Marietta College’s Eric DeLong ’21 (Lowell, Ohio) and Logan Isner ’22 (Lowell, Ohio), who are both majoring in Public Accounting, are the recipients of the 2021 Certified Management Accountant (CMA) Scholarship offered by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA).
The scholarship covers all expenses related to earning the Certified Management Accountant professional credential — study materials and examination fees for the two-part CMA Examination.
This is the first year that Marietta College was invited to nominate students for the CMA Scholarship.
“I received an invitation to participate in the IMA Ohio Region Annual Academic Virtual Dinner in April,” said Grace Johnson, McCoy Professor of Management and Accounting. “At the event, I was asked to nominate high-achieving students for this scholarship. The next day I talked about this opportunity with my junior and senior majors, and Eric and Logan quickly responded and said they would be committed to preparing for and taking the examination.”
Covering 12 professional practice areas, passing the CMA Examination is the first step in becoming a CMA. The second step is to accrue two years of full-time work experience in one or more of the practice areas. The CMA designation is a globally recognized credential for accounting and finance professionals.
“I am excited for the opportunity to advance my career by being a credible professional and progress my knowledge in accounting and business acumen,” DeLong said. “I will be graduating from Marietta College in December 2021 in Public Accounting. After graduation and gaining two years of professional work experience in management accounting, I plan on taking the CMA exam. Obtaining the certification has been a goal of mine and the IMA scholarship offering study material will provide needed assistance in passing the rigorous exam.”
Isner expressed similar sentiments.
“I am blessed to receive this CMA Scholarship which allows me to pursue one of the three certificates I plan on obtaining throughout my career,” he said. “This opportunity is once-in-a-lifetime and allows me to get a head start on the CMA certificate before entering the workforce. I plan on giving full effort into studying during the summer and plan to take the exam before or soon after graduating.”
Johnson said she has a special affinity for the CMA certification, as it was the first professional credential she received while still a college student.
“Back in 1986, the state of Florida required 150 hours of college credit to be able to sit for the Uniform CPA Examination,” she said. “It would be a few more years before I reached that point, so I turned to preparing for the CMA Examination since you could sit for it with 120 hours of college credit — a bachelor’s degree.”
She passed the examination in 1988, and having worked full-time in accounting since 1983, was granted the CMA designation later that year.