President’s Report 2024-2025 – The 29th Year
In 2024-25 we continued with the successful strategies of the institute, especially with the two Global Zoom Programmes offered by its fully owned Syme Business School, being a great success, with over 140 participants from 25 countries across the globe participating each time.
Consequently, I am happy to report that in 2025 the growth momentum continued, and therefore, our Institute in its 29th year is even stronger and in stellar health, both at home in Australia & New Zealand as well as internationally.
I am pleased to report that we continue to maintain a strong and stable financial position, even amidst ongoing global uncertainty.
- Our revenue grew by 2.4% over the previous year — a steady and reassuring result that is continues the growth trend (there was an exceptional 37% growth achieved in the immediate post-Covid period).
- This consistent performance reflects the strength of our programmes, the dedication of our members and partners, and the prudent financial management practices we have upheld.
- Looking ahead, the outlook for 2025–26 appears highly promising, with early indicators showing that both revenue and overall results are tracking well ahead of last year.
This solid foundation places us in an excellent position to continue expanding our initiatives, strengthening our collaborations, and investing confidently in the Institute’s future growth.
The current financial year 2024-25 looks promising, and the numbers are higher than last year. We can be cautiously optimistic of stronger growth in the years to come
ICMA has adapted very well to the challenging post-pandemic world and has emerged stronger and more resilient by channelling its resources towards:
- Maintaining the New Zealand Government Qualification Authority (NZQA) assessment for the CMA program as being equivalent to the highest postgraduate level (Masters)
- Continually Improving our website.
- Enhancing our member portal.
- Holding two very successful Global CMA Zoom programs – the latest of which was attended by 140 participants from 25 countries across the world
- Holding regular Webinars for our members.
- Holding prestigious ‘Hall of Fame’ events in Australia and globally.
- Submissions to the Government.
- Attended industry-relevant seminars and meetings
- Sponsoring awards at Universities in Australia, the UK and Indonesia.
- Publishing opinion pieces and media releases on important matters.
- Providing an electronically verifiable membership badge (certified by Credly) available to our members.
Activities in Australia & New Zealand
CMA (ANZ) Hosted the Prestigious Hall of Fame Induction Dinner in November 2024 and inducted three outstanding champions into its Global Accounting, Management Accounting and Social Purpose Innovator Hall of Fame categories at a gala dinner held at the RACV Melbourne on the 29th of November 2024.
- Prof Brett Sutton was the Guest of Honour
- Senator Barbara Pocock was inducted to the Global Management Accounting Hall of Fame
- Professor Ian McPhee was inducted into the Global Accounting Hall of Fame.
- Associate Professor Angie Bone was inducted to the Social Purpose Innovator Hall of Fame
Activities in Regional Offices
Sri Lanka
His Excellency Mr Paul Stephens, High Commissioner, Australia was the Chief Guest and His Excellency Mr David Pine, High Commissioner, New Zealand, was the Guest of Honour at the Sri Lanka Graduation Ceremony in November 2024 where 250 CMAs were inducted.
ICMA also proudly celebrated its 25th anniversary (Silver Jubilee) in Sri Lanka in 2024. The series of year-long celebratory activities culminated with a grand celebratory event on the 22nd of November 2024.
The CMA Batches 24 & 25 intensive Face-to-Face Programs were also completed.
Thailand
The Second CMA programme was delivered in Thailand in October-November 2024
Dubai
The 30th and 31st CMA programmes were held in Dubai, UAE.
Indonesia
Batches 16 and 17 intensive face-to-face CMA programmes were completed in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Canada
The resumption of the CMA Program in Toronto, Canada after 17 years
Lebanon
The CMA Batch 13 intensive Face-to-Face Program was Completed
Conferences and Webinars delivered internationally by Regional Offices:
Our Indonesian branch continues to be the most proactive and dynamic one, conducting an average of 2 webinars every month – during the year they conducted over 10 webinars across Indonesia in collaboration with universities and other prominent Indonesian businesses.
Besides Indonesia, the Sri Lankan branch also conducted many webinars, as did our branches in Hong Kong, the Philippines and Nepal.
Syme Business School (100% Owned by ICMA)
Syme Business School continued to organise Zoom programmes for ICMA as listed above, and this proved to be profitable and efficient for Syme Business School.
