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SOUTH AFRICAN QUALIFICATIONS AUTHORITY 
PROFESSIONAL DESIGNATION: 
Chartered Financial Manager (Chartered FM) 
DESIGNATION ID DESIGNATION TITLE
769  Chartered Financial Manager (Chartered FM) 
PROFESSIONAL BODY DESIGNATION STATUS
CIBA - Chartered Institute for Business Accountants (Formerly SAIBA)  Reregistered 
SAQA DECISION NUMBER REGISTRATION START DATE REGISTRATION END DATE
SAQA 08145/24  2025-03-20  2030-03-19 


DESCRIPTION:
A Chartered Financial Manager typically oversees the distribution of a company's financial resources, manages budget planning, and supports the executive team by providing insights and financial advice
to guide sound business decisions.
As a key member of the finance team, a Finance Manager's job description generally includes, but is
not limited to:
  • Collecting, interpreting, and reviewing financial information,
  • Predicting future financial trends,
  • Reporting to management and stakeholders, and providing advice how the company and future business decisions might be impacted,
  • Producing financial reports related to budgets, account payables, account receivables, expenses etc.,
  • Developing long-term business plans based on these reports,
  • Reviewing, monitoring, and managing budgets,
  • Developing strategies that work to minimise financial risk
  • Analysing market trends and competitors". 
    		•
    AWARDING CRITERIA
    For the Professional Designation to be awarded, professionals must comply with the following minimum requirements: 
    Underlying Registered Qualification or Part Qualification:
    Typical qualifications to obtain the designation Chartered Chief Financial Officer include approximately 8 to 10 years of experience in managerial or senior positions and a Master's Degree, in Financial Management, Business Administration or Accounting. However Recognition of Prior Learning will also be applied to persons that have qualified with a non-typical commercial qualification such as Engineering, Science, Law or Mathematics, or developed into the CFO position through on the job training, and obtained leadership experience or obtained skills through volunteer experience and working with a mentor.

    Academic Component:
    Qualifications must have been obtained from a University, University of Technology, or Private Higher Education Institution registered with the Council for Higher Education (CHE).

    A typical underlying qualification for the Chartered Chief Financial Officer designation is, in order of completion:
    1. Bachelor of Accounting Sciences, NQF level 7, SAQA 101110, or similar.
    2. Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting Sciences, NQF level 8, SAQA 90912, or similar.
    3. Master in Business Leadership, NQF level 9, SAQA 98030, or similar. 
    Experiential Learning or Experience
    CIBA requires candidates to obtain experience in a structured environment typically within an Approved Training Office (ATO) such as an Accounting Firm and monitored by way of a logbook.
    Experience can also be gained in an unstructured manner:

    a. Structured work experience (A): Training in terms of a CIBA learnership or internship with an Approved Training Office.
    b. Unstructured work experience (B): Training in terms of an employment contract that can be reported either in timesheets, hours spent on relevant tasks, or via a Portfolio of Evidence. A portfolio of evidence is a file that contains:
    1. list of courses completed relevant to the competency required. This can be external or internal events or meetings.
    2. time sheets showing time spent performing the relevant tasks that demonstrates a competency.
    3. examples of reports drafted for Board consumption.
    4. an essay describing and integrating the above. You need to demonstrate mastery of most CFO competencies.
    In terms of the CIBA RPL policy if an undergraduate qualification does not include the specified core
    subjects, then the candidate should either:
    a. demonstrate to CIBA that the knowledge was obtained via professional courses or on the job training,
    b. in addition, CIBA may require additional years of experience.

    Years of experience are calculated as the total experience gained at the various business levels within the finance department e.g. 3 years articles (Structured) + 3 years management (Unstructured) + 4 years executive (Unstructured). Experience gained at the management and strategic level should have been obtained with employers of a certain size and complexity. This requires that the candidate demonstrates:
    a. a job title of CFO, FD, senior or group FM, CFO or equivalent,
    b. experience obtained within a large private, public, or listed company with company or group
    turn-over of more than R30 million per annum,
    c. Responsible for the supervision and management of 3 or more employees. 
    Competency Assessment
    The candidate is expected to demonstrate that he/she has obtain the required qualification, experience and skills as required by the CFO Competency Framework.

    The Competency Framework was developed through extensive research and international benchmarking and identifies and examines the necessary competencies that a finance executive, for example a financial manager needs to developed as they move from a management level to a strategic level and into a senior finance executive position with for example a job title of CFO. The competencies are those that distinguishes the CFO from the financial manager.

