2025 M Street NW / Doc. No. / Rev. No. 1
WashingtonDC 20036 / Date: 11/26/2004 / Page 1 of 30
Certification 6.0
Certifying Accredited Practices
Developed: Michael Wheeler CMC, Mark Haas CMC
Approved: Bryan Peregoff CMC
Certification Review
Committee Chair
Approved: Don ScellatoCMC
Certification Chair
Change Record
Rev / Date / Responsible Person / Description of Change1 / November 26, 2004 / Mark Haas CMC / Initial Release
Distribution List
National Chair
Board of Directors
Certification Review Committee
Operations
Certification Chair
Chapter Presidents
Chapter Certification Chairs
1.Purpose
- To formally establish the eligibility requirements for Accredited Practices
- To ensure all applicant organizations are adequately and uniformly qualified
- To establish and implement a system by formulating eligibility policy, defining organization, and assigning authorities and responsibilities.
2.Scope
This procedure applies to all administrators and applicants in the accredited Practices process in IMC USA.
3.Responsibilities
The Certification Chair has overall responsibility for determining and approving all accredited Practices for IMC USA.
The CRC Chair is responsible for monitoring internal compliance of the accredited Practices process through the Certification Review Committee.
The Board of Directorswill:
- Identify and record any problems with the Accredited Practiceprocess.
- Verify the implementation of solutions.
- Ensure that all accredited practice nominations are coordinated through the Certification Chair.
The Certification Chair defines the responsibility, authority and interrelation of all personnel involved in the accredited Practices process as defined herein. The Certification Chair identifies verification audit requirements, provides adequate resources, and assigns trained personnel to conduct verification audits of potential accredited Practices.
4. Procedure
The Accredited Practice program recognizes the excellence of the training and development programs in management consulting practices, and supports these organizations in the selection, screening, and designation of Certified Management Consultants (CMC).
A management consulting organization can become an IMC USA Accredited Practiceifit has in place auditable processes and procedures governing the professional development and ethical performance of itsmanagement consulting staff. IMC USA will audit these processes and the standards underpinning them toverify the existence of a ‘point of equivalence’ between the developmental professionalismof individuals within the Practice and the CMC qualification requirements.
An organization achievingAccredited Practice status isempowered to recommend for the CMC award individual management consultants who have reached the point of equivalence, without going through the CMC panel interview and examination process. IMC USA retains the right to grant the final CMC award.
Eligible Practices
These are the criteria for selection as an Accredited Practice:
- To be engaged in the practice of consulting to management, i.e. the provision of independent advice and assistance to clients with senior management responsibilities.
- To have a commitment to professional and ethical training and development of its management consulting staff, and have in place, or be prepared to put in place, processes and procedures to implement, monitor, and assess that training and development.
- To be large enough to sustain the internal cost of such training and development programs or in certain circumstances, to have entered into partnership with an organization recognized by IMC USA for the provision of these programs.
- To adhere in writing to the IMC USACommon Body of Knowledge and the Code of Ethics.
The practices most likely to satisfy these criteria are large or medium-sized consultancies or internal consulting practices in large organizations. There is no rigid limit on the number of consultants involved but IMC USA requires a minimum Practicesize of twenty consultants and the intention to grow.
4Benefits for the Practice
The benefits for the consulting Practice include:
- External, independent recognition of your commitment to the highest professional and ethical standards in addition to the excellence of your training and development systems.
- Enhanced incentives and recognition to consultants within the Practice.
- A clear statement to existing and prospective consultants of your commitment to their professional development.
- An additional incentive for recruitment and retention of high quality staff.
- A route to engage in and impact IMC USA activities and the management consulting profession as well.
4Benefits for the Individual Consultant
The benefits for the individual management consultant include:
- Added value to in-house training and development by qualifying as a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) with little or no additional effort.
- Allegiance to an internationally recognized code of ethics and business practice standard.
- Opportunities to actively participate in a community of other management consulting professionals within their companies, local communities,IMC USA chapters, IMC USA sponsored conferences and professional development events, IMC USA affiliate organizations and the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI).
- Permanent independent recognition of training, development, and experience.
- An in-house route to a portable, internationally recognized qualification.
- A discipline of continuing professional development (CPD).
- Opportunities to engage experts in different and diverse fields of expertise and experience.
Accredited Practice Process
The following diagram illustrates the Accredited Practice Process.
Declaration of Intent
The applying company will complete the formal Declaration of Intent below. It is at this stage that payment is required in the form of a Provisional Fee.
The Declaration is an agreement which sets the framework within which the relationship between IMC USA and the Practicewill operate. The fee is to make a contribution to the costs of the review and audit and IMC USA's support of the Practice during this process and will include up to 12 consultant hours of advice on the competence framework and metrics, if required. Should the Practice request help in excess of this time it will be charged at consultancy rates.
