AI Native Accounting Awards Recognize Practical Adoption

The AI Native Accounting Foundation announced the winners of its inaugural AI Native Accounting Awards during Scaling New Heights, held June 14 - 17 2026, in Orlando, Florida. The awards recognized firms and practitioners that are applying AI in accounting through documented practices, governance, and real use cases.

AI is becoming part of everyday firm operations, and practice leaders are looking for ways to use it to add capacity, improve documentation, support client service, and make recurring work more consistent. Across the profession, firms are beginning to show what practical AI use looks like in real workflows, and the winners of the first round of these awards have proven to be leaders in AI adoption.

The inaugural honorees included Angel Zhen, CPA; CBIZ; Financial Cents; and Armanino. Each recipient was recognized for a different type of AI adoption, including solo practitioner productivity, firmwide governance, small firm workflow design, and internal application development.

The AINA awards give accounting professionals a view of how AI adoption is beginning to mature. Those recognized are examples of how focus on documented outcomes and operating discipline is the key to successful AI adoption. Accounting firms can use those examples to evaluate their own approach to AI without assuming that adoption must begin with a large technology team or a major internal platform.

Award criteria focused on measurable progress

The AI Native Accounting Foundation selected the winners through its Advisory Council, which includes recognized leaders in the profession. The council reviewed nominations using a rubric focused on measurable outcomes, governance, and replicability.

The Foundation’s announcement emphasized results that other firms can study. Those results included improved capacity, new service models, better client experiences, and documented practices that could be adapted by other organizations.

Kacee Johnson, Executive Director of the AI Native Accounting Foundation, said, “These are not innovation theater awards. Every one of this year’s winners showed us what it actually looks like to move from AI curiosity to AI in practice. They are approaching AI use thoughtfully, documenting what worked, and sharing their lessons learned. That’s the work we’re here to celebrate, study, and share so others in the profession can learn from it.”

Inaugural award winners

Angel Zhen received the Individual Award for AI Innovation. Zhen runs a solo practice with no employees and serves more than 300 clients nationwide. The Foundation noted that her practice collected $248,000 through the first quarter and was projected to exceed $750,000 for the year while maintaining twelve weeks off annually. His recognition shows how AI can help solo practitioners build capacity through repeatable workflows and careful review.

CBIZ received the Firm Award for Strategy and Governance. The firm was recognized for developing Vertical Vector, an in-house AI platform used by more than 9,500 team members. The platform has logged more than one million AI-assisted interactions since launching in December 2024. CBIZ also built a governance council, usage policy, and training program to guide responsible AI use across the firm.

Financial Cents received the Small Firm Award for Strategy and Governance. The Foundation recognized its practical approach to AI in small firm workflows, especially around documentation and repeatable processes. The award highlights the importance of AI practices that smaller firms can realistically adopt without building large internal systems.

Armanino received the Firm Award for AI Implementation for their internal build and firm-wide rollout of Requirements Miner, a purpose-built AI application that changed how the firm conducts client discovery. The tool captures and drafts requirements during client conversations, with each output traceable to its source. The Foundation reported that Requirements Miner reduced requirements development time by about 40 percent and removed one to two weeks from the discovery phase per engagement.

Debra Kilsheimer of Behind the Scenes Financial Services was also recognized as a runner-up for her use of AI to improve firm operations and support more efficient client service.

Scholarship program supports emerging professionals

The Foundation also announced the opening of applications for its first scholarship program. Two scholarships of $5,000 will be awarded to undergraduate and master’s students enrolled at U.S. colleges or universities for the 2026 to 2027 academic year.

Applicants must be actively building with AI in accounting, tax, audit, advisory, or finance contexts. The application requires a working AI use case, a short, written submission, and a structured video response. Applications close September 15, 2026. For more information about the scholarship and the application, visit: https://ainativeaccounting.org

AI adoption takes shape

The inaugural AI Native Accounting Awards show how varied AI adoption has become across the profession. The recipients include a solo CPA, a national firm, a small firm workflow provider, and an advisory practice using a custom AI application.

The examples also show that useful AI adoption is usually tied to a specific operational need. For some firms, that need may be capacity. For others, it may be governance, documentation, workflow consistency, or a better client discovery process. The value comes from choosing a clear use case, building a repeatable process, and tracking whether the change improves the work.

This article was written with the assistance of AI and edited by a human.