    A candidate does not need to be currently employed in a senior financial executive position but should be able to demonstrate the required competencies within the four roles of a typical senior financial executive such as a CFO, namely:
    a. Steward,
    b. Controller,
    c. Catalyst, and
    d. Strategist.
    Assessments are conducted in two parts. CIBA evaluators verify the information presented by the candidate and an external assessor is appointed to perform a verbal assessment.
    CIBA may decide to use any of the following alternative assessment methods:
    a. written exam marked by an examiner,
    b. verbal assessment performed by an assessor,
    c. essay reviewed by an assessor,
    d. portfolio of evidence reviewed by an assessor,
    e. time sheets reviewed by an assessor.
    During a verbal assessment, a candidate is asked questions from relevant topics or subject areas as reflected in the Competency Framework, and has to apply what he or she has learnt to a scenario.
    Responses are marked within a score sheet.
    The verbal assessment is conducted in terms of the CIBA Assessment Policy and is used to judge:
    a. Knowledge (relay the theory),
    b. Understanding (reference an example), and
    c. Problem solving and other abilities (explain a new or innovative application).
    CIBAs Competency Framework consist of 34 competencies within the four roles of the CFO (Source:Queens University, Canada):

    1. Steward: Accounting, control, risk management and asset preservation are the province of the Steward. The Steward must ensure company compliance with financial reporting and control requirements. Information quality and control rationalisation are top of mind issues for the Steward (8 competencies).
    2. Operator: Efficiency and service levels are the primary areas of focus for the Operator. The Operator must dynamically balance cost and service levels in delivering on the finance organisation's responsibilities and adapt finance's operating model as necessary. Talent management, offshoring and shared service decisions are often the key issues to be addressed. This role is oriented toward best practices of the finance function itself (9 competencies).
    3. Catalyst: The Catalyst is an agent for change, focused on establishing a value attitude throughout the organisation. The Catalyst gains business alignment to identify, evaluate and execute strategies, and serves as a business partner to other decision makers including business unit leaders, the chief information officer, and sales and marketing leaders. The Catalyst establishes a structure of enterprise accountability directed toward results, drives enterprise execution and gains acceptance from business management as the organisation's catalyst. This role is oriented toward best practices of the entire organisation (9 competencies).
    4. Strategist: The Strategist is a director, focused on defining the future of the company to enhance business performance and shareholder value. The Strategist provides a financial perspective on innovation and profitable growth; leverages this perspective to improve risk awareness, strategic decision making and performance management integration; and translates the expectations of the capital markets into internal business imperatives. This role is oriented toward long-term, strategic issues, and is outwardly directed (8 competencies). 
    Designation RPL Statement
    This Designation may be awarded through Recognition of Prior Learning. 
    RETAINING CRITERIA
    In order to ensure the currency of professional knowledge and to retain the Professional Designation, the professional must comply with the following minimum requirements: 
    Code of Conduct
    Members must adhere to the Professional Body Codes of Conduct and Ethics. 
    Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
    Persons that have been awarded the designation Chartered Chief Financial Officer are required to engage in Continuous Professional Development (CPD). This is how CIBA ensures our designations are highly regarded by employers and presents a competitive advantage to our members.

    Continuous quality confirmation is a hallmark of the designation, gives credibility and is valued by
    clients and employers.

    The CIBA CPD programme consists of:
    a. Ethics: An annual CIBA course in ethics. This must be repeated annually.
    b. Knowledge and skills: A Chartered Chief Financial Officer needs to log 40 hours CPD per annum. CPD is a means to update knowledge required within a specific occupation.
    c. International and local conferences: Chartered Chief Financial Officers annually participate in the CFO World Congress. 
    Fees
    Ensure that the annual membership fee is paid. 


    PROFESSIONAL DESIGNATION PROGRESSION PATHWAY
    (The Designation being reported on here is shown in italics.)

    Sequence Designation ID Designation Title
    11323Chartered Bookkeeper
    21322Chartered Financial Administrator
    3521Chartered Business Accountant in Commerce (Chartered BAC)
    4520Chartered Business Accountant in Practice (Chartered BAP)
    5769Chartered Financial Manager (Chartered FM)
    6631Chartered Chief Financial Officer (Chartered CFO)


    PROFESSIONAL BODY WEB ADDRESS:
    For more information on this Professional Designation, please visit http://www.saiba.org.za