Consulting
The Institute of Management Consultants and Master Coaches of South Africa
Setting and maintaining standards in south africa
The Institute is the professional body
Representing business advisors, business rescue practitioners, management consultants, business, executive and leadership coaches. It sets and maintains standards for these professions in South Africa. It seeks to make the professions recognised, respected and accepted as providing a valuable and indispensable service to organisations in South Africa and the Southern African Region.
Application Process
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Go to our application form to begin the process
Link To specific Form
We will confirm your application is received. Once that is done we will notify you of your membership level and provide a link for you to do your payment.
Once your payment is received and confirmed. We will provide you links to the various documents we need you to sign and complete.
We provide you a certificate
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All professional applications to the IMCSA begin with the payment of the application processing fee and completion of the appropriate membership form. The Membership application form is completed, supporting documents attached and sent back to the registrar at info@imcsa.org.za.
The registrar assesses the submitted application and supporting documents to determine the appropriate membership level the applicant qualifies for. The applicant is notified in writing of the outcome of the application. They are then invoiced accordingly.
Once payment is received the individual membership certificate is issued.
The applicant is required to pay the stipulated annual membership fee, for the year of application. Memberships are renewed annually in January.
Application for membership as a consultant is subject to the following criteria:
Full Membership: If you are a Management Consultant with more than three years management consulting experience, you may apply for full membership. You need to be either a graduate or have more than eight years management experience in lieu of a degree, the latter being evaluated according to the SAQA National Policy for the Implementation of the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).
Associate Membership: If you are suitably qualified (as per the preceding paragraph), but lack the three years management consulting experience (or cannot provide evidence to that effect), and want to provide Management Consulting Services, you may apply as an Associate Member. When you are in a position to demonstrate that you have the equivalent of three years independent management consulting experience, you may apply to upgrade your membership to Full Member.
Student Membership: You are also welcome to join as a Student Member, if you are studying currently and do not qualify for Associate or Full memberships, but aspire to become a Management Consultant over time.
Affiliate Membership: If you do not necessarily wish to become a Management Consultant, but have an interest in the profession, for example you provide a supporting function the profession or you lecture in the field of Business, Economics and Management, you may join as an Affiliate member.
The consulting membership application process is described below:
- Download the application form and code of ethics.
- Fill in application pack noting each section in detail and submit with certified copies of important documents:
a. Proof of payment of the application processing fee related to the level of membership you are applying for.
b. Your application must be signed by proposer, who knows you well enough to confirm your eligibility for membership.
c. Ensure that you have filled in your employment and consulting record, including assignments – if none, state so as N/A.
d. Copy of ID or passport.
e. A recent photograph.
f. Copy of SAQA approved degree certificate.
g. Two client references on their letterhead and signed with name of client and role/position clearly stated. A reference letter guideline is attached.
h. Signed code of ethics, which you have already downloaded.
i. A copy of your professional CV, which does not absolve you from filling in the full application form. “See CV” is not an acceptable answer to any question. - Once your application has been received, it will be processed by the secretariat and your membership level will be confirmed as associate or member as described in the rules above.
- You will then be asked to pay the current year subscription fee as follows:
a. Associate
b. Member
Certification is a Mark of Competency
Certified Management Consultant (CMC) is the mark of competency for the Management Consulting profession and is recognised internationally through the ICMCI (CMC-Global). The CMC designation is consistent with internationally accepted standards and indicates that a management consultant meets certain requirements of character, education, expertise, and experience. Members with a minimum of three years’ consulting experience are eligible to become a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) by assessment.
These assessments are offered to full members of the Institute. To retain the CMC designation, members must perform 800 hours of management consulting annually, and 100 hours of professional development every three years, and be up to date with the payment of the annual membership fees. A CMC practicing certificate is issued annually upon fulfilment of the stated requirements.
High Standards
Certified Management Consultant (CMC) is the mark of competency for the Management Consulting profession and is recognised internationally through the ICMCI (CMC-Global). The CMC designation is consistent with internationally accepted standards and indicates that a management consultant meets certain requirements of character, education, expertise, and experience. Members with a minimum of three years consulting experience are eligible to become a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) by assessment.
