Sharpen Your Strategic Edge & Master Competitive Analysis with IMA’s CSCA Certification!
Set yourself apart as a strategic finance professional with IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) Financial Strategy & Competitive Analysis Learning Series® , a comprehensive, self-paced program designed to prepare you for the CSCA® (Certified in Strategy and Competitive Analysis) exam and strengthen your ability to deliver business insights.
Developed by IMA to align with the CSCA Content Specification Outline and Learning Outcome Statements, this series covers essential topics in strategic thinking, competitive analysis, and strategic partnering.
What You’ll Gain:
- Up to 21 NASBA CPE credits
- Practice question bank and case studies
- Fully narrated courses with interactive exercises and knowledge checks
- Two-year access to the entire learning series
Course Format:
- 100% online and self-paced
- Intermediate level
- QAS Self-Study
- Includes final assessments and best practice resources
Important Note: To maximize your learning, you’ll need the book HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Strategy prior to starting.
Course Fee:
AED 2,552.67 + VAT (USD 695 + VAT)
Additional Series Details:
COURSE 1: THE STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS
The goal of this course is to explore the fundamentals of strategy, examine the components of a strategic management system, and consider the ways finance and accounting professionals can be business partners in the strategy-making process.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
1. Define strategy, competitive advantage, and the components of the strategic management system
2. Recognize how the strategic management system can add value to an organization
3. Describe the building blocks of strategy and their role within strategy formulation
4. Identify the opportunities for the finance team to get more engaged in the strategic planning process
COURSE 2: Environmental Scanning and Internal Analysis
The goal of this course is to continue to explore strategic analysis and take an in-depth look at some of the analytical tools used to perform an environmental scan of an organization’s internal and external environment.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
1. Identify key external environmental scanning factors and the analytical tools STEEP, PESTEL, and Porter’s Five Forces.
2. Describe the competition and market-related issues impacting strategy, including life cycle, structure, segmentation, intelligence, and strategy risk.
3. Define internal analysis and the analytical tools that help an organization identify its strengths, weaknesses, and core and differentiated competencies.
4. Recognize how the value chain, SWOT analysis, and Gap analysis can lead to a firm’s competitive advantage
COURSE 3: Creating Competitive Advantage at the Business and Functional Levels
The goal of this course is to explore the fundamentals of competitive advantage and to consider some specific business- and functional-level strategies.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of competitive advantage
2. Identify the cost leadership and product/service differentiation strategies of achieving competitive advantage
3. Explain the importance of core and differentiated competencies and how they can lead to a sustained competitive advantage
4. Describe key business-level strategies and how they are used to improve a company’s competitive position
5. Recognize how operational excellence, quality optimization, technology, and innovation can be used to develop an effective functional-level strategy
Start preparing for CSCA success. Explore the Series!
Got questions about the course? Email [email protected]
