Accounting
Read about BYU Marriott's School of Accountancy, the students in our accounting programs, the faculty and their research, as well as where our alumni are in their careers.
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Finding the Rewards of Mentorship and Service
Of all the awards he earned and titles he held at the BYU Marriott School of Business—from PhD prep track coordinator to director of the School of Accountancy (SOA)—Doug Prawitt says mentoring students and helping them improve their lives is his proudest accomplishment.
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Service Brings Great Returns
During the 2025 tax season, more than a hundred SOA students from BYU Marriott helped community members file their taxes for free through the VITA lab. These students filed almost 1,000 tax returns, helping to share light as they empathized and advocated for others through the tax return process, says Jon Kerr, the VITA lab faculty advisor.
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Peer-to-Peer Leadership: How Peer Advisors Are Reaching Pre-Business Students
Peer advisors rely on their own BYU Marriott experiences to help pre-business students seeking light and advice on an individual level.
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A Hub of Helping Hands
A collection of online resources designed and built primarily by BYU Marriott students is helping accounting professionals around the world. During the past decade, BYU’s accounting Hubs—five websites that host hundreds of student-written articles and practical exercises—have racked up more than three million page views.
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Geared for Takeoff
Jon Richards is a compulsive experimenter. “Whether business, health, or personal-growth related, I’m constantly testing ideas,” he says. “Trying new things helps me progress.” That mindset has propelled Richards as he’s grown Nomatic, a travel-gear company, with his cousin Jacob Durham.
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BYU Marriott Welcomes New Faculty in 2025
As seven new faculty members joined the BYU Marriott School of Business, Dean Brigitte Madrian shares, “We are grateful that these extremely capable individuals have joined our faculty. They are deeply committed to our guiding principle of being centered on students and to our mission of developing leaders of faith, intellect, and character who will transform the world.”
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Prompted, Not Planned
For Nicole Donahoo, the path to becoming an assistant professor began with a breakup—an ordeal that spurred Donahoo to turn to the Lord for guidance. Since then, she’s learned that following the promptings of the Lord brings her joy, even when God’s plans are different from what she had in mind.
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Accounting For Change
How do you prepare students for changes in the industry that haven’t even happened yet?” That is the question that the BYU Marriott’s School of Accountancy’s leadership, Board of Advisors, and faculty continue to grapple with as they prepare their students to enter a rapidly evolving profession.
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Headaches, Heartbreaks, and Helping Hands
When Sarah-Jane Tate started the accounting junior core, she had no idea she'd have to navigate a concussion, a new job, and a broken engagement to make it through the school year.
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BYU Marriott Professors Receive Awards at BYU’s 2025 University Conference
Four professors from the BYU Marriott School of Business received awards at BYU’s 2025 University Conference. John Bingham, Michael Drake, Melissa Larson, and David Wood received awards in recognition of their contributions to BYU.
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Building an Educational Platform, One Module at a Time
To help accounting students bridge the gap between theory and practice before they hit the workforce, David Wood has worked with student employees at BYU to build the EYARC Experience platform. The educational platform is funded by the EY Foundation, which sponsors the creation and distribution of educational materials to accounting programs worldwide.
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Investing in Connection
BYU Marriott students in the Silver Fund class joined a Zoom discussion with 65 BYU–Pathway Worldwide students in 18 different countries—providing inspiration and connection.
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Melissa Larson Appointed as the New Director of the School of Accountancy
Melissa Larson, the E. Dee and Patricia Hubbard Professor, will serve as the new director of BYU Marriott's School of Accountancy starting on July 1, 2025.
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BYU Marriott Announces New Associate Dean Michael Drake
Michael Drake will serve as a new associate dean for the BYU Marriott School of Business starting on July 1, 2025.
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Teaching Christlike Leadership in Accounting Classrooms
Growing up, Ryan Sommerfeldt wanted to be a high school math teacher. Now, he is teaching accounting with the aim of helping students progress both spiritually and intellectually.
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BYU Marriott Honors Faculty and Staff for Leadership and Service
In April 2025, the BYU Marriott School of Business recognized selected faculty, staff, and administrators for exemplifying the college’s vision, mission, values, and guiding principle in both classroom and administrative work.
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BYU business professors find ‘margins of error’ in workplace correlate with unethical behavior outside workplace
Tolerance mindset to let small errors slide may impact other decisions
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Building a Global Career from the Bottom Up
For 12 years, accounting alum Michael Parker worked contentedly in public accounting. Then he got a taste of company finances and realized he wanted to be a part of a growing, new company.
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