CIMA – Operational Case Study

Operational Case Study (OCS) is, as you may already know, the first case study under CIMA professional certification and is structured to test your ability to apply the technical skills you have gained from E1, P1, and F1.

CIMA case study changes

• The OCS examinations are currently being designed around six core activities:
• Plan costing details for various purposes, to satisfy management needs
• Plan and review budget details for planning and control purposes.
• Quality review, using financial and non-financial information
• Apply applicable standards in financial reporting and corporate governance, legal and fiscal concepts
• Plan information to help decision-making in the short term
• Prepare data to manage working capital
• These core activities are linked to assessment outcomes, which tells you exactly what could be expected of you in the exam.

What’s included in the Case Study Exam tasks?

• These can involve providing advice or making suggestions on various budgeting techniques, variance analysis and costing techniques, and other related fields when it comes to the tasks in the test. In reality, they should also include accounting principles, and talk about the digital technologies of an organization. The list is of course not exhaustive about what could come up in your test.
• The case study exam is structured to model tasks you would be expected to do as a finance officer on a typical day at work, the level this case study is intended to test. In comparison to the Objective test papers, the case study exam requires mainly a written response, generally 4 tasks lasting 45 minutes each.
• When those 45 minutes are up, the timer will stop, and the next question will be sent to you. After 45 minutes you can't go back to the job until you finish it. Time management is important, and it makes good when it comes to working.
• Case studies have been published on fictional companies in the past, including a candy maker, yoga center, or gym. The exam will use examples and ask you to provide advice on particular areas to the finance manager/director and the board.

A case study drawing on the knowledge obtained from E1, P1 and F1.

The competency weighting is:

• Technical skills – 64%
• Business skills – 16%
• People skills – 14%
• Leadership skills – 6%

Higher Secondary Qualified