Initial Review
IMC USA will sendtheaudit checklist to the Practice for initial review. The Practice will return the completed checklist to IMC USA (attention Certification Review Committee) within thirty days of receipt. The Certification Review Committee (CRC) Chair will review the checklist and make recommendations to the Certification Chair regarding an on-site audit of the Practice. The CRC Chair will assign a committee member to act as auditor and coordinator.
The Certification Chair will review the completed audit checklist, contact the Practice, and determine an approximate date for the on-site audit.
On-site Audit
Using the checklist contained herein, the assigned auditor will look at the process descriptions and seek evidence that the processes described are implemented and operational. This will include talking to members of the consulting staff who have experienced various parts of the process. It is a condition of the audit that such people will be made available at the time of the audit.
An important feature of the audit is to agree the criteria for making an individual recommendation for the award of CMC.
The Practice will be informed in writing about the outcome of the audit.
Documentation Management
The IMC USA auditor will ensure that the Practice has documentedits processes and procedures for the training and development of the professional management consulting staff.
The development process starts when the consultant enters the Practice and runs continuously thereafter. Processes should include periodic performance appraisal andother routine feedback mechanisms. The consultants themselves will take a major role in formulating their own training and development plan.
The IMC USA auditor will interview a representative sample of the consulting staff at various stages of development, and review documented evidence of mentoring,internal training, team building, project/engagement assignments, customer feedback, continuing professional development, and individual consultant certifications and promotion assessments.
Certification
A Certificate will be prepared and presented to the Practice upon its accreditation. At this time the Practice will be invoiced for the first of its corporate annual subscriptions.
Monitoring
IMC USA may, at its discretion and with sufficient notice, conduct a monitoring visit to the practice yearly.
Every third year IMC USA will require the Practice to be fully audited. The costs of the monitoring visits and the audit are included in the annual corporate subscription.
IMC USAreserves the right to review the evidence supporting any recommendation for granting an individual CMC status on a random sampling basis or for cause. The CMC designation will not be denied by IMC USA without written notification giving cause and recommended actions to be taken before the candidate can be resubmitted for certification.
Core Competencies
The Core Competencies are identified in the IMC USA Common Body of Knowledge (CBOK) and required of certified management consultants. The CBOK is found on the IMC USA website.
Measuring the standard of competence
The Accredited Practice program identifies a point of equivalence of standard between measurements made against the Practice’s internal criteria and the CMC Common Body of Knowledge.
The IMC USA auditor must be convinced that IMC USA standards are covered. See below.
Costs
The costs are as follows:
- Provisional fee: $3,500.00
- Additional consultancy (if required) at $1,400.00 per man day + expenses.
- Internal manpower costs in developing and maintaining processes and procedures.
- Corporate subscription payable on successful audit and annually thereafter - this is based on the size of the Practice according to this schedule:
Band / No of consultants
in Practice / Annual
Practice fee / Provisional
Fee
Band 4 / 501 upwards / $9,000 / $3,500
Band 3 / 101-500 / $6,000 / $3,500
Band 2 / 41-100 / $3,000 / $3,500
Band 1 / 0-41 / $2,600 / $3,500
The normal CMC application and processing fees (currently $250) for new applicants to CMC designation and the 3 year Certification Renewal (recertification) fee (currently $100) is waved for all Accredited Practice members.
DECLARATION OF INTENT
Contact details
Practice Name:…………………………………………………………………….
Address: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Zip Code…………………..
Telephone: ……………………………..Fax: ……………………………………….
e-mail:………………………………….. Website: ………………………………….
Primary contact: ………………………………Job Title: …………………………..
Practice Details
Principals: ……………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Authorized signatory: ……………………………………………………………….
No. of Consulting Staff (i) Employed……………..(ii) Associates…………………
Employment Terms (e.g. Salaried, Commission, Entry fees, Contracts etc.): …………………………………………………………………………………………
Note: where the majority of consulting staff are not directly employed an address list will be required.
Current Membership(s) of IMC USA……………………………………………………..
Fee income from clients: …………………… Other income: ……………………..
Declaration
I…………………………….the authorized signatory representing………………
…………………………..(consultancy Practice) declare a willingness to work
with IMC USA to achieve Accredited Practice status of the Institute of Management Consultants USA (IMC USA) within one year from the date of this declaration. To that end I agree that:
- IMC USA staff shall have reasonable access to staff and management of our consulting Practice,
- We have or will develop training and development processes and systems that are equivalent to the criteria laid down by IMC USA for its Certified Management Consultant (CMC) qualification,
-We will submit to review and audit of those processes and systems as required by IMC USA,
-On achieving accredited status we will encourage our staff to become members of IMC USA and promote the benefits of membership.
-We will agree target membership numbers with IMC USA.
-We pay an initial fee of $3,500.00; we understand that should accredited status fee not be achieved within a year then a further annual fee may be charged.
