Although many areas of finance careers and banking jobs overlap, the CPA and CMA certifications are different. Therefore, take some time to learn about each and which is right for you.
If you want to be a CPA, you're going to do tax work, sign audits, and may represent companies who are under IRS audit. CMAs, however, have somewhat broader job skills, and may do management reporting, cost accounting, financial planning or analysis, and so on. Therefore, one or the other is more suitable for certain banking jobs or finance careers.
If you like variety, like public auditing and have the skills to do so, and would like to work for a number of different industries, CPA is probably going to fit you best. In addition, if you wish to pursue public accounting, you'll definitely need your CPA certification.
However, if you want a steady job whereby you're going to go to one company every day at work for that particular company, you're probably going to do better as a CMA, since you will have a slightly broader focus. For that reason, it will make you more relevant.
Qualifications
CPAs have to meet state licensing rules; although they differ somewhat from state to state, most will require that you have 150 hours of coursework after you graduate. You may also need to have public accounting experience before you sit in the CPA exam.
CMAs, on the other hand, simply have to have a bachelor's degree in any area plus two years of full-time or four years of part-time experience in financial management or management accounting. If you take the GRE or GMAT and score in the top 50%, you may be able to skip the educational requirement, although you'll still have to sit for a four-part exam.
Regardless of which certification you pursue, CPA or CMA, you're going to generally be making almost a third more income on average than you would as compared to those in accounting that do not have this type of certification.
Other advantages of being certified either as a CMA or CPA
Because each certification requires continuing education to keep your accounting knowledge fresh, you're never going to get stale or out of step with your industry. In addition, you'll be able to keep in touch with other professionals who share your expertise so that you can learn of job opportunities easily.
There are professional organizations for either CPAs or CMAs. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants welcomes students, while the Institute of Management Accountants welcomes both of those who do and do not have their CMA certifications.
