Certified Management Accountants of Canada
Canadian accounting association (1920–2018)
The Society of Management Accountants of Canada (French: La Société des comptables en management du Canada), also known as Certified Management Accountants of Canada (French: Comptables en management accrédités du Canada) and CMA Canada, awards the Certified Management Accountant designation in Canada.
Activities
Until September 2015, CMA Canada, through its provincial and territorial affiliates, granted the CMA professional designation in accounting and was responsible for standards-setting, accreditation and the continuing professional development of CMAs.
CMAs applied expertise in accounting, management and strategy to ensure corporate accountability and help organizations maintain a long-term competitive advantage. In that regard, CMA Canada offered executive development programs, online courses, and knowledge management publications.
Management Accounting Guidelines and Management Accounting Practices were published by CMA Canada to specify the best practice on key topics in management accounting. They were available for download free of charge or on CD for a nominal charge to CMAs, and could be purchased by non-members. CPA Canada has taken over the programme, and has issued update guidance for many such matters under its own name, although none of the documents appear to acknowledge their SMAC origins.
From 1953 to 2015, the Society operated a foundation that was dedicated to furthering research in the field of management accounting.
History of the Society
The mission of the Society has closely tracked the evolution from cost accounting to management accounting in Canada, and its distinction from financial accounting:
1920 - Incorporation of The Canadian Society of Cost Accountants, with head office in Hamilton, Ontario
1926 - Introduction of Cost and Management, the predecessor of CMA Magazine
1930 - Name changed to The Canadian Society of Cost Accountants and Industrial Engineers
1941 - Formation of provincial societies in Ontario and Quebec, with the power to grant the newly established professional designation of Registered Industrial Accountant ("RIA")
1948 - Name changed to Society of Industrial and Cost Accountants of Canada
1968 - Name changed to The Society of Industrial Accountants of Canada
1977 - Name changed to The Society of Management Accountants of Canada
1985 - Introduction of the professional designation of Certified Management Accountant ("CMA"), with existing RIAs being grandfathered in
2004 - CMA is registered as a trademark by CMA Canada
2006 - Certified Management Accountant is registered as a trademark by CMA Canada
2007 - Incorporation of the CMA Canada Research Foundation
2009 - Introduction of The National Standard for Public Accounting for Certified Management Accountants to govern the affairs of CMAs that have entered into public practice
2014 - Unification of the profession within CPA Canada, with legislative implementation substantially complete as of May 2017.
Timeline
Competencies, accreditation process and post-qualification development
CMAs are expected to undergo specific training and practical experience to achieve specified competencies in the area of strategic management accounting, which are intended to prepare them for senior leadership roles in their organizations.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Certified Management Accountants of Canada” is canadian accounting association (1920–2018). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Certified, Management and Accountants, not as a finished interpretation.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5065197. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2015, 1953, 1920 and 1926.
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This entry incorporates text from “Certified Management Accountants of Canada” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.