Comparison · 14 material differences
CCIM Institute vs Financial Executives International
This comparison was generated on request from the records. It carries no editorial verdict and is not indexed. The published comparisons are listed on the compare page.
Read down each column for one organization, across a row for the difference. A bronze mark at the left of a cell means the organizations differ on that row. A dash or “not published” means the organization does not disclose the fact — it is not a zero.
Verified September 2026
Professional association
Verified September 2026 CCIM Institute
Commercial real estate practitioners — brokers, investors, asset managers, lenders, appraisers and developers — pursuing or holding the CCIM designation
Professional association
Financial Executives International
Senior corporate finance executives - CFOs, chief accounting officers, controllers, treasurers, tax executives and audit committee members
What the records say
- Role or title — CCIM Institute: No published role or title; Financial Executives International: Qualifying title: CFO, chief accounting officer, controller, treasurer, VP of finance, tax, risk management or planning and analysis, a director in those functions, or audit committee member.
- Minimum company revenue — CCIM Institute: No published minimum company revenue; Financial Executives International: Company must have at least $10 million in annual revenues (or meet an alternative size test).
- Minimum net worth — CCIM Institute: No published minimum net worth; Financial Executives International: Alternative company test: $2 million in net worth.
- Geographic restriction — CCIM Institute: No published geographic restriction; Financial Executives International: United States; members within 75 miles of a chapter must join that chapter.
- Annual dues — CCIM Institute: $695 a year; Financial Executives International: $399–499 a year.
Side by side
| CCIM Institute | Financial Executives International | |
|---|---|---|
| Profile | ||
| Type | Professional association | Professional association |
| Founded | 1967 (CCIM's own designation page states "Since 1967, more than 20,000 professionals have completed the CCIM Designation program"; its homepage says the Institute has operated for more than 56 years.) | 1931 (Founded as the Controllers Institute of America in 1931; renamed Financial Executives Institute in 1962 and Financial Executives International in 2000.) |
| Headquarters | Chicago, United States | Morristown, United States |
| Geographic footprint | Members in more than 30 countries; chapters across the United States plus Canada, Puerto Rico, Japan, Korea and Taiwan | United States: 56 local chapters listed on FEI's own chapter index, from Hawaii to Long Island |
| Members | 13,000as of September 2026 | 10,000as of September 2026 |
| Chapters | 59 | 56 |
| Primary audience | Commercial real estate practitioners — brokers, investors, asset managers, lenders, appraisers and developers — pursuing or holding the CCIM designation | Senior corporate finance executives - CFOs, chief accounting officers, controllers, treasurers, tax executives and audit committee members |
| Typical member | Members are working commercial real estate practitioners rather than a wealth or seniority cohort. Candidate members are practitioners studying for the designation; designees have completed the curriculum, submitted a portfolio of qualifying experience and passed a comprehensive exam. | Members hold policy-making finance roles at companies across every major industry, from Fortune 500 businesses to mid-sized enterprises. Eligibility requires both a qualifying title and a company that clears a size test. |
| Qualification | ||
| Role or title | No published role or title | Qualifying title: CFO, chief accounting officer, controller, treasurer, VP of finance, tax, risk management or planning and analysis, a director in those functions, or audit committee memberFEI describes membership as "exclusive to senior-level financial executives".verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Minimum company revenue | No published minimum company revenue | Company must have at least $10 million in annual revenues (or meet an alternative size test)Alternative tests are $2 million in net worth or $6 million in capital (combined net worth and long-term debt).verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Minimum net worth | No published minimum net worth | Alternative company test: $2 million in net worthThis is a company balance-sheet test, not a personal net-worth test.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Geographic restriction | No published geographic restriction | United States; members within 75 miles of a chapter must join that chapterverified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Industry restriction | Candidate membership is open to commercial real estate practitioners; no prior designation or advanced degree is requiredPractitioners who are not pursuing the designation may also join in order to take courses.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | No published industry restriction |
| Invitation required | No | No |
| Sponsor required | No | No |
| Application process | Practitioners join online as candidate members and pay annual dues, then work through the designation curriculum at their own pace. Applications for the special designee categories — life membership, retirement, leave of absence — are reviewed twice a year, with a spring deadline of 27 March 2026 for the current cycle. | Candidates complete an online membership application on the FEI site, which checks the qualifying title and company size test and presents chapter options and rates. Chapter membership is required for those within 75 miles of a chapter. No sponsor or nomination is needed. |
| Selectivity | Not publicly disclosed as an acceptance rate. Membership itself is open; the filter is the designation, which requires curriculum completion, a qualifying-experience portfolio and a comprehensive exam. | No acceptance rate is published. Selectivity operates through the published title and company-size tests and the exclusion of service providers and start-ups. |
| Cost | ||
| Annual dues | $695 a yearCandidate membership, United States. Dues prorate in the shopping cart for members joining after 31 January.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | $399–499 a year"FEI membership dues are $399 for first year and $499 for subsequent years for all categories of membership" per the FEI Kansas City chapter. Other FEI chapter sites quote $309 a year for national dues, so the published figure varies by page.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Initiation fee | Candidate dues are published; the standard designee rate is not. Course fees for the designation curriculum are separate from membership dues. | Not publicly disclosed; no joining fee separate from first-year dues is published.verified September 2026 |
| Local chapter dues | Not publicly disclosed; chapter dues are not listed on the national membership pages.verified September 2026 | $75–468 a yearChapter dues are additional and vary by location: FEI Boston publishes $75 a year, FEI Northeast Ohio waives local dues in the first year, and FEI Sacramento lists $468 a year for executive, academic, in-transition and government/military categories, $399 for entrepreneur and $349 for retired. The Sacramento figures may be all-in rather than chapter-only.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Programme fee | Not recorded here. The designation curriculum is priced separately from dues under CCIM's "Designation Program: Time & Cost" schedule, which was not read for this record.verified September 2026 | National dues plus a chapter component. FEI's own national dues and membership-category pages sit behind bot protection and could not be read; the amounts recorded come from official FEI chapter sites and disagree with one another. |
| Membership term | Calendar year, with dues prorated for members joining after 31 January | Annual |
| Structure | ||
| Meeting frequency | Chapter events year-round plus national Spring and Fall Forums | Local chapter meetings through the year plus national conferences, webinars and CPE-bearing courses |
| Peer forums | Local chapters organised across 13 regions; no confidential facilitated peer forum is published | No standing facilitated peer forum. FEI operates chapters, technical committees and special-interest programming rather than closed advisory groups |
| Confidentiality | Not publicly disclosed; CCIM publishes a Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice | No published forum confidentiality rule; FEI is a professional association with open programming and a member code of conduct |
| Time commitment | Not documented | Not documented |
| Organized as | Chapter-based, Cohort-based, Event-focused | Chapter-based, Event-focused |
| Confidential peer forums | Partial | Partial |
| Local chapters | Yes | Yes |
| Virtual membership | Partial | Partial |
| Online community | Partial | Partial |
| Member directory | Yes | Yes |
| Events | Yes | Yes |
| Programming | ||
| Educational programming | Yes | Yes |
| Leadership development | Yes | Yes |
| Retreats | No | No |
| Travel | No | No |
| Family programming | No | No |
| Spouse and partner programming | Not documented | No |
| Next-generation programming | Partial | No |
| Investment discussions | Yes | No |
| Investment opportunities | Partial | No |
| Philanthropic component | No | Partial |
| Networking emphasis | High | High |
| Social emphasis | Low | Low |
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Sources
Drawn from the sources listed on each page: CCIM Institute · Financial Executives International