A woman is celebrating after achieving the best accountant exam results in the world.

Lauren Ames, 27, works as a project controller at Airbus Defence and Space (formerly Astrium), in Stevenage, and has achieved the highest marks in the most recent Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) exams.

Lauren, who studied with BPP at Milton Keynes and through online classrooms, came top in the world in the Performance Strategy exam (P3) with a score of 85 per cent, beating the nearly 5,000 other students registered for the exam around the globe.

Lauren said: “I was shocked and delighted to have done so well in my professional exams to be a qualified Management Accountant and winning the prize was fantastic. The exams were really tough but I had a lot of support from both BPP, through which I studied, and my employer, Airbus DS. It is great for my hard work to be recognized officially and is a massive boost of confidence.

“The qualification has given me more discipline and assurance in my decision making. I am now also able to see the bigger picture, and understand why judgments are being made.

“I realised that having a globally recognised qualification would make me more employable which was the main driver for continuing with my studies, especially as I didn’t have a degree.

“I’ve always got my books out and, although it has been a lot of hard work to get to where I am, I am almost there. The time, effort and sacrifices that I have made to complete the qualification will all be worth it.”

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