Continuing professional education needs of NYNEX Certified Management Accountants and implications for the Institute of Certified Management Accountants' mandates

This study examined continuing professional education (CPE) needs of NYNEX Certified Management Accountants (CMAs). The problem is that we lack an in-depth knowledge of the education needs of CMAs employed by large corporations to guide the development and availability of CPE for CMAs. The first purpose of the study was to improve our understanding of the professional education needs of CMAs employed in large corporations. The second purpose was to highlight areas of congruence and difference between these needs and the mandatory CPE requirements issued by the certification organization.;Qualitative research methods were utilized to accomplish these purposes. Data collection methods included selective and critical reviews of the adult education and accounting literature on mandatory CPE; literature on program development and needs analysis; document analysis; and interviews with all CMAs employed by NYNEX, along with interviews of a panel of experts. Triangulation was used in the analysis and synthesis of these data to ensure completeness and to cross-check findings.;Findings indicated that NYNEX CMAs view organizational support as the most important factor facilitating their completion of CPE. Additionally, many of them were unable to clearly link CPE completion to meeting future business challenges. Findings also indicated little use or acceptance of the many self-study forms of CPE (e.g., computer-based training, audiotapes, and others) in spite of the fact that lack of time to complete CPE was a significant concern for most of this population. It was also found that management accountants do not receive CPE credit for on-the-job and incidental learning in the workplace, in spite of research that indicates it is an important source of professional learning.;Key recommendations include that: NYNEX Corporation should continue and possibly expand its support of CPE completion; links should be developed between future business challenges and CPE course learning objectives; and further research is required to determine if and how self-study forms of CPE can be made more acceptable to management accountants, and if on-the-job and incidental learning in the workplace experiences can be structured to provide CPE credit.