The Certified Management Consultant designation (CMC®) is the preeminent professional designation for management consulting with a variety of sub-specialty areas. It is similar in scope and reliability to Chartered Professional Accountants, Professional Engineers, etc.
Country Institutes of Management Consulting (IMC’s), often through state or provincial institutes, work with government bodies to ensure that the CMC® is a recognized professional designation with all the compliance, competency, and ethical obligations and privileges that comes with being a top-tier individual professional.
In over 49 countries around the world, these national member institutes of ICMCI; enrol, oversee curriculum delivery, competency assessment and ultimately individual certification to strict common standards. National Institutes are regularly audited by ICMCI to ensure each Institute upholds and advances the high standards of the designation. This means that a CMC® earned in one country can be recognized and trusted should the professional individual work in another jurisdiction. For individuals interested in achieving their CMC® professional designation, but happen to live/work in a jurisdiction without an ICMCI member Institute, they can apply to the CMC-Global Institute (CMC-GI) to achieve their certification.
What the CMC® Designation Conveys for Clients:
An individual Certified Management Consultant must learn and show competency across a broad professional body of knowledge, which includes:
- 6 Functional areas of organizational management: Human Resources, Strategic Planning, Finance, Operations, Information Technology, and Marketing
- Ethical practices
- Management Consulting processes
- Leading Transformation and Change
- Client Communications and Project Management
- Interpersonal skills
In addition, each CMC® must show commitment to, experience in, and compliance with ICMCI's Code of Conduct. This code of conduct includes legal, social, ecological aspects and professional conduct. It shows the responsibility of a Management Consultant to serve the interests of:
- Clients
- Society
- Their Organisation
- Colleagues
- The Profession.
CMC® Standards
The CMC® and its related standards have been developed over many years. In 2014 these were revised in order to:
- Bring order to a great variety of material
- Ensure that the scope and wording is consistent with current international standards where applicable
- Add further material that will help institutes and their assessors in maintaining the standard
The revision has been carried out by expert consultants and reviewed by both the Professional Standards Committee and Quality Assurance Committee of ICMCI. The Trustees approved the update on January 24, 2014.
In 2016 a recertification policy prepared by the Professional Standards Committee (PSC) was approved and added to the ICMCI CMC® Certification Scheme Manual as an Appendix.
In 2021 a major review and update was undertaken for the ICMCI CMC® Certification Manual and all its Appendices and new versions were approved by the Board and published in October 2021 to take effect in October 2022.
You can view or download copies of the updated documentation below:
- ICMCI CMC001 Certification Scheme Manual-version 2.0
- Appendix 1 - ICMCI CMC002 Competence Framework version 4.0
- Appendix 2 - ICMCI Competence Framework background version 4.2
- Appendix 3 - ICMCI CMC003 Code of Conduct 4.0
- Appendix 4 - ICMCI CMC004 Common Body of Knowledge Version 4.0
- Appendix 5 - ICMCI CMC005 Additional Pre-requisites-version 2.0
- Appendix 6 - ICMCI CMC006 Matrix of Preferred and Acceptable Assessment Techniques-version 2.0
- Appendix 7 - ICMCI CMC007 Glossary-Master - version 2.0
- Appendix 8 - ICMCI CMC008 General Requirements - ISO17024-Master version 2.0
- Appendix 9 - ICMCI Competence Framework Overview version 4.2
- Supporting tool - ICMCI Competence Framework Introduction Presentation version 4.2
- Supporting document: UN SDGs
- Guiding Documents: Anti Bribery Guidance for ICMCI - OECD AND ISO26000 Guidance for ICMCI
The CMC Manual Orientation sessions and presentation can be viewed or downloaded at the specified links, along with the Graphics that can support your preparation.
Post-nominal initials
Consultants who have been awarded the CMC® can put these initials after their name. In some countries, the ICMCI member Institute may use the designation FIMC to signify a Fellow of that Institute of Management Consultants – someone who has made a significant contribution to the profession of management consulting. The initials FCMC therefore designate a Certified Management Consultant who is also a Fellow of his or her institute.
CMC Emeritus
ICMCI member institutes are allowed to authorize the CMC®s of their institute who cease professional activity (whether by moving into another field of activity or by retirement) to continue to use the designation “CMC® Emeritus” after their names. The requirements for this are shown in the Certification Programme Manual.