Today we’d like to introduce you to Kimi Ellen.
Kimi, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started my firm just a few years out of college in an effort to generate additional income outside of my employer. I worked in internal audit and my firm mainly provided accounting and tax services. I started my firm with a purchase of tax software. That’s it. This was in 1996. Twenty one years later, we now have 2 physical office locations and over a dozen employees. We have also expanded and are now a full service accounting firm with clients in audit, tax, consulting, and accounting.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Some of our larger struggles included access to capital, lack of opportunity with clients that we were well equipped to serve, and difficulty finding and maintaining staff.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We primarily provide audit services to state and local governments, audit services to nonprofit organizations, and accounting services to organizations. We are most proud that we have served every sister agency of the City of Chicago in some capacity.
What were you like growing up?
I was always very outgoing and I was always very interested in math. My mother had a friend that was an accountant and she would talk to me about accounting. I became very interested at a young age and I was always in math classes well advanced of my classmates.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.benfordbrown.com
- Phone: 773-731-1300
- Email: kellen@benfordbrown.com
- Facebook: Benford Brown & Associates, LLC
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