When David Corless took the CMA® (Certified Management Accountant) exam earlier this year, he was fortunate. As a student at Brigham Young University (BYU) completing his Master’s degree in accounting, he had been awarded a CMA Scholarship and received a number of benefits to make preparing for the exam that much easier. What he didn’t expect was that he’d also earn an outstanding test score.
Corless heard about the CMA certification during his junior year at BYU, which is now one of the schools endorsed by IMA’s Higher Education Endorsement Program.
He explained, “The Big 4 recruits heavily on campus, and I knew that I didn’t want to devote my career to auditing and tax. When my accounting professor first spoke about IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) and the CMA certification, I was immediately interested because I had always been looking for a career focused more on decision support and financial analysis.”
During that same year, Corless and a small group of students helped start a student chapter at BYU. They enlisted the assistance of professors Bill Tayler and Steve Smith to serve as faculty advisors. The chapter proved to be a success, with typically about 60 to 70 students attending meetings, during which Corless and the other officers secured several prominent, local and international companies to speak to the group. Corless was also on the chapter’s team that won the IMA Student Case Competition last year.
“We became a very committed chapter that is still going strong. The meetings turned out to be a great way for students to learn more about management accounting as well as to hear about different job opportunities throughout the country. We also sponsored informational sessions about internships, interviewing techniques, and much more,” said Corless, who served as the chapter’s first president.
Shortly after the chapter was formed, Monte Swain, Ph.D., who teaches CMA prep courses, held an informational session for students led by Lisa Beaudoin, CMA, director of IMA educational partnerships. That information session sparked Corless’s interest in taking the exam, and so when Swain asked who might be interested in being recommended for the CMA Scholarship Program, Corless volunteered.
Under its CMA Scholarship Program, IMA awards scholarships to students (both in the U.S. and internationally) who are in the top 3% of their class and enrolled in an accredited undergraduate accounting or business program or an accredited Master’s-level accounting or business program. All scholarships are awarded based on faculty nomination.
Corless took part 1 of the exam in January 2015 and part 2 in February. Since he was just about to complete his graduate studies, Corless was well prepared for the exam and admitted that he didn’t spend an excessive amount of time studying. Not only did he pass, but he earned a score of 88%, which also earned him a CMA Certificate of Distinguished Performance (see related story in this issue about all exam medal winners).
This past April, Corless graduated with his MAcc degree and, shortly thereafter, began working as a financial analyst for Qualtrics, an industry-leading provider of online survey software based in Provo, Utah.
“My interest in IMA and the CMA definitely was one of the factors that helped me secure this position,” Corless reports. “I’m looking forward to helping bring value to my organization and to seeing how the certification can help me as I progress in my career.”
For more information about the CMA program, please visit IMA's website www.imanet.org/cma.
_
Writer: IMA Press Release
