Roughly 50 percent of test-takers pass the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) exam in the United States, and just one of those test-takers receives national recognition for the highest cumulative score.

Hariharan Ramasubramanian, a first-year PhD student in Accounting and Information Systems at the Broad College of Business, will receive the Priscilla S. Payne Student Performance Award from the Institute of Management Accountants for his top-ranking score on the CMA exam.

Hariharan Ramasubramanian

Hariharan Ramasubramanian

“This prestigious award is provided to only one student in the world, and we’re incredibly proud of Hari for this achievement. It is my hope that this award will inspire students to pursue a CMA certification during their graduate studies,” said Ranjani Krishnan, the Ernest W. & Robert W. Schaberg Endowed Chair in Accounting.

CMA certification requires a two-part examination that measures 11 different competencies and is considered the global benchmark for management accountants and financial professionals.

Ramasubramanian earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in accounting from the University of Mumbai, India. Prior to joining the Broad doctoral program, Ramasubramanian co-founded Raising a Mathematician Foundation, a nonprofit that provides students with resources that help develop skills to thrive in mathematical professions through workshops, camps, seminars, and webinars at little to no cost.

In his time at the Broad College, Ramasubramanian has placed third in Broad’s Business Case Competition for developing Agri Tech, which partners with farmers in India’s dense urban areas to help them adopt vertical farming practices without any financial risk or burden. Ramasubramanian’s CMA certification accompanies his associate membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), All India Rank Holder in Chartered Accountancy (CA) Foundation, and CA Intermediate.