News & Updates

Learn how easily pros tie well-being to success—and how fear of failure can distort self-worth.  Busy season may still be a few days out, but the stress response already starts to hum for a lot of accounting professionals — the calendar fills, the inbox tightens, and the margin for error feels like it shrinks to a sliver. In the latest Accounting ARC, Donny

You can’t demand peak performance without designing for recovery. Busy season is often treated as a productivity proving ground. In accounting, it marks a series of peak stress cycles—tax season, compressed deadlines, and sustained cognitive load. The assumption is familiar: we just need to push through these few rough months, and we’ll be okay afterward. But the reality is different.

From shifting licensure pathways to AI acceleration and new expectations around governance and culture, the accounting profession is entering a decisive new phase. In this featured analysis from Accounting ARC, Donny Shimamoto, Liz Mason, and Byron Patrick unpack what’s changing, what it means for firm leaders, and why the next wave of opportunity may belong to those willing to rethink how their firms are designed.

What does it really mean to be “career ready”? In this end-of-year episode of Student-led Conversations, our student hosts reflect on a season of honest conversations with professionals across the accounting profession — and what they learned when students were trusted to lead the dialogue.

The Accounting ARC trio Liz Mason, CPA, Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, CGMA, and Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, react to the U.S. Department of Education’s move to treat accounting master’s programs as non-professional for federal loan limits.

The Center for Accounting Transformation is proud to announce that its founder and “inspiration architect,” Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, has been named to Accounting Today’s 2025 Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting, published in the magazine’s December issue.   The Accounting Today Top 100 honors individuals whose influence extends beyond organizational boundaries—leaders advancing the profession’s relevance, resilience, and public value during a period of profound change. 

What does it really look like to speak up for your community—and still build a powerful career in accounting? In this episode of Accounting ARC – Student-Led Conversations, our student host sits down with E. ZeNai Savage, CPA—founder of The Savage Advantage, community advocate, former statewide candidate, and Gen Z role model for turning values into action.

The Center for Accounting Transformation’s award-winning recruitment video delivers a fast-paced, cinematic message that positions accountants as innovators and changemakers, earning top honors from the Viddy Awards.  The Center for Accounting Transformation is proud to announce that its flagship recruitment video, Unlock the Power of the Accounting Profession, has been honored with a gold Viddy Award in the Non-Broadcast |

Accountants don’t just crunch numbers—they cultivate hope. In this Know-How Korner episode, host Donny Shimamoto talks with Katelynn Hopson of Arkansas Tech University about her new research on hope in public accounting and how it ties to stress appraisal and retention—especially during busy season. Hear practical ways firms build a “hope culture,” reduce turnover intentions, and even pass hope on to clients.

The Center’s AoT entries were selected from among more than 6,000 submissions from the U.S., Canada, and 41 other countries. The Center for Accounting Transformation is honored to announce that its Agents of Transformation initiative has received international recognition, earning a Gold Award and an Honorable Mention in the 2025 MarCom Awards, one of the world’s most prestigious competitions celebrating