Sincerely,

Kathleen Sobieralski

President, Nation’s Capital Chapter IMA

News of the pending merger of the AICPA and CIMA, approved in July by their respective memberships, dominated June’s meeting of the IMA Global Board of Directors in Las Vegas. The new umbrella organization, with over 600,000 members, will purportedly represent the entire accounting profession. Its recently created CGMA designation seeks to capitalize on the increasing importance of management accounting, as the number of CPA candidates stagnates and fewer people enter public accounting.  IMA will counter this challenge with messaging that will reinforce the CMA as the world’s leading management accounting credential—the only one for which, in addition to meeting education and experience requirements, every holder passed a rigorous examination demonstrating his or her proficiency in management accounting skills— no “grandfathering.”

The Investment Subcommittee, which I chair, presented the results of our study of IMA’s investment

performance and costs over the past five years. Based on these results we proposed, and the Board

approved, the transfer of our portfolio to a new Investment Advisor— Vanguard Investments— and a

strategy shift toward passively managed funds. The Board also established an ad-hoc Committee on

Diversity and Inclusion.

IMA’s strong growth continues, with membership reaching almost 82,000 at the end of the fiscal year in

June. Also in June, IMA awarded its 50,000th CMA, and launched its seventh international office, IMA

Southeast Asia, in Singapore.

Past IMA Chair Kim Wallin was appointed to chair a committee that will organize IMA’s 100th Anniversary celebration, beginning in June 2018 and culminating in June 2019 with the 100th IMA Annual Conference in Phoenix. The Committee is reaching out to all members for stories about how IMA and the CMA have helped people in their careers and lives. In addition, they are looking for a tag line and theme for the celebration. Please submit your suggestions to Kim by October 19th—the winner gets a free conference registration!

Frank P. Homburger, CPA

IMA Global Director