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CMA Final Strategic Financial Management Syllabus
Every chapter and topic of Strategic Financial Management examined in CMA Final — 3 chapters, 9 topics, plus 56 flashcards written against it.
Strategic Financial Management syllabus — full chapter and topic list
Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Strategic Financial Management in CMA Final, not a summary of it.
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Financial Policy and Corporate Strategy
3 topics- Introduction to Strategic Management
- Financial Policy and Strategic Planning
- Corporate Strategy Formulation
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Risk Management
3 topics- Types of Risks
- Risk Analysis Techniques
- Risk Mitigation Strategies
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Security Analysis and Portfolio Management
3 topics- Fundamental Analysis
- Technical Analysis
- Portfolio Theory
Strategic Financial Management flashcards for CMA Final
21 of 56 cards from the Strategic Financial Management deck — real questions with worked answers.
What is strategic management?
The continuous process of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that enable an organisation to achieve its long-term objectives and gain sustainable competitive advantage.
What are the three core stages of the strategic management process?
Strategy formulation (setting vision/mission and choosing strategies), strategy implementation (executing them through structure, resources and programmes), and strategy evaluation/control (measuring performance and taking corrective action).
Distinguish between a company's vision statement and its mission statement.
A vision states what the organisation aspires to become in the long-run future, while a mission states its present purpose—what business it is in, whom it serves and how—forming the basis of objectives.
What is a SWOT analysis used for in strategic management?
It matches internal Strengths and Weaknesses with external Opportunities and Threats to identify strategic options that leverage strengths and opportunities while minimising weaknesses and threats.
In strategy, what is the difference between corporate, business and functional level strategy?
Corporate strategy decides which businesses/markets to be in (scope); business strategy decides how to compete in a particular industry; functional strategy guides individual departments (finance, marketing, HR, operations) to support business strategy.
List Michael Porter's three generic competitive strategies.
Cost leadership (lowest cost producer), differentiation (unique offering commanding a premium), and focus/niche (targeting a narrow segment via cost focus or differentiation focus).
What are the five forces in Porter's Five Forces model of industry analysis?
Threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitute products, and rivalry among existing competitors.
What is strategic financial management?
The application of financial management techniques to a firm's strategic goals—aligning financing, investment and dividend decisions with corporate strategy to maximise long-term shareholder value.
What is the overarching objective of financial management/strategic financial management?
Maximisation of shareholders' wealth, i.e. maximising the market value (net present value) of the firm, rather than mere profit maximisation.
What is financial policy?
The framework of guidelines and principles a firm sets for its financing, investment, dividend and working-capital decisions to ensure decisions are consistent with its strategic objectives.
Name the three key interrelated decisions of financial management.
The investment (capital budgeting) decision, the financing (capital structure) decision, and the dividend (distribution) decision.
How are financial policy and strategic planning interlinked?
Strategic planning sets long-term goals and resource needs; financial policy determines how funds are raised and deployed to support those goals—each must be consistent with the other for the plan to be feasible.
What is meant by 'strategic planning'?
The process of defining an organisation's long-term direction and allocating its resources to pursue that strategy, including setting objectives, analysing the environment, and choosing the means to achieve goals.
What is interface between financial policy and strategic management?
Financial policy provides the funds and capital-structure framework needed to execute strategy, while strategic decisions (expansion, diversification, M&A) determine the firm's financing and investment requirements; sound strategy needs sound financing and vice versa.
What is the BCG (Boston Consulting Group) growth-share matrix?
A portfolio tool classifying business units by market growth (high/low) and relative market share (high/low) into Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks (Problem Children), and Dogs.
In the BCG matrix, what is a 'Cash Cow'?
A business unit with high relative market share in a low-growth market—it generates strong cash flow with little reinvestment, which can fund Stars and Question Marks.
In the BCG matrix, what is a 'Star'?
A business unit with high market share in a high-growth market; it needs heavy investment but has potential to become a Cash Cow as growth slows.
What does the Ansoff Product-Market growth matrix depict?
Four growth strategies based on products (existing/new) and markets (existing/new): market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification.
What is 'diversification' as a corporate strategy?
Entering new products and new markets simultaneously; it may be related (concentric—linked to existing business) or unrelated (conglomerate—into entirely different businesses) to spread risk and seek growth.
What are the main grand/corporate strategies a firm can pursue?
Stability, expansion/growth (internal or external), retrenchment (turnaround, divestment, liquidation), and combination strategies.
What is the PESTEL framework used for in strategy formulation?
Scanning the macro-environment across Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal factors to identify external opportunities and threats.
Planning Strategic Financial Management for CMA Final
Strategic Financial Management is about 25% of the CMA Final syllabus by topic count — 9 of 36 topics, spread over 3 chapters. At roughly 45 minutes per topic plus 12 minutes per sub-topic, a first pass runs to about 7 hours.
The heaviest chapters are Financial Policy and Corporate Strategy (3 topics), Risk Management (3 topics), Security Analysis and Portfolio Management (3 topics) . Front-load those while your energy is high; the short chapters are better revision filler later.
Work top-down: read the chapter, then tick topics off individually rather than marking the whole chapter done. Sub-topics are where silent gaps hide.
Strategic Financial Management (CMA Final) FAQ
What is in the CMA Final Strategic Financial Management syllabus?
Strategic Financial Management is split into 3 chapters — Financial Policy and Corporate Strategy, Risk Management and Security Analysis and Portfolio Management, containing 9 topics and 0 sub-topics in total.
How many chapters are there in Strategic Financial Management for CMA Final?
3 chapters. Strategic Financial Management accounts for about 25% of the topics in the whole CMA Final syllabus (9 of 36).
How long should I spend on Strategic Financial Management for CMA Final?
Budget around 7 hours for a first pass through Strategic Financial Management — about 45 minutes per topic plus 12 minutes per sub-topic across its 9 topics. Add revision cycles on top.
Are there flashcards for CMA Final Strategic Financial Management?
Yes — a 56-card Strategic Financial Management deck. Sample cards are printed on this page, and the full deck is free in the Examius app with spaced repetition scheduling.