Jodi Ryan, IMA director of student and academic relations, eagerly awaits guests at the IMA booth during AAA.

More than 3,000 educators from around the globe gathered in San Diego, Calif., on August 5, 2017 for the American Accounting Association (AAA) Annual meeting. The meeting offered an excellent opportunity for IMA^® (Institute of Management Accountants) to share information about its resources for students and educators.

As is tradition, IMA had an exhibit booth which showcased important programs and initiatives, including CMA Scholarships and the new innovative textbook “Management Accounting – An Integrative Approach.” Ken Merchant, Ph.D., one of the book’s authors, participated in a Meet and Greet to answer questions from faculty who had general questions or who are considering adopting the book for the Fall semester.

IMA also hosted its annual breakfast on Tuesday, August 8 to share positive news about the rising membership trends and interest in the CMA. Alex Eng, IMA’s chair, delivered part of the breakfast address and gave out special CMA t-shirts to the earliest- and most recently certified CMAs in attendance. The CMA commercials created as part of a student video competition were also shown and generated strong buzz among the audience who asked to get copies to share in class.

Additionally, in conjunction with the AAA Management Accounting Section (MAS), IMA annually sponsors two prestigious awards – the Jim Bulloch Award for Innovations in Management Accounting Education and the Management Accounting Section - Dissertation Award. The awards were handed out at the MAS Luncheon on Monday, August 7 to Poh-Sun Seow and Suay-Peng Wong of Singapore Management University and Shelly Xin Li of the University of Southern California (completed at Harvard University), respectively.

“This meeting once again provided IMA with an opportunity to inform and remind the academic community about the various programs we have available to support their research and teaching efforts,” said Raef Lawson, Ph.D., CMA, CPA, CFA, IMA vice president of research & policy and professor-in-residence. “Through this meeting, we reached a wide variety of educators from across the world, many of whom are very familiar with IMA and some of whom are just getting to know our organization. It has been encouraging to witness how recognition of IMA has grown over the years and to see how our support of the academic community is yielding very positive results.”

For more information about IMA’s education related programs, please visit the student page and educator page.