An agreement, the first of its kind, has been sealed between the World Bank and one of the UK's accountancy institutes to train finance and accounting employees as part of its professional accountancy qualification. The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants is the first of the UK accountancy bodies to strike such a deal with a US based organisation, which will see the World Bank's employees become CIMA qualified on undertaking the Quality Training Partner agreement. The agreement is with the bank's resource management function, which is home to its financial and management accounting role. Previous links with UK institutes have not included the training of staff in a professional qualification in the bank's headquarters. The institute said the agreement builds on its previous work with the World Bank, including in Bangladesh. CIMA's chief executive Charles Tilley said the CIMA qualification will give the 'relevant people in resource management the broad-based business and above all strategic focus that is so essential in the bank's work in more than 100 countries'. Fayezul Choudhury, vice president of corporate finance and risk at the World Bank said: 'The Quality Training Partner initiative complements a wider effort in further strengthening competencies in the resource management community and will serve as a useful benchmark in ensuring that our trainees will be equipped with cutting edge management accounting skills and knowledge'.