CBA, CBF and CCE Exam review classes may be offered. (The review class is not part of the course requirements.) The recommended textbook for a general review course is Credit Management: Principles and Practices by Dr. Charles L. Gahala, CCE. Please be sure that any review class instructors follow the current exam study guides. For those locations unable to provide review courses, NACM’s online Credit Learning Center offers CBA, CBF and CCE exam review sessions. Formal review sessions are also offered at the annual Credit Congress.

A study outline has been developed for the CBA, CBF and CCE exams. Because the content of the exams change and some candidates delay taking exams, these outlines were developed to ensure that exam candidates are aware of the general content.

Study outlines are available. Members are encouraged to obtain the most recent copy of a study outline. If you conduct exam review sessions, we also encourage you to ask your teachers/speakers to follow these outlines.

The professional designation exams are administered four times a year: three times at local Affiliated Associations and once at the NACM Credit Congress. Upcoming exam dates are available for reference.

Prior to each test date, the Education Department will forward a list of approved candidates for the upcoming test date. We appreciate you taking the time to review the list carefully.

We ask members to make appointments with you to take the exam on the test date they have chosen. However, if a candidate contacts us with special circumstances, such as living a great distance from their Affiliate or being unable to leave the office, they may request to take their designation exam at an approved, alternate location. Approved alternate locations include their company’s human resources office, a college testing center or their CAP/ACAP instructor’s company with the instructor acting as proctor.

Exams are available in an online format and must be proctored. You should receive your proctor instructions by email the Thursday before the exam date.

The testing candidates should be monitored. No texts, notes or reference materials are allowed into the test room. Candidates may use pens, pencils and calculators. We recommend that the testing candidates be given a quiet place in which to take the exam. Candidates may not speak to anyone other than the proctor during the exam. Candidates may not leave the testing room for any purpose other than to use the restroom or get a drink of water; only a reasonable absence from the testing room is allowed, i.e. five to ten minutes; no exam materials may be taken from the room at any time.

Exams may not be taken on any day other than the nationally scheduled test date.

The content of all three exams (the CBA, the CBF and the CCE) is subject to change. Sometimes, only some questions are rotated off while at other times, the entire exam is changed. This is done to maintain the integrity of the exams.

The CBA test questions are taken from the following textbooks:

• Accounting by Warren, Reeve, and Duchac
• Understanding Financial Statements by Fraser and Ormiston
• Principles of Business Credit

The format of the test is a mix of true/false and multiple choice questions and may include accounting or ratio problems.

The CBF exam questions are drawn from Business Law Today by Miller.

The CCE exam is a broad-based application exam. The best way to prepare for this exam is to thoroughly review the Principles of Business Credit book or the Credit Management: Principles and Practices book by Dr. Charles Gahala, CCE.

CBF and CBA exam candidates are notified of their test results within 5 days following a test date. CCE exam candidates receive their test results approximately 7 to 10 days from the test dates. All grades are pass or fail; numeric scores are not released. This policy was adopted to minimize competition among test candidates. Exam results are not released over the telephone, nor can they be released to anyone other than the test taker. The exams themselves are also not released to ensure the integrity of the exam.

• We will have to keep updating texts because new editions are released by the publishers.
• All instructors must complete an application to be approved. Applications must be sent to the Education Services Department for approval.
• We must use standardized course evaluation forms. The students must complete a standard course evaluation form and the instructor must complete a standard course evaluation form. All forms must be sent to the Education Services Department to be maintained on file.
• End of course grade rosters must be sent to the Education Services Department.
• We must use standardized course syllabi.
• We must offer standardized exams for each course.
• We must have a formal agreement with each Affiliated Association for the program.

All new instructors brought on to teach either the CAP or ACAP program must complete the Instructor Application, available in the Instructor’s Materials via the link provided to the affiliate Education Representatives or in the NIC Guidelines. The application must be returned to the Education Department for review. All incoming instructors must have (at a minimum) a bachelor’s degree, significant industry experience, and 2-3 years teaching experience. A CCE designation is preferred. Instructors who do not meet these minimum requirements will have to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Please be sure to submit an instructor application to the Education Department at least 30 days prior to admitting a new instructor to your program.

A standardized course syllabus has been provided for each CAP and ACAP course. These must be used with your in-house programs, though they may be customized with information such as exact course dates. Additionally, standardized course descriptions are included that you can use in your promotional materials.

Each instructor and each student should complete an evaluation form, which may be found with the Instructor Materials.

Completed forms must be sent to the Education Department within 10 days of the conclusion of each course and maintained in our files.

A master grade report for each course must be filed with the Education Department within 20 days of the completion of a course. The end of course grade report should include the student’s name, title, company and address, the course name and the student’s birth month and day. These grade reports will be maintained at the National Headquarters office.

If you are offering CAP and ACAP courses in-house, you must use the textbooks listed in each course syllabus. Course participants must purchase copies of the books. You can either include the price of books in your course fee or have the participants purchase the books in addition to the course fee. If your course is offered through a community college, other similar texts may be acceptable. Please check with us before using an alternate text. Exam questions are drawn from the texts listed.

While pricing is a matter left to each Affiliated Association course sponsor, the average rate charged per course is around $300, plus the cost of books. We recommend that you investigate the cost of community college courses, which are priced per credit hour.

Textbooks can be purchased through the NACM Bookstore. Because the prices of the textbook are subject to change by the publisher, often without notice, please call the NACM Bookstore to double check the prices before publishing any pricing information. You can contact the NACM Bookstore at 410.740.5560.

Textbooks can be returned within 30 days of purchase provided that they are in mint condition. The return policy should assist you in preparing for your CAP and ACAP programs; you can order an approximate quantity of books and return the unused copies to us for credit once your classes begin. We recommend that you place your book orders early. That way, if our inventory is low, we will be able to order additional books and fill your order prior to the start of your classes.

For your information, here’s some textbook talk:
As a general rule, an annotated instructor’s edition is a regular textbook with notes printed in the margins, designed to assist the instructor. The instructor needs only the annotated version of the textbook.

An instructor’s manual is a supplement to a text; the instructor needs the textbook to accompany the manual.

As a general rule, publishing companies issue a new edition of a textbook every two years. Remember, we must update all of the NACM-created material that accompanies a book each time a new edition is released.

Please call the NACM Bookstore for current prices on all books.