Recertification is an ongoing process designed to promote and demonstrate continued competency in the community association management profession. This competency can be demonstrated through participation in continuing education in the field of community association management by participation in at least 16 hours of continuing education coursework every two years.
Recertification also provides the opportunity for you to reaffirm your commitment to the CMCA Standards of Professional Conduct to your community associations, your employers, your peers, and the millions of people living in community associations.
Recertification allows professional managers to distinguish themselves as an accomplished professional committed to development of your skills and knowledge.
As a CMCA you can continue to enhance your marketability, show your dedication to your profession, and provide top-notch guidance to your associations by continuing your education and maintaining your certification.
When to recertify
You must recertify every two years to keep the CMCA certification current.
- Managers are placed in either an April 1 or an October 1 recertification cycle when they become certified.
- Managers must pay an annual service fee of $105 by either April 1 or October 1 each year.
- Check your recertification date
Rationale for Recertification Interval
The NBC-CAM Board determined the interval for recertification to be two-years. The rationale for the recertification interval is listed below:
- Community association management is a dynamic profession with best practices and laws affecting the profession changing regularly. The laws that affect community association management and operations may change each year during state legislative sessions. In our research, we have found that it is reasonable to expect certified professionals to obtain information through continuing education opportunities about the changes in the laws and best practices every two years.
- The interval has to be long enough to allow the certified professionals to earn the appropriate credits but short enough to keep the certified professionals motivated to engage in education and training.
- The determination was also based on recommendations to move towards best practice which would require routine annual continued education participation annually in attempts to help certified professionals avoid long periods of education inactivity.
Recertification Guidelines
To recertify and retain the CMCA credential, a certificant must:
- Continue to practice community association management
- Complete and submit the Recertification Application (PDF, 155 KB)
- Satisfy the continuing education requirements
Professional Development
Professional Development refers to skills and knowledge attained for personal development and career advancement. For CMCA recertification purposes, professional development encompasses a variety of facilitated learning opportunities, ranging from college degrees and coursework, conferences, professional coaching, communities workshops, seminars, symposiums, and webinars. Examples of professional development courses are community association management operations, administration, and legal requirements. In addition, courses may include accounting, human resources, and public administration. Continuing education courses must be listed on the documentation worksheet required for recertification and each recertification application and accompanying documentation form will be evaluated to ensure that the course is relevant to the continuing education of a community association manager and that it will enhance the knowledge and/or skills of a community association manager.
Recertification requires the completion of 16 hours of continuing education within your two-year certification period. For example, a manager who was certified in September 2007, will need 16 hours of continuing education from October 2007 to October 2009.
Any individual who meets the continuing education requirements to maintain CAI's Association Management Specialist (AMS) (PDF, 169 KB) or Professional Community Association Manager (PCAM) (PDF, 238 KB) designations or the National Association of Housing Cooperative's (NAHC) Registered Cooperative Manager (RCM) designation, Florida's Community Association Manager license (CAM), or Nevada's Community Association Manager certificate will satisfy the current NBC-CAM continuing education requirement.
- Credit hours may be earned only for education that meets either of the following criteria:
- It pertains to community association operations or management
- It contributes to the professional development of the certificant
- Educational courses offered by the following course providers are approved:
- One half of the continuing education credits may be obtained through in-house training courses. Other ways to earn credits include:
- Local law seminars and local college or university courses pertaining to accounting, business practices, computers, or foreign language.
- Courses related to buying and selling real estate are not acceptable.
- One hour of credit equals one hour attended.
- Self-study credit must be pre-approved by NBC-CAM and is limited to no more than four hours every two years.
- Teaching a course related to community association management can qualify for credit.
- Publishing an article in a regional or national community association publication may qualify for credit.
Please read the information about additional state-specific requirements.
The certificant is responsible for monitoring continuing education status and maintaining the necessary records to substantiate satisfactory compliance with the recertification program.
NBC-CAM requires certificants to provide documentation of continuing education with recertification. This policy went into effect in October 2006. The certificant is required to submit a completed recertification along with proof of continuing education.
Acceptable forms of documentation are:
- Completed form provided by NBC-CAM noting specifics about the continuing education.
- Certificates of attendance/completion
- Agendas
- Transcripts
- Sign-in sheets
- Invitation or acknowledgement for presentation
- Course outlines
- Copies of articles (for those who author articles)
Download the convenient continuing education tracking form (MS Word, 44 KB) that will assist you in tracking your continuing education. Remember to keep a copy of this handy and fill it out throughout the year as you attend or participate in continuing education programs.
Reinstatement
If your certification is inactive and you wish to have it re-activated, you must complete the reinstatement process. In order to re-instate your CMCA, you must complete the reinstatement application (PDF, 221 KB) and submit it along with the non-refundable $200 reinstatement application fee. Your certification status must not have been expired for more than a period of five years. You must have continued to comply with the Standards of Professional Conduct while inactive. Finally, you must verify that you have not represented yourself as a CMCA since the termination of your certification.
Once the application is approved, you will have a period of one year to complete 16 hours of continuing education. When the first year of reinstatement has been completed, your recertification will be placed into the normal two-year renewal cycle.
If your certification status has been inactive for more than five years, you will be required to reapply for the CMCA certification program.
To reinstate, please download the application (PDF, 221 KB). Once completed, please attach payment and send it to NBC-CAM.
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