IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) has always been at the forefront of encouraging ethical professional practices of its members. From the establishment of the first written guidelines for ethical practices for accountants to innovative professional development courses, ethics has stood as a foundational element of IMA over the past 100 years. Last week, IMA took this commitment another step further, by inaugurating a new member benefit that gives members access to two free IMA ethics CPE credits per membership year. In the first week alone, the response from members has been overwhelmingly positive, with more than 700 members already taking advantage of this new benefit.
Under the new program, each member will receive a yearly “token” (found in the “My Tokens” section of the member’s myIMA profile). This token can be used to purchase any one IMA Ethics Series product. Each year, a new token will be automatically issued to each member upon membership renewal. Specific instructions for accessing and redeeming tokens can be found here.
In conjunction with the new token program, IMA also announced the debut of its latest IMA Ethics Series eLearning course, “Action Required—Navigating Ethical Dilemmas.” In this course, based on two IMA Educational Case Journal (IECJ®) studies, learners follow a fictional plot in which an up-and-coming accounting/finance professional faces multiple ethical challenges at various stages of her career. The course includes added interactivity that enables learners to help with the ethical decisions. Members can use their ethics token to access the new course or choose from five other options in the IMA Ethics Series. All of IMA’s certified members are required to earn two credits of ethics CPE annually.
In a recent article discussing the new program, Debbie Warner, CAE, CPLP, IMA vice president of education and career services, said, “Professional ethics and values are the foundation of the management accounting profession. Our job as an organization is to ensure that our members maintain the highest levels of integrity and trust in business.”
Commenting on the new course, Warner said, “These fictional scenarios are adapted from real-life management accounting situations and focus on the challenges and decisions accountants have dealt with and continue to deal with. That helps put our members in the moment and simulates scenarios they can commonly relate to or prepare for.”
For more information on IMA’s ethics resources, including a confidential Ethics Helpline, please visit the Ethics Center on the IMA website.