It’s that time of year again: time for IMA’s certified members to make sure they’ve met their annual CPE requirement. That’s 30 hours of CPE, including two hours on the subject of ethics, before December 31, 2020.* 

To expand its ethics offerings, IMA last month released a new course, “IMA Ethics Series: Can We Count on You?” The course explores two IMA Educational Case Journal (IECJ^®) case studies, “A Reporting Dilemma: Hiring Freeze Headcount” and “A Tale of Missing…Parts.” It also examines the IMA Statement of Ethical Professional Practice and other ethical theories and principles to illustrate how one's personal values and the behavior of others can affect ethical decision making. Members can use their two-credit Annual Ethics Token to take this course at no charge. 

October also marks the celebration of Global Ethics Day, an international “teach-in and opportunity for institutions to explore the role of ethics in a globalized world,” this year held on October 21. 

At IMA, ethics has long been part of the fabric of the association, dating back to its earliest days, when the Committee on Ethics was one of the original standing committees of IMA’s predecessor organization, through the development of the first code of ethical professional conduct for management accountants, and into the present day. 

Commenting on the importance of this year’s Global Ethics Day, Lorenzo Patelli, Ph.D., associate professor, University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, and a member of IMA’s Committee on Ethics, said, “On this day, companies have the opportunity to promote initiatives to disseminate a culture of professional and organizational ethics. Within companies, the role of management accountants is shifting rapidly from value stewardship to value creation; and there is no value without ethics.” 

He continued, “IMA presents to all management accountants the opportunity to navigate ethical questions with a great compass, which is the IMA Statement of Ethical Professional Practice. Its framework has proven to be a solid point of reference to support a fair, honest, objective, and responsible practice of the management accounting profession. What’s more, ethics is always changing based on the emerging demands from society and so, understanding and practicing ethics is a work that is never finished. The year 2020 has brought a whole spectrum of new challenges due to the pandemic and thus, Global Ethics Day gives us a chance to reflect on what ethics looks like in ‘the new normal.’”  

Courses to Meet Year-End CPE Requirement 

In addition to CPE on the topic of ethics, IMA also offers an extensive selection of courses to help certified members meet their 30 hours of CPE requirement, including: 

FREE and NEW: Cybersecurity Compliance with Global Regulations (1 NASBA CPE credit) 
Doing business internationally introduces new global cybersecurity challenges for companies every day. That’s why management accountants must familiarize themselves with evolving global compliance requirements and the potential harsh penalties that accompany noncompliance. This new e-learning, video-based course explores prominent international laws and reviews cross-border transfer mechanisms between different jurisdictions.  

IMA Excel: Data Analytics - Combo Package (6.5 NASBA CPE credits) 
These self-study, video-based courses include downloadable practice spreadsheets that enable users to replicate functionality and practice these valuable new Excel skills to perform their own data analytics. This series provides access to both IMA courses on data analytics presented by renowned Excel expert Bill Jelen (Mr. Excel).  

Convenient CPE subscription packages include:  

• IMA Advantage: 350+ courses on the fundamentals of the profession 
• IMA Knowledge Exchange: 70+ courses of video interviews with industry experts. 
• IMA Knowledge Exchange - Advantage Combo Subscription: Includes both IMA Advantage and IMA Knowledge Exchange. 

Visit the IMA website to view the full course catalog and check out the October 2020 issue of Strategic Finance magazine, which includes a printed course brochure, “Your Guide to Continuing Education.” 

*Members can track CPE using IMA’s CPE tracking tool in their myIMA profile. CPE received outside of IMA must be added to an IMA transcript. IMA accepts up to 10 credits as carryover to 2021.