CMAs in Merger Decisions – The “Human Factor” Behind Successful Business Strategies

“Meru may explore a merger with Mahindra Group Company”

“The Indian Bank has merged with the Allahabad Bank”

Isn’t such news pretty exciting to hear? Mergers & acquisitions (M&A) are among the more intriguing and vital happenings in the business environment. A lot goes into the process of M&As.

There is a committed team of professionals – especially certified management accountants (CMAs) – working in corporates and consultancy firms who solely manage merger decisions. Kick-starting as a CMA is like a pipe-dream for many. It is the springboard to a career that promises immense gratification, recognition, and yes, financial rewards as well.

CMA job roles are evolving as the realm of technology and finance advances. CMAs increasingly play an instrumental role in creating and executing business strategies. Those in this field of the profession work with C-suite executives on defining financial goals, devising a strategy for mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and analyzing risks.

So, how do CMAs help businesses make decisions about shaping the new leadership team to ensure a more successful merger?

Basically, CMAs perform the following major tasks:

• Targeting Companies: Identifying potential target companies for mergers as per comprehensive research and assessment. CMAs hunt for potential targets via numerous channels, including primary research, secondary research, networking, database search, corporate events, and employee referrals.
• Competition Analysis: In this role, a CMA gathers loads of data on potential companies and businesses in particular. They carry out a general SWOT assessment and look into the subtleties of the competitive landscape within the pre-defined field of investigation.
• Getting into Touch: The CMA, after identifying the potential target (s), goes ahead to reach out to them and sets up appointments of those potential businesses with the senior executives.
• Due Diligence: Sort of a feasibility assessment, due diligence is among the most vital tasks of CMAs. It involves evaluating and authorizing the operational and financial position of the target company. This means implementing financial, operational, and legal risk analyses of a company.
• Execution: Execution of the transaction involves negotiating the terms and structure of the merger agreement as per the appraisal report. Some complications may come up which may require adjustments such as selling off specific assets or divisions and so on. Moreover, mergers accounting treatments are generally tricky as they incorporate agreements worth crores of money. CMAs finalize the capital structure of the agreements and resolve the tax treatment of the transactions.

Some Final Thoughts

Consolidation is a necessity in this era of the cutthroat competitive business landscape, enabling better control over a specific sector and pricing. As such, it is pretty apparent that M&As will keep on occurring at a faster pace in both the local and global realms.

Today, accounting goes past ensuring regulatory adherence, number crunching, and tax work. CMAs are a crucial aspect of business strategy. The demand for CMAs is noteworthy across industries, especially boutique consultancy firms and investment banking companies.

So what to wait for? Obtain the relevant skills, hone your business acumen, keep an eye on the worldwide developments, take charge and be prepared to run the show as a thriving CMA in merger decisions.

Miles Education is a premier training institute for finance & accounting professionals looking to earn US CMA credentials. The focus of Miles Education has always been to up-skill students and professionals to help them be future-ready and enable their career progression through the US CMA qualification.

Committed to achieving this goal, today, Miles is India’s largest and #1 CMA review course! It has been instrumental in building the CMA ecosystem in India holding offices in 9 cities and partnerships with 100+ MNCs, including all of the Big 4s. Miles Education provides student/professional-centric services while keeping concept-based learning at its core which has helped it climb to the top ranks when it comes to the US CMA certification in India.