AI Native Accounting Foundation announces first award winners and begins recruiting for scholarships

The AI ​​Native Accounting Foundation has announced the winners of the inaugural AI Native Accounting Awards, which recognizes companies and practitioners who are moving AI in accounting from experimentation to measurable and responsible implementation in real-world environments. Winners were recognized live on the keynote stage at Scaling New Heights June 14-16, 2026 in Orlando, Florida.

Award recipients were selected by the Foundation’s Advisory Board. This advisory board is a group of respected leaders who review nominations and apply a consistent rubric focused on measurable outcomes, governance, and replicability. The award recognizes significant achievements, including increased capacity, new service models, improved customer experiences, and approaches that other companies can realistically learn from and emulate.

Kacee Johnson, Executive Director of the AI ​​Native Accounting Foundation, said: “All of this year’s honorees have shown us what it’s really like to move from curiosity about AI to real AI. They’ve taken a thoughtful approach to using AI, documented what worked, and shared the lessons they learned. That’s the work we’re here to celebrate, study, and share so that other peers can learn from it.”

award winner

AI Innovation Individual Award — Angel Zhen, CPA
Angel Zhen CPA was recognized for demonstrating what responsible high-performance AI implementation looks like at a personal level and proving the model is transferable. Mr. Zhen runs a private practice with no employees, more than 300 clients across the country, and a six-figure salary while maintaining 12 weeks of vacation per year.

Corporate Award for Strategy and Governance — CBIZ
CBIZ, Inc. was recognized for building one of the industry’s most comprehensive AI governance frameworks to enable AI strategies. CBIZ has built a cross-functional AI Governance Council, a formal AI Usage Policy, and a structured training program based on internationally recognized standards such as the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and the OECD AI Principles. CBIZ developed the platform using Microsoft AI and has logged over 1 million AI-assisted interactions since launch. This award reflects not only our scale, but also the intentional infrastructure that CBIZ has built around responsible deployment.

Small Business Award for Strategy and Governance — Financial Optics
The Foundation recognized Financial Optics, a professional accounting and advisory firm, for demonstrating that AI governance is achievable for even the smallest firms. The three-person company built its implementation on documented AI terms of service and an AI tool decision framework that maps tool categories to the sensitivity of client data. Governance was developed concurrently with implementation rather than after. This award reflects an approach that can realistically be replicated by other small businesses.

Corporate Award for AI Implementation — Armanino
Armanino was recognized for internally building and company-wide deployment of Requirements Miner, a purpose-built multi-agent AI application that fundamentally changed the way the company discovers customers. Consultants who previously had to split their attention between leading conversations and taking notes can now focus fully on their clients with Requirements Miner capturing, analyzing, and creating requirements in real-time. All output is traceable to the source within the conversation, what Armanino calls “glass box AI.” The results were tangible: Requirements development time was reduced by approximately 40%, the discovery phase per engagement was reduced by 1-2 weeks, and requirement loss was reduced to nearly zero.

Barry Brown, a member of the foundation’s advisory board, said of the nomination and judging process: “What stood out most to us as we judged this first group of winners was how expansive the field of AI adoption is. From solo practitioners to top 25 companies, leaders of all sizes are making meaningful progress. The companies and individuals we recognized are proves that size is no longer a barrier to doing something important. Whether you’re in private practice or a national company, there’s never been a better time to start. ”

Starting the scholarship

Building on the first round of awards, the Foundation also announced that applications for the first scholarship program are now open. Two $5,000 scholarships will be awarded to undergraduate and master’s students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities during the 2026-27 academic year who are actively building on AI in accounting, tax, auditing, advisory, and finance. Applicants will submit working AI use cases, short articles, and structured video responses. Applications close on September 15, 2026. For more information and to apply, visit www.ainativeaccounting.org.

As an independent nonprofit organization, the AI ​​Native Accounting Foundation helps businesses and finance teams deploy AI with confidence through education, research, and awareness, taking the profession beyond the hype and into practice. Founded by Kacee Johnson and Bebe Kim, the foundation exists to create a space for honest dialogue, shared learning, and authentic examples of real-world AI adoption across accounting, tax, audit, advisory, and finance. Through its AI-native accounting podcast, industry awards, research initiatives, and scholarships, the Foundation highlights what works, what doesn’t, and what responsible AI transformation actually looks like within modern businesses and finance teams.