CIMA Salary: Is It Worth It?
CIMA doesn't publish a fresh, dated salary breakdown the way it publishes exam blueprints: the most recent official figures from AICPA & CIMA's own salary survey date back to 2023. Rather than pass that off as current, this page cross-checks four named 2026 recruiter sources: Hays, Robert Half, Michael Page and Reed: then adds the AICPA & CIMA survey figures clearly labelled by year, so you can see what's current and what's carried over.
- In London, CIMA finalists average £60,000: identical to ACCA finalists (Hays 2026)
- CIMA part-qualified in London average £48,000, also matching ACCA at the same stage
- London pays roughly 36% more than the national figure for qualified accounting roles CIMA holders typically fill, consistently across roles (Robert Half, 2026)
- Once CGMA-qualified, the AICPA & CIMA salary survey reports starting salaries of £54,000, rising to £93,000 (2023 survey, most recent published)
- CGMA designation holders average over £71,000, with 51% in senior or director-level roles (CIMA's own reporting of a 2024 GAAPweb survey)
Salary by career stage: 2026 recruiter data
Hays' 2026 UK Salary & Recruiting Trends guide (accountancy & finance) is the freshest cross-qualification dataset available, and it covers CIMA on the same terms as ACCA, CIPFA and ACA. These are London figures: expect the range to sit somewhat lower outside London and the South East.
| Career stage | London salary |
|---|---|
| Part-qualified | £48,000 |
| Finalist (Strategic Level) | £60,000 |
For comparison, at the same career stages ACCA finalists also average £60,000 in London and ACA finalists average £46,000. See the full ACCA vs CIMA comparison →
The London premium
Robert Half publishes national and city-specific pay data side by side for the job titles CIMA holders typically move into, which makes it the cleanest source for isolating the London effect. The pattern is remarkably consistent: London pays roughly a third more than the national figure, at every experience level.
| Role (Robert Half, 2026) | National | London | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualified management accountant | £47,250 – £58,500 | £64,250 – £79,500 | ~36% |
| Qualified financial accountant | £47,250 – £58,500 | £64,250 – £79,500 | ~36% |
| Finance manager | £51,500 – £67,000 | £70,000 – £91,000 | ~36% |
Michael Page's own salary comparison tool corroborates the national end of this: its 2026 UK average for a management accountant is £40,830 (£43,070 at senior level), sitting just under Robert Half's national "qualified" band, since Michael Page's averages blend part-qualified and qualified candidates rather than qualified-only. Reed also publishes an annual accountancy and finance salary guide with region-by-region data, but it sits behind free registration, so it isn't the source of any figure quoted directly on this page.
Salary once CGMA-qualified: AICPA & CIMA's own survey data
These figures come directly from AICPA & CIMA's own published salary survey work, reported on CIMA's official myfuture site. Unlike the Hays table above, this data hasn't been refreshed since it was first published: the starting/peak figures are from the 2023 survey, and the average/seniority figures are from CIMA's own 2024 update citing a GAAPweb survey. Both are still the most current official figures CIMA itself has published.
| Stage | UK salary | Source year |
|---|---|---|
| CGMA designation: starting salary | £54,000 | 2023 |
| CGMA designation: progressed salary | up to £93,000 | 2023 |
| CGMA designation holders: average | £71,000+ | 2024 |
The same 2024 update reports that 51% of CGMA designation holders are already in senior or director-level roles: a meaningful data point if you're weighing CIMA against a route that leans more towards technical or audit specialism, since CIMA's management-accounting focus tends to sit closer to business decision-making and leadership tracks.
So, is CIMA worth it?
On the salary data: CIMA holds its own against every comparable UK qualification at the finalist stage, and the CGMA designation itself carries a documented premium over non-qualified peers, with over half of designation holders already in senior roles. Add that CIMA charges no fee at all for exemptions: unlike ACCA's per-paper charge, and the cost side of the equation looks favourable too.
The honest caveat is that CIMA's own published salary data is thinner and older than ACCA's: there's no equivalent to ACCA's freshly-reviewed 2026 careers page, so some of the figures above are a few years old even though they're still the best CIMA has published. Treat the Hays comparison table as the current picture and the CGMA-specific figures as directionally right rather than exact for 2026. As with any qualification, the return depends on the sector and role you move into afterwards, not the letters alone.
Whichever level you're studying, every CIMA paper on GoQualified has 150 free practice questions with worked explanations and a timed mock exam mode. Start practising →
Career-stage figures: Hays' 2026 UK Salary & Recruiting Trends guide, as reported on ACCA's own "How much does an accountant earn?" page (accaglobal.com, last reviewed June 2026): Hays' own guide requires registration. London-premium figures: Robert Half's 2026 UK Salary Guide (roberthalf.com), published openly. National averages: Michael Page's Salary Comparison Tool (michaelpage.co.uk, 2026). CGMA-specific figures: AICPA & CIMA's own published salary survey reporting (myfuture.cimaglobal.com), dated as shown in the table above. Reed also publishes an annual salary guide but it's registration-gated, so no figure here is sourced from it. Salaries vary by region, sector and employer: treat these as guides, not guarantees. GoQualified is not affiliated with CIMA, AICPA, Hays, Robert Half, Michael Page or Reed.