Why choose a career as a management accountant? The short answer, for many, may be £68,923. 
That is the average salary for a Cima (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) qualified practitioner, and it is more than twice the national average salary. 
However, there are other reasons as well, including job satisfaction, high-level career opportunities, travel, an even the odd knighthood. 
Cima is now on a drive to make more school-leavers and recent university graduates aware of the career’s attractions. So, what does a management accountant do? 
Most people have some notion about the work done by a chartered accountant, operating in areas such as auditing and tax returns. Management accounting, for some reason, often has a less high-profile position. Management accountant Antony Holdsworth, who runs his own firm in Southend, makes a simple distinction. 
He says: “It’s a matter of perspective. A management accountant is forward looking, as against other branches of the profession, who are retrospective – they report back after the event.”  
As an independent consultant, Anthony is the exception. Most management accountants work in-house. They use their financial skills to prepare regular (usually weekly) profit and loss accounts. 
Presented to the managing director and board, these figures provide the key to decision making and strategy. 
These decisions will also rest heavily on analysis and advice, again drawn up by the company’s management accountant(s). Far from being mere number-crunchers, they will often be the people who devise and draw up the company’s financial strategy. 
Unsurprisingly, Anthony believes  management accountants lead a more exciting working life than their counterparts in other branches of the profession. They are at the thick of the rough and tumble of business life. 
He says: “I think it is a far more stimulating job. You are driving and shaping business policy. Your expertise creates greater profits. 
“After being involved on this side, I would find it hard just to do auditing, looking backwards rather than forwards.” 
Antony moved into management accountancy “almost by accident”. He is the son of a chartered accountant, who worked for the top firm Ernst and Young. 
He says: “I used to watch my father go off to work in his suit, and think, yes, that’s what I want to do too. But my exam results weren’t really good enough for a career in one of the big chartered accountancy firms, so I took a different route.” 
Antony went to college and did the Cima exams instead. 
He says: “It turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. I realised that pretty quickly, from the money I was able to earn at a very early stage.” 
Antony set up his own business after working in the City of London. He provides management accountancy and other financial planning services to entrepreneurs and smaller businesses. 
It means not just independence, but also the rewards of dealing with a wide range of clients.
Newly-qualified management accountants now enjoy another benefit. 
Thanks to a deal between the British institute and its American counterpart, Cima accountants now automatically enjoy CGMA – Chartered Global Management Accountant – status. 
This international standard allows them to transfer their skills seamlessly to the USA and an increasing number of other countries. 
This has increased the appeal of the job even further.