As a result of this, ICMA is happy to announce that Syme Business school made a profit for the fourth consecutive financial year in 2024-25 and is continuing to operate profitably in 2024-25.
Syme Business School also organised the Third CMA programme in Bangkok in 2025 with the Australian Alumni Association.
The institute went all out to ensure the success of this programme, as it was without the collaboration of the Thai Federation of Accountants (TFAC).
ICMA (ANZ) now have a strategic window of opportunity to make further inroads into the large Thailand market
Publications
The eNewsletter On Target continued to be published, and the web analytics indicate that it gets on average 5,000 visits and 6,000-page views per month.
Management Accounting Frontiers (MAF) continued to be published in 2024-25.
The Journal of Applied Management Accounting Research (JAMAR), which changed editorial direction in 2017 to publish peer-reviewed, practice-oriented applied papers for the management accounting profession, continued to publish two issues in 2024 and 2025.
Research
Research and professional development also continued in the two organisations set up by the ICMA:
- The Institute of Certified Carbon Analysts and Auditors (ICCAA) and
- The Institute for the Advancement of Corporate Reporting and Assurance (IACRA).
Library
The library now has over 12,500 texts and professional and academic publications and is now one of the best libraries in Australia in the professional areas of management accounting and risk management.
The physical library is still not fully functional due to continuing work-from-home policies at ICMA (ANZ), and the physical office is only open for limited periods. Arrangements have been made to secure the use of digital library services for members via Topiau Library Services.
Committees & Boards
The ICMA has a number of Committees and Boards for its Governance.
Education Committee
- Education Advisory Board
- Professional Education Sub-Committee
- Continuing Education Sub-Committee
- Academic Education Sub-Committee
Membership Committee
- Membership Advisory Board
- Membership Services Sub-Committee
- Industry and Government Engagement Sub-Committee
- Ethics Sub-Committee
Finance Committee
- Finance, Audit & Risk Advisory Board
The Council thanks all who voluntarily served on these Committees and Boards for their time and dedication.
Services Provided by the Secretariat.
- CPD Register: The institute’s online CPD Register where members can upload the CPD they have undertaken in the assessment period.
- CPD Opportunities: Providing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities to members via Calwest University in the USA and the Academy of Finance and Management Australia (AFMA). Special arrangements were made with these two organisations to provide education programs at discount prices to members due to COVID-19 restrictions. These arrangements continued in the 2024-2025 period.
- Website: Maintaining the corporate website that is in keeping with the enhanced international profile of ICMA (ANZ).
- Members Only Area: Maintaining a Members Only area on the website.
- CMA Updates: Emailing monthly the Members Update, and Publishing in pdf format 6 copies of the On-Target
- CRM: Having a world-class Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to handle the membership, invoicing, examinations and accounts.
- Social media: The ICMA official sites of Facebook and Instagram are now significantly enhanced and the publications of the CEO Blog continued over the year.
Membership Committee Chairman’s Report
Ms. Roshani Perera presented the Membership Committee Chairman’s Report
Membership Growth
Membership grew by 9% overall during the year
We had an 8% increase in CMAs and 7% rise in AMA’s and similar increase in the lower levels of membership (CAT/RCA/GMA)
Although membership growth is not a KPI of ICMA, which instead aims for quality by positioning itself as the only specialist professional body for senior executives with education programmes at the master’s degree level, members represent the lifeblood of the Institute.
The overall membership of the ICMA now stands at approximately 14,712 members in 116 countries. (L/Y 13,551)
Education Committee Chairman’s Report
Prof. Janek Ratnatunga, the Education Committee chairman, provided an overview of the Education Programme of CMA Australia. The programme has Nine Levels and in this financial year, the New Zealand Government Qualification Authority (NZQA) provided equivalency assessments for the different levels of the GMA & CMA programs.
- Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) (Level 4 – Certificate)
- Registered Cost Accountant (RCA) (Level 5 – Diploma)
- Registered Business Accountant (RBA) (Level 6 – Advanced Diploma)
- Graduate Program (For School Leavers) – GMA & AMA (Level 7 – Degree)
- Graduate Conversion Programme (For Non-Accounting Graduates/Professionals) – GMA& AMA.
