Credit Business Associate (United States)

The Credit Business Associate (CBA) is a professional designation for a credit manager. This designation was created by the National Association of Credit Management, a nonprofit organization based in Columbia, MD (USA) that promotes standards for the business-to-business credit profession, serving as an advocate in addition to providing education and services.

The CBA is an academic-based designation that signifies mastery of three business credit-related disciplines: basic financial accounting, business credit principles and introductory financial statement analysis. The coursework needed to qualify for this designation can be obtained through colleges, local NACM Affiliate programs, self-study or nationally-sponsored programs. There are two plans from which to choose to achieve this designation, Plan A or Plan B.

Ways to Achieve a CBA Certification

CBA: Plan A Plan A is best suited for those who wish to complete the required courses at a college, through self-study, at an NACM nationally-sponsored program or who already have a college degree. CBA-Plan A applicants must show evidence of having successfully completed (with a C average or better for each course) the following three courses:

The Basic Financial Accounting course can be fulfilled three ways:

  1. College: Either one full semester of college financial accounting or two quarters of financial accounting.
  2. Online Self-Study: NACM-National offers an online self-study accounting course. The online accounting course is an appropriate method of study for those with some accounting experience or a basic working knowledge of accounting. This method of study is not recommended to those with little or no accounting experience.
  3. Credit Administration Program (CAP): Successfully completing the NACM Affiliate-sponsored course, Basic Financial Accounting.

The Financial Statement Analysis 1 (FSA1) course can be completed four ways:

  1. College: Either one full semester or two quarters of college financial statement analysis.
  2. Self-Study: NACM-National offers an independent study course through its Credit Learning Center.
  3. FSA1 Certificate Session: A six-day course offered onsite at NACM-National. To earn course equivalency, all parts of the course must be attended in addition to a passing grade on the required exam given on the last day of the course.
  4. CAP: Successfully completing the NACM Affiliate sponsored course, FSA1, will fulfill this requirement. See CAP below.

The Business Credit Principles (BCP) course can be completed three ways:

  1. Self-Study: NACM-National offers an independent study course through its Credit Learning Center.
  2. BCP Certificate Session: A five-day course offered onsite at NACM-National. To earn course equivalency, all parts of the course must be attended in addition to a passing grade on the required exam given on the last day of the course.
  3. CAP: Successfully completing the NACM Affiliate sponsored course, BCP. See CAP below.

CBA: Plan B (CAP) Many NACM Affiliated Associations sponsor the Credit Administration Program (CAP), which is a series of courses designed to prepare candidates for the CBA exam. Similar to plan A, CAP comprises

The local CAP sponsor furnishes student the end-of-course grades, grade transcripts or certificates of completion.

Basic Financial Accounting topics include:

Financial Statement Analysis 1 course outline:

Course Outline:

Chapter 1: Financial Overview

Chapter 2: Balance Sheet

Chapter 3: Income Statement

Chapter 4: Statement of Cash Flows

Chapter 5: Guide to Earnings and Financial Reporting

Chapter 6: The Analysis of Financial Statements

Business Credit Principles topics include:

External links