Career path can be defined as the goal of achieving a certain level of competence in the chosen sphere of work. While for others, a career path is a journey, the goal is to practice working from different angles in your area of ​​specialization and similar field of interest (Sinofsky, 2013). Your travel may be to various companies, professional bodies, types of work or other different aspects of your profession. This essay aims to analyze and critically evaluate the association between Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), the two professional career paths coming from the Accounting or Finance sector, suitable for me as a future career from different perspectives that are; focus, convenience, exemptions, flexibility, convenience, limitations and standards. Also consider why ACCA is a better option for my career path than CIMA. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Palmer (2014) states that one of the biggest factors in developing employee retention is showing an understandable and current career path. Senior officials within professional bodies should not only understand that there is room for growth, but that enormous efforts will be made to facilitate that career growth. Additionally, getting a career path in place shows employees of professional bodies that you value them. for the work they are able to do currently, as well as what they might be able to offer in the long term. Additionally, having a clear career path empowers employees and provides reasonable actions to pursue advancement. Aspiring to work in the accounting and finance sector you might think which professional body brings a lasting benefit, the ACCA or the CIMA. Since both have career related path benefits, so deciding between them might be difficult. According to (Harris, 2014) fundamentally, they are similar, the main difference is that ACCA mainly focuses on financial aspects such as preparing financial statements which are shown to shareholders and other external parties. Usually, I work with historical data (e.g. preparing financial data from previous financial years) and forecasting financial alterations. Therefore, this can be an advantage not only because it is optimized for my career path as an accountant and financial controller; it also has the biggest impact on my career path. Whereas, CIMA involves more than anything else the preparation of data used for internal decision making. CIMA is more concerned with future actions: strategy, planning and forecasting, which according to Butcher (2010) are essential. You might almost get used to seeing a CIMA qualified accountant in a management position, but you are unlikely to find them in a financial and accounting control role. Additionally, when CIMAs are placed in managerial positions, they tend to do a job well done, but management does not rely on them to understand much about the financial control and accounting of a product or company. This suggests that CIMA will not have much impact on my career path as it would be pointless to achieve a qualification that is not focused on my career. For this reason, ACCA is a better choice because it opens up opportunities in my career path in a range of different sectors and roles, creating awareness of the professional values ​​in my career path and the ethical issues that may arise. According to (Ohsten , 2014) TheACCA training course offers students variable entry methods and the course can be completed at your own pace and pace, allowing you to create the course around your current work obligations. ACCA is a qualification that includes 14 exams to take. This course is cheaper than CIMA and does not require you to pass a series of exams before starting the next one. Unlike the CIMA, which consists of 15 exams to take and is more expensive and rather inflexible. Ohsten (2014) states that holders of relevant qualifications must pass a series of exams before giving consent to start the next one. Therefore, CIMA is considered the difficult qualification to achieve. Additionally, holders of relevant qualifications from ACCA accredited institutions are offered nine exemptions from fourteen exams to sit. On the other hand, CIMA offers five out of fifteen subject exemptions to graduates from CIMA accredited institutions. It therefore follows that graduates who have a career in ACCA would have a greater advantage as it is flexible to give graduates the opportunity to fit courses into their work commitment and it is easier for students to complete it according to (Cruze, 2014). Furthermore, the convenient aspect makes it easier for degree holders to acquire. This, in contrast, is different in CIMA as they are less flexible and more expensive to afford. Likewise, the exemption factor where once again ACCA has the upper hand; more exemptions and fewer courses to cover graduates so they can fully concentrate on core courses. However CIMA differs; more courses and more work on the plate. Therefore, due to the number of exams required to write, students often give up at some point in time and it may take them forever to complete. For this reason, ACCA will be the best option for my career path as it covers the most important factors taken into consideration by every student who wishes to progress their career in a professional body which are; exemptions, affordability and flexibility. Another issue is the limitation and standard factor. According to (Mavinz.com, 2014) with CIMA, qualified accountants would be confined to the industry where they assemble data to aid management, so they do not have a strict set of regulations and guidelines to comply with, while with ACCA, qualified accountants are free to choose a field of interest and must operate according to a specific structure and act in accordance with certain guidelines and rules. Today's businesses cannot tolerate a makeshift approach to liabilities and uncertainties. Therefore, applying standards helps to recognize uncertainties and reduce them. Additionally, using the guidelines offers a wide range of effective business and marketing tools for various organizations. They could be adopted to adapt performance and regulate the risks faced by working in a more appropriate and feasible way; this helps accountants see how to embed exceptional practices into organizations. For this reason, ACCA qualified accountants have a tendency to be able to manage risks that arise early, thus improving performance at every level of the organization. Furthermore, as a result of using standards to manage risks, money is saved and the image of the organization improves making it more sustainable according to (Elliot, 2009). In contrast, it is different for CIMA as they are not governed by a set of rules, guidelines and standards, therefore this would lead to lack of structure in organizations and loss of corporate values. Furthermore, businesses cannot organize future operations without taking accounting standards into consideration. This supports the idea that the.