1. Submit your application detailing your three (3) years of relevant investment consulting experience, with references. Your application will also include a financial services background check conducted by our legal department. The total cost in 2008, including room and board, materials, and testing is $6,535 (non-member) or $6,430 (includes $395 IMCA membership).
2. Complete the self-study Level I educational component. Candidates are given up to five months to complete the self-study program.
3. Pass the Level I examination, online.
4. Select the dates and location for your Level II education and complete the one-week education program at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania or the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.
5. Complete the Level II examination, onsite.
6. Sign a License Agreement, authorizing you to use the certification mark—CIMA. 
7. Maintain your certification through continuing education and adherence to the IMCA Code of Professional Responsibility.

• Conducting manager search and due diligence
• Overseeing performance measurement and monitoring
• Designing investment policies or guidelines
• Structure asset allocation strategies

Level I

Level I education provides a self-study introduction to the concepts of investment management consulting. IMCA provides a 15-week “map” to the self-study material which includes:

1. Essentials of Investments by Bodie, Kane and Marcus which is a college-level, upper-division textbook covering the general knowledge domains.
2. A booklet containing IMCA-selected readings
3. IMCA’s Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards of Practice

Once you have completed this material, you will register for an online Level I examination which must be passed before scheduling the Level II class.

Level II

All course participants receive lecture notes prepared from the professor's remarks. Case studies are prepared individually and in small discussion groups. Readings from the finest in relevant research and applied thought in the field are included in the course material. IMCA assures each individual a week of educational challenge and professional opportunity. The course is offered several times a year. Class size is limited. Click here to view the dates of Level II Class Schedule.

Investment Policy

Covers the objectives of an investment policy as well as the setting of policy guidelines, and includes the various factors affecting a portfolio's performance along with the means of determining whether the manager has provided added value.

 

Asset Allocation

Employs the concept of "Efficient Frontiers" to analyze the means by which a portfolio's asset allocation can be adjusted for the appropriate risk/return levels to maximize efficiency. Further exploration of diversification and correlation, along with systematic and diversifiable risk, single and multiple index models, and equilibrium models.

 

Risk Management

Explores the objective and subjective measures of risk, and the importance of establishing performance goals that consider risk, as well as return. Also reviews the quantitative measures of standard deviation, beta, covariance, and correlation as measures of volatility and risk, along with newer concepts such as downside risk.

 

Beta Coefficients

Looks at the risk/return relationship in the marketplace by utilizing the Capital Asset Pricing Model and the Security Market Line. In addition, it offers a thorough review of the beta coefficient as a measure of risk and discusses estimation of the beta of various funds, securities, and the market.

 

Historical Returns

Places "real" returns into historical perspective through a discussion of risk/return trade-offs and the benefits of diversification.

 

Duration and Convexity

Covers all aspects of measuring and evaluation of fixed income securities, as well as their application to portfolios.

 

International Financial Markets

Highlights returns in foreign markets, international diversification, and currency hedging strategies. In addition, reviews the prospects for the U.S. economy in international competition.

 

Measuring Return on a Portfolio

Begins with a review of interest rate theory (time value of money and compound interest) and stresses the need to analyze the investment process to emphasize the importance of active strategies. Also covers time-weighted and value-weighted returns as illustrated by the effects of contributions and withdrawals on a fund's value.

 

Performance Measurement and Attribution

Analyzes the performance evaluation procedure in three steps:

1.  determination of basic asset allocation,

2.  evaluation of asset class weight selections, and

3.  evaluation of specific security selections within each class.

 

Due Diligence and Manager Selection

Examines both quantitative and qualitative issues relating to due diligence work on money managers, and discusses such aspects as risk-adjusted performance analysis, benchmark choices, and appropriate risk measures. Discusses qualitative issues including size and structure, as well as the personnel and investment philosophy of a firm.

 

Legal and Regulatory Environment

Reviews fiduciary liabilities and the responsibilities of both the trustee and the consultant. Discusses prohibited transactions and ethics, along with examination of the IMCA Code of Professional Responsibility and the relationship of the "Prudent Man Rule" to everyday consulting.

 

Ethics

Examines case studies pertinent to professional ethics in today's business environment, and presents the influences of policies and practices.