The Effects of the IMA Endorsed School Program on Student's Perceptions about Management Accountin

Students, upon graduating with a degree in accounting, are not as aware of the career opportunities available to them in the field of management accounting as compared to the career opportunities available to them in public accounting. This is true even though 80% of individuals employed as accountants within the United States (U.S.) do not work at Certified Public Accounting (CPA) firms, but rather work inside organizations as internal accountants, often as Certified Managerial Accountants (CMA's). This problem has negatively impacted accounting graduates as they enter the work-force because their perception may be that they can only get a job at a CPA firm upon graduating with an accounting degree or that they must obtain CPA licensure in order to have a successful career in accounting. In an effort to promote more awareness of careers in management accounting, the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), which oversees the CMA exam, has developed a program entitled the Higher Education Endorsement. Universities can qualify for this endorsement by demonstrating that they meet curriculum requirements that teach and prepare students for careers in management accounting. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological research study was to explore the lived experiences of ten accounting students, who attend an IMA endorsed university, in regards to their perceptions of managerial accounting and what they perceive as the potential career opportunities available to them in managerial accounting in light of the new endorsement program that the IMA has recently instituted. This phenomenological qualitative research study focused on ten students who are majoring in accounting and attending an IMA endorsed university located in the Southwestern part of the U.S. Data was obtained through in-depth interviews with accounting students in an effort to ascertain the lived experiences of these students that are associated with an IMA endorsed school.