CMA Foundation

Let's start with CMA Foundation, that is the very basic and fundamental level of the CMA Course. This is an offline exam per se, and is conducted by the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICMAI). CMA Foundation can be regarded as an entry point for all the aspirants who are desirous of becoming a CMA.
There is however an eligibility criteria that a candidate must fulfill so as to qualify for appearing in the CMA Foundation exam.
The eligibility criteria is as follows -
• A student must have passed Class 10 or its equivalent from any recognized national/state board or institution in India.
• A student must have passed 10+2 or its equivalent from any recognized national/state board in India.
However any student who is appearing for 10+2 exam in a current session is also eligible to register himself for CMA Foundation.
• All the candidates who have cleared the National Diploma in Commerce Examination from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) or by the State Board of Technical Education, that functions under the authority of the All India Council, or even the candidates who hold a Diploma in Rural Service Examination ie conducted by the National Council of Higher Education are eligible for CMA Foundation Exam.

Courses Overview

Course Content

The fees for CMA Foundation registration is Rs4000/- that is mandatorily payable on or before 31st January of any year for the June term years, or alternatively by 31st July for the December session examinations. There is also a cost of Rs.250 for the prospectus, ie to be paid by a student. Also the exam fees for CMA Foundation is Rs1200 in case the exam centres are within India, but in case of overseas exam centres, the fees for filling CMA Foundation exam form is US $60 ie 60dollars. However besides this, the list of documents that a student must enclose with his CMA Foundation application are as follows -

• Attested copy of Class X ie Matriculation Marksheet that must be issued from a recognized National/ State Board of Secondary Education in India.
• Attested copy of Class XII Admit Card, only in case appearing, and awaiting result or else an attested Class XII Pass Certificate/ Marksheet that must be issued by a recognized National/ State Board of Secondary Education in India.
• A student would also require to annex three recent and coloured passport size photographs of himself, that a student should neatly affix on the hard copy of the CMA Foundation registration form, along with his identity card that would be issued from the CMA Institute.
Also the attestation of the aforenamed documents has to be done by any member from The Institute of Cost Accountants of India / The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India / The Institute of Company Secretaries of India/ State Legislative Assembly/ Parliament/ Gazetted Officer/ Any college principal.
Above we have discussed all the registration requirements for the CMA Foundation course and we shall now talk about the academic subjects that CMA Foundation encompasses of.

There are 4 Papers in the CMA Foundation course and these are -
1. Fundamental of Economics and Management

2. Fundamentals of Accounting
3. Fundamentals of Laws and Ethics
4. Fundamentals of Business Mathematics and Statistics

These aforementioned papers of CMA Foundation are divided into two parts ie Part A and Part B. Herein Part A comprises of objective type of questions, true false and fill in the blanks while Part B consists of subjective type of questions, that must be articulately and eloquently answered by a candidate.

The detailed chapter wise syllabus for each of these subjects is as follows -

Paper 1: Fundamentals of Economics and Management (FEM)

This paper is divided into two sections ie Section A and Section B. A detailed description of each section is given below.

Section A: Fundamentals of Economics (50 marks)

1. Basic Concepts of Economics
- Definition, Scope, Fundamental Concepts

2. Theory of Demand and Supply
- Demand, Supply and Equilibrium

3. Theory of Production
- Meaning, Factors, Production Function, Law Of Variable Proportion and Returns to Scale

4. Theory of Cost
- Meaning, Cost Function, Cost Curves and Economies of Scale

5. Market
- Significance, Perfect Competition and Imperfect Competition

6. Money
- Definition, Functions, Money Supply Components and Quantity Theory of Money.

7. Bank
- Significance, Commercial Bank, Central Bank, Financial Institutions.

8. Money Market
- Meaning, Structure and Function of Indian Money Market.

Section B: Fundamentals of Management (50 marks)

1. Management Process
- Definition, Management as Science, Art and Profession, Management Principles and Process

2. Management – Concepts - Authority, Power, Delegation Of Authority, Responsibility, Accountability, Leadership and Motivation.

3. Leadership
- Motivation

4. Decision Making
-Concept, Definition, Types, Process and Techniques






While there is no negative marking in the CMA Foundation Exam, that a candidate can attempt either in English or in Hindi, it is appurtenant to mention that the exam is comparatively much easy, if juxtaposed with CMA Intermediate and CMA Final but however the passing criteria for CMA Foundation is that a candidate who undertakes the CMA Foundation exam would be declared to have passed the exam only if he secures minimum of 40% marks in each of the four papers along with a cumulative aggregate of 50% for all the four papers. Also studying practically and covering each concept thoroughly is the only key for clearing the CMA Foundation exam.