About Me

Background

I come from very humble beginnings. I was born in Vietnam. In 1978, as a result of the Vietnam War, my mother, brother and I escaped on a tiny boat to Malaysia. We were known as the “boat people” at that time. We spent a year in a refugee camp in Malaysia living off of United Nation donations and rations. In 1979, we were lucky enough to immigrate to the US.

I supported myself through college (4.0 GPA). I started my auditing career in Phoenix, AZ with Arthur Andersen (yes, the Enron-related company) doing financial statement audits. I enjoyed my work so much, my goal at that time was to be a partner at Arthur Andersen. In 2000, I transferred to the Andersen Silicon Valley office because of the exciting dot-com boom and the IPOs. I got my chance and helped two software companies go public and a telecommunication company raise money through a secondary offering (no, I didn't make any money, I was the auditor).

I worked at Andersen up until the very end when the Enron scandal hit and brought down the firm. May 2002, I was 8 months pregnant, when Andersen fell and sold off the Silicon Valley audit practice to another Big 4.

Despite my passion for public accounting, I lost faith in the system. Instead, I went to work for a consulting company doing internal audits. After a year there, my husband and I decided to start our own company.

Entrepreneurial Roots

I feel strongly about client service! Before we started the company, I was working for a consulting firm doing what I call “drive by” audits. I had 10 clients scattered throughout the Bay Area-- some large, some small. I would spend 2 hours in Marin in the morning, drive to Oakland for an hour meeting and drive down to San Jose for another client. Except for two or three clients, I did not have the time to deeply understand my clients’ issues and challenges. We did not have enough people for the amount of work sold or the people were too inexperienced. As a result, I spent many late nights doing work or re-work to ensure we met deadlines. I was not delivering the level of service that I was used to delivering. I enjoy knowing my clients, the people, and the challenges that they face because that’s where I can tailor solutions to deliver the most value.

I felt so strongly about providing great client service that I quit my job while I was five months pregnant with my second child. Friends would tell me to just hang in there for my maternity leave benefits before doing anything rash. Let’s face it, no one was going to hire me while I was pregnant. I enjoyed the work, but not the environment. I was so unhappy that I quit my job anyways.

And the reason I quit was that I take the trust that clients give me personally and seriously. When clients hired my employer (and therefore, me), they have entrusted to me their organization and their careers. These are busy CEOs, CFOs, Controllers and Internal Audit Directors who are busy growing great companies. They entrusted me with the nuts and bolts of their organization so that they can execute their strategies. I needed to cover their backs and alert them when there are potential problems in the organization so that they can appropriately focus on those issues.

So, I looked around for organizations that shared the same values that I did – loyalty, trust, integrity, professionalism. My husband (I attribute all my success to my husband) told me that instead of looking for this Perfect Place, I should create it. I should build the organization where I can take pride in my work and where others with similar values would want to work at.

I took his advice, and in 2003, we started our auditing and accounting firm. I called up the ex-Andersen people that I worked with and recruited some of them and we have grown from there.

Professional Experience

Kim's experience includes leading Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance, financial audits, internal audits, special accounting and process re-engineering projects. Before co-founding A2Q2, Kim spent eight years with Arthur Andersen specializing in financial audits and assisting companies with initial public offerings, revenue recognition, SEC reporting projects, and mergers and acquisition due diligence. Kim was a senior manager at a national consulting firm leading internal audit and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance engagements.

Kim led Sarbanes-Oxley compliance initiatives ranging from project management to process documentation to testing control effectiveness to monitoring remediation. Her clients included Ariba, CNET Networks, JDS Uniphase, Neoforma, Plumtree Software and Siebel Systems.

Kim’s internal audit and process improvement experience included conducting and managing audits of payroll processing, order-to-cash processes, procure-to-pay processes, inventory management, and revenue recognition. Key clients served included Good Technology, Intuit, Leapfrog, Looksmart, and Siebel Systems.

Kim’s financial audit experience included industries such as software (Automony, Inc., Brokat Software, Versant Corporation), telecommunication (Netro Corporation), hospitality (The Wigwam Report), distribution (Antigua, Inc.), and higher education (Thunderbirds, The American School of International Management).

Kim earned a Bachelor of Science (summa cum laude) in accounting from Arizona State University. She is a certified public accountant in the states of Arizona and California and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Institute of Internal Auditors (the IIA).