How the four competencies are marked

CIMA case study answers are judged on more than whether you got the numbers right. Markers look for four competencies, set out in CIMA's exam blueprint for each level: technical, business, people and leadership.

This article explains what each one means in an answer, how to earn credit for it, and the habits that lose marks. It is our own guide, based on CIMA's published exam structure. For the official detail, including how much each competency counts at your level, read the current exam blueprints on the AICPA-CIMA website.

How the exam is marked overall

Results are reported as a scaled score out of 150, and 80 is a pass. The exam is split into timed sections. Each section gives you new information, the trigger, and one or more tasks to answer in your role.

Each task gives room for some competencies more than others. A task asking you to calculate and explain a variance leans on technical and business skills. A task about staff resisting a new system leans on people and leadership. Most tasks give room for more than one, and the best answers pick up credit across all of those the task allows.

This is the most useful idea in the whole article: you are not writing one answer for the marker; you are giving the marker evidence of four different skills. If a task gives room for people and leadership marks and your answer has no people or leadership in it, those marks are gone however good your calculation is.

Technical

What it is: using the right technique correctly. Calculations, accounting treatments, models and frameworks.

How to earn it:

• Choose the right technique for the task. If the task is about whether an investment pays for itself, use an appraisal method, not a ratio.
• Show your workings, clearly laid out, so a marker can follow them and give credit even if one figure is wrong.
• Explain what the result means. A number on its own is only half the technical point.

How marks are lost: calculations with no explanation; the right number with the wrong label; long descriptions of a model with no use of it.

At Operational level, technical work is often day-to-day finance: costing, variances, budgets, working capital and tax. At Management level, it moves to investment appraisal, performance measures, financing and group reporting. At Strategic level, it includes valuation, risk and financing strategy.

Business

What it is: applying your knowledge to this company. Its industry, its customers, its competitors and the new information in the trigger.

How to earn it:

• Tie every point to the company, with a fact or a figure from the pre-seen or the unseen.
• Use the trigger. It is the reason the task exists, so it should be at the centre of your answer.
• Think about the business model. For a holiday park operator that relies on guests spending once they are on site, a decision that fills the park but cuts that spending may not help at all.

How marks are lost: generic points that could be about any business; ignoring the trigger; pre-prepared answers.

A quick test: cover the company name in your answer. Could someone tell which company it is about? If not, the business marks will be thin.

People

What it is: thinking about staff, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders, and about ethics.

How to earn it:

• Ask who is affected by what you are discussing, and how they are likely to react.
• Be specific. "Staff may be unhappy" earns little. "The cutting team may see the new supplier's fabric as the cause of extra work, so involve them in recording waste" earns more.
• Where there is an ethical issue, name the principle at risk (for example integrity, objectivity or professional behaviour) and say what you would do about it.

How marks are lost: leaving people out of an answer entirely; one-line mentions with no consequence; treating ethics as an afterthought.

People marks are often the easiest to pick up and the easiest to miss. Many students who write strong technical answers lose marks here simply because they never ask who is affected.

Leadership

What it is: influencing, managing change and making clear recommendations.

How to earn it:

• When the task asks for a recommendation, give one. Say what should happen, why, and what the main risk is.
• Say who should do what, and when. A recommendation without next steps is half finished.
• Show how you would win people over. If a change needs a team's support, how would you get it?

How marks are lost: sitting on the fence; recommending without reasons; a list of options with no judgement; recommending when the task didn't ask for it, which costs time and earns nothing.

Leadership looks different at each level. At Operational level you are a finance officer, so leadership is often about influencing managers you work with and suggesting a practical next step. At Management level, you are leading projects and change. At Strategic level, you are advising the board, and a clear, justified recommendation is usually central.

Writing in your role

All four competencies depend on writing in the role the exam gives you, for the reader the task names.

• At Operational level, write practically and clearly. Explain figures, processes and controls to managers who aren't accountants.
• At Management level, be analytical but aware of people. Balance the numbers with the effect on staff, projects and stakeholders.
• At Strategic level, write as a trusted adviser to the board. Lead with the strategic consequence and give a clear recommendation where one is asked for.

A worked check

Take a short task: explain to the production manager what this month's materials variances mean and ONE possible link between them.

A strong answer would:

• calculate or interpret each variance correctly and say what it means in plain words (technical)
• tie the link to the trigger, such as a change of supplier (business)
• mention the production team and how they are affected, if the task gives room for it (people)
• stop once the task is answered. The task asks for meaning and one link, so an unrequested recommendation earns nothing here (leadership is about judgement, including knowing when not to recommend).

How we mark practice answers

Our AI marker marks your answers against the same four competencies, and only scores a competency the task gives room for. It is given the task, its requirements, your pre-seen company and, where the task has one, a marking guide. You see a practice estimate on a 0 to 150 scale with the pass line at 80, a score for each competency, your strengths, the points to improve and the biggest win.

AI marks are a guide to help you improve. They are not CIMA marks and not a prediction of your result. The most useful thing they show is a pattern: if one competency is low across several answers, that is where your next hour of practice should go. You can read more about how our marking works and how we check it.

Put it into practice

Write an answer to a task in your pre-seen company and see how it scores on each competency. You get marked in about a minute, with your own answer rewritten to the next level up and the reason for each change.

Your first task is free, with no card needed. To see what each level involves, go to the Operational, Management or Strategic page.