The Council of International Management Standards (CIMS) was created in the year 2001 in USA and was incorporated in 2004 as a non-profit organization according to American law. CIMS is dedicated to providing accreditation services to certification bodies, training institutes, training programmes and to standard developers.

CIMS is an accreditation body that assess, against international standards like ISO, organizations providing certification, training or those developing standards. CIMS also accredits training programs and personnel. Many accreditation bodies operate within their own countries and the services are not offered outside of their territory. CIMS is the sole accreditation body that provides accreditation services within and outside of the United States.

There are numerous certification bodies offering certification programs practically everywhere in the world. Due to lack of accreditation system in most countries, customers face a serious risk when studying such programs. CIMS accreditation means that the certification body and the programs have successfully met the requirements of international accreditation standards. Accreditation by CIMS demonstrates competence, impartiality and performance capability of the certification bodies to the customers.