# CIMA versus MBA



## cousin_borat (20 Mar 2008)

Hello there,

I'm weighing up doing an MBA versus the CIMA route. Some background on myself first:

*Background;* Software consultant for the last 6 years; Manufacturing and Supply Chain industry. I hold an MSC in Computer Science along with some industry qualifications in Lean/Six Sigma. 

*Aims*; Short term moving from Oracle manufacturing towards implementing Oracle Financials. 
I also want to prepare myself for directorship positions and/or an IT leadership position, hence the bias towards CIMA as I see a strong emphasis on budgeting/costing in the CIMA

Anybody who is from a similar background or could advise on which option of even possible alternatives would be great


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## portboy (20 Mar 2008)

depending on the stage of your career but an MBA is a far superior qualification to CIMA which is just focused on management accounting.  MBA will give you a far rounder qualification and if you want  a directorship position they will not care about CIMA but may well do about an MBA


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## Bob_tg (21 Mar 2008)

My take on it is if you want to be a financial practioner, CIMA is certainly one route to go.

However, it seems from your overview (I stand to be corrected) that you are more interested in general management => MBA may be more up your street.  

In relation to your more immediate aims re implementing Oracle Financials, if you want some qualification, maybe either (a) something in project management, or (b) a specific Oracle technical qualifiction would help your CV?  In fact, the project management route might also help your longer term aims!


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## cousin_borat (24 Mar 2008)

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, I had considered project management before. At the moment I use Agile and SCRUM from software developments. Gone off doing PRINCE after that. Regarding CIMA I guess if I done the CIMA cert I would still want to go down the MBA route eventually so perhaps it makes more sense to go straight into an MBA programme. And yes, interested in management role rather than financial controller.


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