Syllabus
CMA Intermediate Syllabus: Sections and Topics Covered
ICMAI CMA Intermediate (Syllabus 2022) 2026: Objective Components
Eight papers, one shape. ICMAI fixes the objective block at 15 compulsory multiple-choice questions worth 30 marks in every one of the eight, so the coverage below maps eight separate syllabuses rather than a single paper. Corporate accounting and auditing, financial management, management accounting, business laws and ethics and financial accounting all appear because all of them are sat, on different days, with the same 30 objective marks riding on each.
Sections official, topics ours. The section names and counts below are from the official pattern. The topics under them are what this site's own tests cover, not a list the exam body publishes.
Corporate Accounting and Auditing
15 questions · 30 marks- • Analytical procedures
- • Audit assertions
- • Audit evidence
- • Audit sampling
- • Business combinations
- • Cash flow statement
- • Depreciation
- • Earnings per share
- • External confirmations
- • Impairment
- • Internal control
- • Inventory measurement
- • Property, plant and equipment
- • Ratio analysis
- • Subsequent events
15 topic labels across 15 questions built here.
Financial Management and Business Data Analytics
15 questions · 30 marks- • Descriptive statistics
- • Bond valuation
- • Capital budgeting
- • CAPM
- • Classification metrics
- • Correlation
- • Cost of capital
- • Data quality
- • Foreign exchange risk
- • Options
- • Portfolio theory
- • Predictive modelling
- • Regression
- • Working capital management
14 topic labels across 15 questions built here.
Management Accounting
15 questions · 30 marks- • Activity-based costing
- • Budgetary control
- • Cost-volume-profit analysis
- • Decision making
- • Inventory control
- • Joint products
- • Limiting factor analysis
- • Multi-driver flexible budgeting
- • Process costing
- • Relevant costing
- • Responsibility accounting
- • Standard costing
- • Target costing with post-sale support
- • Throughput accounting
- • Transfer pricing
15 topic labels across 15 questions built here.
Business Laws and Ethics
15 questions · 30 marks- • Agency
- • Bailment
- • Business ethics
- • Commercial law
- • Company law fundamentals
- • Compliance and ethics
- • Contract formation
- • Corporate authority
- • Corporate governance
- • Directors and governance
- • Ethics and compliance
- • Interpretation of agreements
- • Limited liability partnership
- • Negotiable instruments
- • Partnership
15 topic labels across 15 questions built here.
Financial Accounting
15 questions · 30 marks- • Accounting estimates
- • Bank reconciliation
- • Business combinations
- • Cash flow statement
- • Depreciation
- • Earnings per share
- • Financial reporting concepts
- • Foreign currency items
- • Impairment
- • Inventory measurement
- • Property, plant and equipment
- • Provisions and contingencies
- • Ratio analysis
- • Recognition principles
- • Revenue recognition
15 topic labels across 15 questions built here.
Direct and Indirect Taxation
15 questions · 30 marks- • International taxation
- • Indirect tax fundamentals
- • Tax compliance
- • Anti-avoidance
- • Customs valuation
- • Income computation principles
- • Indirect tax computation
- • Input tax credit
- • Permanent establishment
- • Tax computation mechanics
- • Tax interpretation
11 topic labels across 15 questions built here.
Cost Accounting
15 questions · 30 marks- • Activity-based costing
- • Budgetary control
- • Cost-volume-profit analysis
- • Decision making
- • Inventory control
- • Joint products
- • Learning curve
- • Limiting factor analysis
- • Process costing
- • Relevant costing
- • Responsibility accounting
- • Standard costing
- • Target costing
- • Throughput accounting
- • Transfer pricing
15 topic labels across 15 questions built here.
Operations Management and Strategic Management
15 questions · 30 marks- • Capacity planning
- • Competitive strategy
- • Cost of quality
- • Critical path
- • Facility layout
- • Forecasting
- • Operations planning
- • Portfolio strategy
- • Process strategy
- • Project management
- • Quality management
- • Scheduling
- • Strategic analysis
- • SWOT analysis
- • Theory of constraints
15 topic labels across 15 questions built here.
Section pattern source: the official notice, checked 9 September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What sections does the CMA Intermediate syllabus cover?
There are 8 sections: Corporate Accounting and Auditing, Financial Management and Business Data Analytics, Management Accounting, Business Laws and Ethics, Financial Accounting, Direct and Indirect Taxation, Cost Accounting and Operations Management and Strategic Management. Those names, and the question counts and marks beside them, come from the official pattern, checked 9 September 2026. What sits under each of them on this page is a different thing: 115 topic labels drawn from the 120 questions built here for this exam, which is a map of what you can practise rather than a list the exam body published.
Is this the official CMA Intermediate syllabus?
No, and the page says so rather than leaving you to work it out. The section pattern is official and linked to the notice it came from; the topics beneath it are the ones this site's own tests cover. They are useful for two things: seeing what you can practise here, and checking a syllabus you already have for gaps. For the syllabus itself, read the exam body's own document, because a topic list assembled from a question bank can be narrower than the syllabus and never wider in a way you should trust.
How many questions are there in the CMA Intermediate paper, and how long is it?
The paper is 120 questions for 240 marks in 432 minutes. There is no negative marking. Knowing that alongside the syllabus is what turns a topic list into a plan: it tells you how many marks each section is actually worth and how many minutes you can afford per question.
How do I practise the CMA Intermediate syllabus?
Sit a full mock before working down any topic list. A list tells you what can be asked; it does not tell you which parts are costing you marks, and that is rarely where a candidate expects. There are 8 free tests for CMA Intermediate here, and the sectional ones let you rebuild a single section once the full paper has shown you which one needs it.