Charissa Hoyt
Charissa Hoyt is an experienced accounting professional specializing in financial management within the performing arts sector. She currently serves as Accounting Manager for Walton Arts Center and Walmart AMP in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she oversees key financial processes including month-end close, bank and account reconciliations, general ledger management, and financial reporting. In this role, Charissa plays a critical part in ensuring financial accuracy and operational efficiency for one of the region’s premier arts and entertainment organizations, helping support the financial infrastructure behind world-class performances and community programming.
With a strong background in accounting across multiple industries, Charissa brings a well-rounded perspective to her work. Prior to joining Walton Arts Center, she spent more than six years with Truckstop, a SaaS company serving the transportation and logistics industry, where she advanced through several accounting roles, including Corporate Staff Accountant II. Earlier in her career, she also worked as a tax preparer, gaining valuable experience in financial compliance and client services. Her diverse professional background has strengthened her expertise in financial analysis, revenue recognition, fluctuation analysis, and complex reconciliation processes.
Charissa holds a Master of Business Administration with a focus in Accounting and Business Management from Eastern Oregon University and an Associate’s degree in Accounting from Treasure Valley Community College. She is highly skilled in financial systems including Excel, Intacct, and Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT. Known for her attention to detail, collaborative approach, and ability to manage multiple priorities, Charissa contributes not only to day-to-day financial operations but also to cross-departmental projects that support organizational growth and innovation within the arts community.
• CMA
• Eastern Oregon University
• Treasure Valley Community College
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to being determined and driven. I had a goal when I started out in this field - it kind of began with taxes. I started as a tax preparer and really loved doing that, but tax preparing is something that's very seasonal, and I wanted something that would be more permanent, so I decided to go into accounting. My goal originally was to be a CPA and work in a private accounting firm. I took a different path, and I ended up in corporate accounting, but I'm really happy with corporate accounting. I've kind of abandoned the CPA route, and right now I am studying to take the CMA, which is Certified Management Accounting, because management accounting is more aligned with my field of work. So I'll be taking the CMA exam in May and June of this year. That's just having a goal, and working towards it, and not giving up.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is not to stay complacent in your role. If you want something better, if you want something higher, keep moving towards that. Obviously, do the best that you can in your role, but if you want to move up, keep working towards that goal.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Accounting is not one of the roles that is heavily male-dominated, but a lot of CFO positions are male-dominated. I would say if you want to be in a CFO role, keep going. Keep working on your certifications. I think for a CFO, a CPA is important, so work towards getting a CPA. Don't give up.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think the biggest challenge is deadlines at the moment. We've had a lot of unique circumstances on our team - multiple people going on maternity leave in a year and some turnover. Deadlines have been a big issue for us lately because accounting is all about deadlines. We're starting to get to where we're almost comfortable with our normal deadline, but everything did get pushed back a little bit for a while. We also switched to a different ticketing platform, and having everybody learn the new system and trying to figure out how to make all of the numbers match with the new system has been a bit of a challenge.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Honesty is definitely important in my personal life. In my professional life, I would say ethics is really important - I always strive to be ethical and accurate. Those are really important values. It's also really important to develop good relationships with the people that you work with, and it doesn't always have to be about work. One big thing that my team does is every quarter we have a team-building exercise. We'll go and do something fun together, so that we can have a chance to just talk and get to know each other outside of our work duties. That's something that I think is really important.