- CMA Program (For Accounting Graduates/Professionals) – CMA (Level 9 – Masters Year 2)
- CGBA – For Non-accounting Graduates
- MBA, CMA program for Global Leaders
- DBA, CMA program for Applied Research
The programme can be undertaken via:
- University Degree (Undergraduate/Masters)
- Recognised Provider Institution
- Corporate In-House
Prof. Ratnatunga also reported that to facilitate its educational objectives, in addition to its own nine-level CMA education programme, the Institute has accredited a number of universities which have master’s degree subjects that are equivalent to the CMA programme. Some of these universities also provide in-house training and examinations of the CMA programme. Accounting graduates can do CMA accredited units at these universities to qualify for CMA status. The details of these universities and the subjects accredited are listed on the CMA Website.
CMA Australia also has Recognised providers in Australia and in many different countries, the details of which are listed on our website.
Assessments
Due to Covid-19 lockdowns, assessments were mainly online and digital. These proved to be much more beneficial even to students with less than 10-years’ experience (who previously had to sit written exams at a physical location).
Post-Covid-19, the Education Committee formalised online and digital assessments, which are now the principal mode of assessment at ICMA.
The online assessments are mainly assignments focused on the company that the student works in.
The digital assessments are Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs).
A recent and pervasive challenge has been the use of AI (e.g., ChatGPT) by students in writing their assignments. Strict rules are now in place with regard to this.
Certificates of Proficiency
The following Certificates of Proficiency Programmes were designed and offered in 2024-2025.
- International Financial Reporting Standards
- Risk Management (online)
- Islamic Banking and Finance
- Family Business.
- Foreign Exchange Management
- Transport and Shipping
- Supply Chain Management
- Project Management (online)
- Project Finance (online)
- Takaful (Islamic) Insurance
- International Business Analysis (online)
- Logistics Management
- Wealth Management
- Telecommunications Pricing
- Company Secretarial Practice
- Crisis Management
- Forensic Accounting and Auditing
- Human Resource Management
- Sustainable Procurement
- Cross-Cultural Negotiations
- Performance Budgeting
- VAT Law & Practice (UAE)
- Performance and Valuation
- Accounting Practice (Vietnam)
- Performance & Valuation
- Business Valuation (online)
- Digital Marketing (Online)
- Pricing & Revenue Management (Online)
- Environmental & Sustainability Analysis (Online)
Membership Pathways
The Institute of Certified Management Accountants (ICMA) offers several membership pathways as follows:
- University Graduates in Accounting
- University Graduates in Finance
- MBA Degree Holders
- University Graduates with Non-Accounting Degrees
- Diploma and Advanced Diploma Holders in Accounting
- Members of Other Professional Accounting Bodies
- Members of Other Professional Non-Accounting Bodies
- Part Qualified Students of Other Professional Accounting Bodies
- School Leavers
- Academics
- Distance Education Scholarship Program
- Emerging Professional Scholarship Program
Treasurer’s Report
Dr Chris D’Souza presented the Treasurer report.
At the last AGM he had reported that for the then current year 2024-25 we would continue a steady growth pattern, but based on the collections to date, he said that he expected a higher growth in the current year 2025-26.
The Audited financial report placed before this meeting is in line with the expectations, and ICMA (ANZ) has remained financially strong and recorded a small growth in gross revenue of 2% over the previous year.
A higher growth (approx. 10%) is expected in 2025-26 for the current year
The financial position of the association remains stable as it grows. The members’ funds grew by 4% during the financial year 2024–25, and we expect them to keep growing steadily.
Prudent financial management has left our association well placed with an accumulated balance of members’ funds of 1.62 million dollars (1.56 million in the previous year) and current liquid assets of 1.66 million (1.52 million in the previous year).
The Financial statements of the Institute were distributed to all members present and discussed. The Treasurer, Chris D’Souza, then discussed the accounts in detail.
In the Election of Office Bearers, in addition to the current council, three new General Members of Council were voted in: Mr Tony Pereira, Dr Anna Stamatelatos, Dr. John Ortner, and Mr Sarath Amukotuwa.
Signed.
Professor Brendan O’Connell, FCMA
President, ICMA Australia
The Financial statements of the Institute were distributed to all members present and discussed. The Treasurer, Chris D’Souza, then discussed the accounts in detail.