Congratulations to Brant Christensen on receiving full professorship! We are grateful for the impact you have made through your teaching, research, and service to the BYU SOA. Thank you for the time and dedication you give to our students and the accounting profession.

Congratulations to Dr. Mike Drake for being named BYU's Big 12 Faculty of the Year! One of 16 faculty recognized across the entire conference, and it's our own associate dean. If you've had a class with him, this isn't a surprise. So proud to have him as part of our department!

We're excited to welcome Dan Pontius as the new Alumni Director for the BYU School of Accountancy! Dan has spent his career in the nonprofit sector. He is passionate about building meaningful relationships and is excited to get to know our alumni and strengthen the SOA community.

Zack Fox also recently published! Congrats! Fox, Z.D., Krull, L.,Rane, S. (2026). Foreign Tax Holiday Participation and U.S. Job and Investment Loss. Contemporary Accounting Research.

Congrats to Brant Christensen for publishing! Christensen, B. E., Guo, F., Wilkins, M., Zhou, Y. (2026). The effect of Audit Market Characteristics on Auditors’ Reputational Damage Following Negative PCAOB Inspection Reports. Journal of Business Finance & Accounting.

Melissa Lewis-Western published! Lewis-Western. M.F., Byard, D., Garavaglia S., Vulcheva, M.(2026). Response to the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Invitation to Comment on Financial Key Performance Indicators for Business Entities. Journal of Financial Reporting.

This past semester some of our students participated in a class where they taught students, primarily from Africa, accounting principles. It has been a great opportunity for our students and professors to serve and share their lights.

Congrats to our professor Tim Seidel for getting his research published! Qi, Y., Seidel, T.A., Zhang, J. Zhang, J. (2026). Do engagement quality reviewers’ workplace ties with engagement partners influence audit quality? Journal of Accounting Research

We had such a great time with @BakerTillyUS, hearing about their experiences and celebrating scholarship awards. We’re so grateful for their generosity and support! To top it all off, we ended with our Jr. Core celebration!! Such a fun way to wrap up an amazing year!

Congratulations to the winners of the Connor Case Challenge! Thank you for everyone who helped put this together and participated! @ConnorGp

We had a great time celebrating Doug Prawitt and Brian Spilker. They will be greatly missed, and their contributions to the School of Accountancy will have a lasting impact.

We want to recognize David Wood with his most recent research publication. Great work! Emett, S., Eulerich, M., Guthrie, J., Pikoos, J., Wood, D.A. (2026) Achieving Effective Internal Control over Generative AI (GenAI): Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO)

Congratulations to another great SOA professor, Ryan Sommerfeldt, for publishing! Sommerfeldt, R.D. (2026). Who Gets Stitches? The Effects of Rewarding Whistleblowers and Protecting Their Identity on Subsequent Willingness to Work With Others. Contemporary Accounting Research.

CONGRATS to our very own SOA students, Jane Cai, Miranda Hulme, and Alex Jimenez for earning 1st, 2nd, and honorable mention in the BYU Student Employee of the Year competition! We love seeing our students lead across the campus!

Tim Seidel recently published! Felix, R., Mansi, S., Pevzner, M., Seidel, T.A. (2026). Do Audit Partner and Audit Committee Ideologies Influence Engagement Partner Selection and Financial Reporting Oversight Effectiveness? Contemporary Accounting Research

Congrats to our SOA professor Zach Fox for his most recent research publication! Fox, Z.D., Kim, J., Schonberger, B. (2025). Investment Opportunities, Market Feedback, and Voluntary Disclosure: Evidence from the Shale Oil Revolution. The Accounting Review.

On the podcast Measuring Success Right produced by the Marriott Student Review, learn more about how SOA alumnus Mike Broberg (MAcc 1996) took his experience in the accounting junior core and MAcc program to impact his career and current executive role.