CIMA: A History of Innovation

by Charles B Tilley, Chief Executive, CIMA, 23 May 2010

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career development Chartered Institute of Management Accountants talent development

When Omran Mostafa picked up the telephone to dial London, he was understandably anxious. The year was 1991. In 1990 Iraq had invaded Kuwait and the first Gulf War had brought instability and uncertainty to the Middle East. Omran Mostafa was waiting for important news from London and the war had done nothing to make its official transmission by post easier. In a world before e-mail, the Internet and Twitter, and with his future at stake and the information now available, Omran Mostafa decided to pluck up his courage and dial the London number. He gave his personal details. At first, things didn’t look good. ‘Very sorry, we are unable to provide this information on the telephone,’ came the answer. Omran Mostafa thought for a moment, and then explained. He was in Dubai. Communication was severely disrupted. What could he do? He must know. Surely they could tell him this?

In London, there was a long pause before the words came. Omran Mostafa held his breath. ‘You passed’, came the reply. The sigh of relief was audible, but from that moment Omran Mostafa, now managing director of one of the UAE’s biggest success stories, the Mostafa bin Abdullatif Group LLC, never looked back. He was on his way. He was a CIMA graduate.

In 2010, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) celebrates its 91st anniversary. The institute was formed in March 1919 by a group of professionals who wanted to create a new approach to business financial accounting that would meet the particular commercial demands of a rapidly changing business world. Looking back at CIMA’s history, it is evident that what has driven, and still drives the institute more than anything else, is its focus on innovation. CIMA’s first president was Lord Leverhulme, the founder of the consumer goods giant, Unilever, and CIMA has retained close links with Unilever ever since.

Unilever’s world-class training programme for finance professionals incorporates the CIMA qualification and this alliance has produced many of today’s finance stars. These include: Andrew Higginson, chief executive officer of Tesco Retailing Services; Elmo de Alwis, CEO of leading Australian drug company Sigma Phamaceuticals; Ronnie Peiris, group FD of John Keells Holdings in Sri Lanka and CIMA’s current global president, Aubrey Joachim.

CIMA was originally named the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants. Cost accounting was not a new concept in the early 20^th century but it lacked refinement and relevance to the business challenges following the First World War. The institute set out to develop scientific costing and to produce a new breed of accountant, which could analyse a business’s cost base and streamline its activities more profitably.

From this foundation, the institute has developed (and continues to develop) the role of the management accountant. For more than half its existence, CIMA’s work was almost entirely based in the industrial sector. But as this base declined in the 1970s and 1980s and new business sectors emerged, the institute continued to move with the times and adapt to the challenges emerging with each new decade.

One of the institute’s most symbolic events took place in 1972, when it changed its name from the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants to the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants. This formally confirmed the institute’s development from accountants working on the factory floor to accountants working as commercial business partners and playing an essential role in driving businesses towards greater success. 1986 was also a historic year from CIMA, when it gained its Royal Charter and changed its name to the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

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