How to get a CMA certificate?

I would start defining your long-term goal first. Certification is important but more important will be your work experience. Do you want to work public or private. Do you want to work in small, medium or large companies. Where you want to go will determine in large part the jobs you go after. I think understanding general ledger accounting is important regardless of path. If you go private, start with staff accountant (GL) and move on to senior accountant in 3 years. Then either accounting supervisor/manager or financial analyst preparing and managing budgets and doing financial analysis. At the end of the day, you want to learn about planning, performance and control if you want to move up. But you have to have solid GL experience. If you go the public route, become an auditor and obtain the CPA, then move to private. Once in private, obtain the CMA so you have both certifications.