Brielle,

I will echo some others that have suggested the CPA first, and for some similar reasons.  The first being that your employer holds this as an important certification for you to achieve.  I earned mine during the first year of employment at an international firm (non-big 4), and it comes with benefits at work.

At my next employer I earned my CMA (three years later), and will note that the testing is more in depth on managerial accounting, but less broad based.  Thus taking the CPA a bit closer to those high level accounting courses might be better.

I wish you luck in your endeavors, whichever way and timing you choose to take the exams.  Both certifications are good to have (IMHO).

I have always wanted to be a CMA first and foremost, I believe I learned about it first in my Intro to Accounting class. Small business are where my heart is. I am currently working full-time at a national CPA firm while finishing school. Unfortunately, when I mentioned this to my bosses, they had no idea what it was and are exclusively focused on CPAs; as is the rest of the hiring in the industry.

So here is my question, for those of you who are both CPAs and CMAs: which order would you recommend taking the tests?

CPA first and then take the CMA; reverse? Simultaneously?

Please advise.