-We accept that the fee will cover up to 12 man hours of consultancy advice from IMC USA if required. Consultancy required in excess of this will be charged at a rate of $1,400.00 per day, plus expenses.
-On successful audit we shall pay an Accredited Practice fee annually as set out in the fees schedule of the Institute.
-The Practice will adhere to the Code of Ethics of IMC USA.
This declaration is approved and endorsed by the Directors / Partners / Management of the Practice.
I enclose a payment for $3,500.00.
Signed…………………………… Name…………………………………
(Authorized signature)
Date………………………………
Post-audit Standards for the Successful Accredited Practice.
Preliminary Assessment area / What the Institute requiresEthics and Professional Conduct policies and processes / The Practice must have fully documented policies covering each of the areas listed below. The policies must meet all current legislation and be fully available and understood by all consultants.
- Code of Ethics
- Code of Conduct
- Conflict Resolution / Grievance policy
- Equal Opportunity policies
- General Personnel policies
Engagement Assignment Policies and Processes / The Practice must have a fully documented policy and process for the assignment of consultants to engagements that:
- Matches the consultant’s expertise and experience to the client’s needs and requirements
- Solicits client needs and expectations
- Clearly shows that the engagement undertaken by the consultant does not differ materially from those undertaken by the Management Consulting Profession.
TRAINING, DEVELOPMENT, AND ASSESSMENT POLICY AND PROCESSES / All consultants within the Practice being recommended for the CMC qualification must provide evidence of competence and awareness under each of the headings below to the equivalent of the standard set by IMC USA for the assessment of Certified Management Consultants:
- Consultancy competencies including
- Client Relationships
- Engagement Management
- Team Dynamics & Facilitation
- Project Support & Change Management
- Professional Behaviors /Skills including
- Marketing
- Developing mutually acceptable outcomes
- Interpersonal interactions
- Effective communications
- Business understanding and external awareness including political, social, technological, legal, and environmental awareness
- Within the consultant’s Professional Specialty –
- Market capability and knowledge within sector specialization and technical discipline
- Competencies in use or under development
- How the competencies are developed, monitored and reviewed
- Who is involved in the development, monitoring and review of the competencies
- Whohas final responsibility for their acceptance as policy
- Rationale of how the competencies areequivalent to those being used by IMC USA
- Fit between the Practice’s competencies and training, appraisal etc
- Individual training and development records
- Timeframe for training and development
- Responsibility for training and development
- Consultant influence on his or her own training and development
- Supervision of consultants
- Mentoring of consultants
- Feedback / discussion / problem solving sessions.
- Competencies in use or under development
- How the competencies are developed monitored and reviewed
- Who is involved in the development, monitoring and review of the competencies?
- Who has final responsibility for the acceptance of the competencies as policy?
- Rationale of how these competencies match or are equivalent to the IMC USA competencies
- Fit between the Practice’s competencies and training, appraisal etc.
- Individual training and development records
- Timeframe for training and development
- Responsibility for training and development
- Consultant influence on his or her own training and development
- Supervision of consultants
- Mentoring of consultants
- Feedback / discussion / problem solving sessions
APPRAISAL / PERFORMANCE REVIEW / REWARD / All aspects of appraisal, performance review and reward must be fully documented, used according to the documentation and fully understood by all consultants.
The Practice must provide evidence of:
- A comprehensive and coherent appraisal policy
- A system to solicit and evaluate client feedback
- How the performance of consultants is assessed against the required competencies
- Who is assessing (position held / experience of assessor / assessor qualifications etc)
- Links between performance review, competencies and reward
- Consequences of failure to demonstrate the competencies within a specific timeframe.
- A comprehensive and coherent appraisal policy
- How client feedback is obtained and used in performance appraisals
- How the performance of consultants is assessed against the required competencies
- Who is assessing (position held /experience of assessor / assessor qualifications etc)
- Links between performance review, competencies and reward
- Consequences of failure to demonstrate the competences within a specific timeframe
Post-audit standards for the successful Accredited Practice.
Insert process diagram.
Certificate
The Practice is issued a certificate and the Accredited Practice logo. The Certificate may be publicly displayed at the business premises of the Practice and the Accredited Practicelogo may be displayed on the Practice’s stationery and promotional material.
Implement audited process
It is crucial to the successful development of the program in the Practice that the agreed processes are implemented immediately. In most cases they will already be operational but there may be some modifications resulting from the audit to be applied.
Application process
All consultants should be encouraged to join IMC USAas regular members of IMC USA as soon as possible. Those who are at the agreed standard within the internal development process should be invited to take up the CMC option.
Agreement
On award of Accredited Practice status the Practice agrees to develop an implementation plan. The plan includes targets for membership numbers over a three year period. The Practice also agrees to allow reasonable access for us to contact potential members within the Practice and agrees the potential means for that access.
- Related Documents
Cert1.0 CMC Eligibility Requirements
Cert 2.0CMC Certification Procedures
Cert 3.0CMC Examination Development and Revision