Saudi CMA CME-5 (5A and 5B): corporate finance exams, fees

What CME-5 is

CME-5 is the corporate finance qualification in the Saudi CMA's Capital Market Examinations, the qualification exams the Capital Market Authority (CMA) requires before it registers someone as a corporate finance professional. The CMA sets the requirement and registers people; the Financial Academy (FA) runs the exams; CISI (the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment) provides the A paper and works with the FA on the B paper (CMA CME page; FA FAQ). The FA's pages say both papers must be passed for the certificate (FA CME-5B page).

English names from the CMA's announcement of the series; Arabic names from the CMA's Arabic guide. CME-5A is CISI's Corporate Finance Technical Foundations, part of its Certificate in Corporate Finance. The CMA had approved it before the current series, and it carried over (CMA Qualification Examinations Guide).

Who needs CME-5

The CMA requires CME-5A and 5B for corporate finance professionals (CMA announcement, 7 November 2022; CMA CME page; CMA Qualification Examinations Guide). The FA's pages apply them to everyone to be registered as a corporate finance specialist (FA CME-5A page). Other roles: which CME do I need.

Neither paper needs a prior certificate or an academic qualification, so CME-1 isn't required first (FA CME-5A page; FA CME-5B page). Holders of a CME certificate from before February 2023 can still register (CMA CME page).

In practice: anyone registered for more than one function, such as corporate finance and advising, needs the exams for each. Under the exams in use before February 2023, the Financial Academy's page on the old CME-1 still describes an exemption from its Part 2 for Part 1 holders with CFA Level I who were registering for CME-4 or CME-5, which suggests that corporate finance registrants under the old series also sat the old CME-1. Check with your firm's compliance officer.

Format, pass mark and fees

CME-5A has 50 questions in an hour and CME-5B 25 questions in 30 minutes, with pass marks of 35 (70%) and 17 (68%) and fees of SAR 1,950 and SAR 1,700.

A first attempt at both papers costs SAR 3,650. Fees can be reclaimed on HRDF's Hadaf platform only once both papers are passed; claim with the tax invoice, not the preliminary invoice (FA FAQ). Booking steps are on the booking page.

Not published: The FA's exam pages give pass marks as raw points, with no question counts; the counts above come from the Examination Specification in each paper's workbook. No official page says either paper is multiple choice, though every practice question in both workbooks is. Whether fees include VAT isn't stated. No expiry date, continuing-education requirement or time limit for passing the second paper is published (FA exam policy, CISI rules).

Official pages disagree: The fee table in the CMA's Qualification Examinations Guide is older than the FA's exam pages. Go by the FA pages.

Chapters and their share of the exam

Each workbook's Examination Specification sets how many questions come from each chapter, and the FA's exam pages (5A; 5B) give the same split as percentages. A chapter's count can move by up to two questions from one paper to the next. The chapter names are the workbooks' own.

5A is international and quantitative: accounts, free cash flow, capital structure and valuation make up most of it. 5B is four CMA rulebooks.

Which rule versions CME-5B tests

The FA publishes no rule on which version of a regulation is examinable (FA exam policy, CISI rules). The latest CMA texts carry these amendments on their covers:

The 5B workbook, first published in October 2022, describes the offer rules as last amended in September 2021, the special purposes entities rules as approved in December 2017 and in force from 1 April 2018, and the Merger and Acquisition Regulations as last amended in 2018. The offer rules and the special purposes entities rules have both been amended since. Study those chapters from the current CMA texts as well as the workbook. The CMA also amended the Companies Law Implementing Regulation for listed joint stock companies on 30 March 2026 (Resolution 3-44-2026); it isn't a named 5B chapter. Dated changes are on what's changed.

Not published: what the January 2026 amendment to the offer rules and the September 2025 amendment to the special purposes entities rules changed; neither appears in the CMA announcements this guide has checked.

Study material and editions

Each FA exam page links free official study material in Arabic and English. Under the FA's policy, moving to a date covered by newer material makes it a new exam, with the new material (FA exam policy, CISI rules), so study the edition linked for your booked date.

• CME-5A in English: the FA links CISI's Corporate Finance Technical Foundations Edition 16 (February 2026, workbook version 16.1), syllabus version 21, for exams from 11 April 2026 to 10 April 2027 (FA workbook).
• CME-5B: the FA links Edition 1, workbook version 1.10 (August 2026), for exams from 1 February 2023 to 31 December 2026 (FA workbook).
• Practice questions: each workbook ends with a practice set the size of the real paper, 50 for 5A and 25 for 5B. The workbooks say these are for revision and don't necessarily match the exam's standard.

Not published: when the next 5B workbook is due. The current one covers exams only to 31 December 2026, and the English 5A edition's window closes on 10 April 2027, so check the FA page before you book a 2027 date. The Arabic 5A edition and its window are not yet checked.

Opening Bell's practice questions and timed mocks follow these formats.