The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCKT) today announced the first ever formal career development program for the Global Business Services (GBS) and Shared Services sector. This follows the announcement of a strategic collaboration between both companies earlier this year. To further their collaboration and support of the GBS sector, CIMA and The Hackett Group are formalizing their partnership with the creation of a new professional body, the Association of Certified Global Business Services Professionals.

Building on the jointly-branded Global Business Services qualification launched in April, the program will introduce two new levels over the next year, each with a qualification and corresponding designation. At each level, the newly-developed syllabus teaches the skills and competencies required by employers to achieve the highest standards of excellence. The three tiers will now be: the Certificate in Global Business Services (CGBS), available now, replacing the Global Business Services qualification; the Diploma in Global Business Services (DGBS) available in the summer of 2016, designed for those at a managerial level; and the Advanced Diploma in Global Business Services (ADGBS) available in the spring of 2016, for those at an executive level.

Participants in these programs will also have access to a new knowledge center, offering access to material such as case studies, frameworks, and performance metrics from The Hackett Group, CIMA, and other organizations. The knowledge center is designed to support participants through exams and life-long learning, with additional material unlocked as individuals complete certification at each level.

Ted Fernandez, Chairman and CEO of The Hackett Group, said: "The GBS world is changing rapidly, moving beyond a focus on single functions and transactional work to offer an integrated approach to business services, and a focus on more knowledge-centric skills such as strategic thinking and analysis, data modelling, people management, and change management. Our new program is designed to help support that evolution, enabling GBS leaders to equip their staff with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.

“These training programs provide value in a diverse array of ways,” said Mr. Fernandez. “For GBS leaders, our training and certification offerings provide ammunition that can help them convince senior management that they are ready to take on more complex processes and more responsibility. These programs are also an excellent way for GBS organizations to recognize top performers, and improve retention of key staff. For GBS staff, this represents an exceptional opportunity for development, and to improve career mobility. Finally, our programs are an excellent way for outsourcers to differentiate themselves from the competition.”

Charles Tilley FCMA, CGMA, Chief Executive of CIMA said: "As the world’s largest and leading professional body of management accountants, CIMA supports members and students in 179 countries through our intensive and rigorous training, practical education and continuing professional development services. We are proud to be applying our expertise now to the GBS sector. GBS professionals need to have the right competencies and insight to provide the kind of sophisticated, strategic service that the sector is evolving towards. We have helped boards and management teams around the world bring together the information they need to inform strategy formation and execution and we will be supporting GBS organizations as they seek to do the same.

“Until now, GBS organizations and their employees have been unable to reach their full potential due to a lack of dedicated training. With this new stage in CIMA’s partnership with The Hackett Group, we are responding to this clear need. As the first and only organizations to deliver long-term education to the sector, we will help GBS professionals to attain and maintain world-class performance levels and ultimately, better enable and support the strategies of the businesses they serve."

To coincide with the launch of the lifelong learning program, The Hackett Group is making available for download on a complimentary basis, with registration, its most recent GBS research piece: “World-Class Global Business Services and the Talent Imperative” (http://www.thehackettgroup.com/research/2015/pr/talent-imperative/).

The Hackett Group’s research shows that world-class GBS organizations offer managers and clerical staff nearly three times the training hours of typical companies. Professionals are offered nearly twice the training hours.

The research also shows that the GBS evolution is accelerating. For the first time ever, half of all GBS organizations have moved beyond single-function centers, to establish multi-function centers that incorporate knowledge centers of excellence, enterprise standards, and a service value focus. But less than 10 percent of all GBS organizations have completed the evolution to create fully integrated services environments with an end-to-end process orientation and a comprehensive service catalogue.

For more information on the career development program, please visit http://www.cimaglobal.com/gbs.

About the Association of Certified Global Business Services Professionals

The Association of Certified Global Business Services Professionals is a collaboration between The Hackett Group and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). This unique partnership combines CIMA's certificated global professional development program capabilities with The Hackett Group's global business services (GBS) best practice intellectual property. The organization brings to market the first comprehensive talent management and professional development qualification program specifically tailored for GBS and shared services professionals. By working together, The Hackett Group and CIMA are addressing the need for GBS and shared services organizations to provide clear, consistent and structured talent development programs based on best practices to grow the professional skills and knowledge needed to achieve and maintain world-class performance standards.

About CIMA

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), founded in 1919, is the world’s leading and largest professional body of management accountants, with over 227,000 members and students operating in 179 countries, working at the heart of business. CIMA members and students work in industry, commerce, the public sector and not-for-profit organizations. CIMA works closely with employers and sponsors leading-edge research, constantly updating its qualification, professional experience requirements and continuing professional development to ensure it remains the employers’ choice when recruiting financially-trained business leaders.

Professionalism and ethics are at the core of CIMA’s activities with every member and student bound by robust standards so that integrity, expertise and vision are brought together.

CIMA has formed a joint venture with the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) to establish the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation. CGMA is the global quality standard that further elevates the profession of management accounting. The designation recognizes the most talented and committed management accountants with the discipline and skill to drive strong business performance.

CIMA is proud to be the first professional accounting body to offer a truly global product in the fast-moving area of Islamic Finance. CIMA also offers a Global Business Services qualification, in conjunction with The Hackett Group, the first and only global professional qualification in the shared services and outsourcing arena.

For more information about CIMA, please visit www.cimaglobal.com.

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About The Hackett Group

The Hackett Group (NASDAQ: HCKT) is an intellectual property-based strategic consultancy and leading enterprise benchmarking and best practices implementation firm to global companies. Services include business transformation, enterprise performance management, working capital management, and global business services. The Hackett Group also provides dedicated expertise in business strategy, operations, finance, human capital management, strategic sourcing, procurement, and information technology, including its award-winning Oracle EPM and SAP practices.

The Hackett Group has completed more than 11,000 benchmarking studies with major corporations and government agencies, including 93% of the Dow Jones Industrials, 86% of the Fortune 100, 87% of the DAX 30 and 51% of the FTSE 100. These studies drive its Best Practice Intelligence Center™ which includes the firm's benchmarking metrics, best practices repository, and best practice configuration guides and process flows, which enable The Hackett Group’s clients and partners to achieve world-class performance.

More information on The Hackett Group is available at: www.thehackettgroup.com, info@thehackettgroup.com, or by calling (770) 225-3600.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause The Hackett Group's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that impact such forward-looking statements include, among others, the ability of the products, services, or offerings mentioned in this release to deliver the desired effect as well as other risks detailed in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recent fiscal year filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Hackett Group, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.