Reciprocity
An additional benefit of international certification is automatic reciprocity and recognition between all member institutes of the ICMCI.
Clients will be able to determine whether the consultant they are dealing with is certified, by contacting the IMCSA. National and international bodies, including governments, will be able to draw on the register of certified consultants. Clients will obviously not be obliged to use CMC’s but will be encouraged to do so.
Certification Eligibility and Process
Once an applicant has been awarded full membership and has accumulated the required experience in hours or years, the applicant may proceed to apply for certification.
The applicant must download and complete the certification application documentation. Once the documentation is complete and the relevant application fee has been paid, the documentation may be forwarded to info@imcsa.org.za.
The applicant must comply with all requirements of the application prior to proceeding with an assessment interview. The designated assessors will ensure compliance by means of a bench review of the application. If necessary, they will request further clarification in writing before allowing the candidate to proceed to the assessment interview. The assessors may reject the application due to incompleteness or due to the candidate failing to meet the minimum application criteria.
Once the bench review is complete to the satisfaction of both the assessors, the candidate will be invited to an assessment interview. The candidate is required to pay the full assessment fee prior to proceeding with the scheduling of the assessment interview.
Upon successful completion of the assessment, the candidate will be notified in writing accordingly and a certificate will be issued for the year of the assessment.
All certificates remain valid for the calendar year of issue and must be renewed annually, in January, to ensure that the professional remains in good standing with the IMCSA.
The certification process is based on the following requirements:
- Support by other certified consultants or reputable clients in the form of testimonials.
- Evidence of bona fide consulting assignments totaling not less than 3 years.
- Evidence of an undergraduate or postgraduate degree or 8 years management experience in lieu of the degree.
- Sufficient management experience or line support experience to indicate competence in management and its principles.
- Signature of the code of ethics.
- A completed assignment study on a chosen project, mapping your experience in each of the required competency quadrants to the assignment, highlighting that you have understanding and experience of these.
- Undertaking an interview with qualified assessors to confirm the details of your application and to perform a summative assessment of you as a certified management consultant.
Prior to submitting all the required application documents, you are required to pay the certification application fee.
The certification application fee will be waived if you were accepted as a full member not more than 6 months prior to your application to be certified. A completeness check is performed by the secretariat prior to the next step, which is to proceed to assessment. When the completeness check is complete, the applicant proceeds to pay the certification assessment fee.
Please note that the assessment fee is non-refundable due to the effort involved.
Your application undergoes a bench review by two qualified assessors, who determine whether your application meets all the requirements of certification. You will be required to pay the full certification fee, whereupon an assessment interview will be scheduled. You will present your assignment study and be asked questions about your portfolio. Subsequently, you will be informed in writing of the outcome of the assessment interview.
If you are successful you will receive an electronic certificate and your full membership status will be upgraded to CMC. If you are not a full member, you need to apply for membership.
Please note that if you have less than 3 years of bona fide consulting experience, you will need to apply for associate membership until you qualify for full membership. Full membership requires evidence of 3 or more years of consulting experience as set out in the in the member application form.
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Continual Professional Development
As a Certified Management Consultant (CMC), you are expected to plan your professional development and keep a record of learning activities, your reflections on them and the practical effects of the lessons learned. Evidence of how learning has been applied to live assignments is sought. Learning activities can include reading, research and attendance of recognised courses as described below.
The Institute regularly surveys CPD records on a sample basis. Retention of your certification is based on producing well-documented and considered CPD Plans and Records. Full CPD records will also be requested as part of the process of upgrading from CMC to FCMC.
It is expected that a CMC maintains a rolling record of 100 professional development hours over a 3 year period. Only recognised and relevant academic, public and IMCSA courses will be considered for credit.
CPD Documentation
Download The IMCSA CPD pack for all CMC to prepare their CPD and maintain their CMC status. YOu need to be registered on this website to access your personal folder
DOCUMENT NAME | DOWNLOAD LINK |
|---|---|
Application pack | |
Code of Ethics | |
Proof of payment of application processing fee |