In today’s fast-paced business world, it’s unusual for a person to spend his whole career working for the same company. Frank Friedman has done that and more, rising to the very top management levels of a well-known national accounting firm while keeping his home base here Kansas City.
Friedman has been named chief financial officer and managing partner of finance and administration of Deloitte LLP, a firm he has been with for 32 years. A lifelong resident and a member of Congregation Beth Shalom, Friedman is responsible for the financial operations of the $11 billion professional services organization and managing the real estate, field operations and procurement divisions comprising approximately 3,500 people. He also will serve as a member of the executive committee of Deloitte LLP.
He assumed his new position June 1 and credits his success to hard work and a good education, as well as the longevity itself.
“The attitude many people have today is that you can’t stay with the same firm and be successful for your career. I think that’s not a true statement,” he explained.
Deloitte has a strong history in Kansas and Missouri as one of the most prestigious professional services organizations, serving the region’s top companies since 1920 with more than 240 local employees. In 2010, the Kansas City Business Journal ranked Deloitte No. 2 on its list of the Top 25 Area Accounting Firms and No. 3 on its list of the Top 25 Management Consultant Firms. In May 2010, Deloitte also was recognized in Ingram’s Magazine as one of the Best Companies to Work for in Kansas City.
Friedman explained that Deloitte, together with the other member firms of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, is the world’s largest professional services network serving client needs in audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory services across more than 20 industries.
“We have over 100 offices in the States and we continue to grow most years,” Friedman said.
A 1979 graduate of the University of Kansas, Friedman went to work at what was then Touche Ross right out of college.
“The key to my success at Touche and Deloitte is that it gave me every opportunity I frankly ever wanted or desired from an accounting firm,” Friedman said.
Over the years Friedman said he has worked in a variety of challenging and different positions while climbing the ladder of success, starting out in the auditing department.
“Then I moved to tax. I had some of the best clients that one could imagine in this city. I got very involved with individuals and private companies,” he said.
His next move was to become a managing partner of the Kansas City office and then added management of the St. Louis office to his portfolio.
“Then I went off and did some national things around operations, technology, real estate and finance,” Friedman said.
About four years ago he began concentrating fully on the company’s finances.
“Eventually, and naturally, I think, I then assumed the CFO position,” he said.
The beauty of working for Deloitte or another other large firm, Friedman said, is that there are “always opportunities to try something different.”
“Although I’ve been here since 1979, once I became a partner in 1988 I’ve probably changed jobs and responsibilities every three or four years,” he said. “That’s what makes it fun and that’s what makes it challenging.”
He is proud of the company he has dedicated his adult life to.
“We pride ourselves on our clients. We pride ourselves on our growth. We pride ourselves on our people and we also pride ourselves in having good, sound, fundamental financial discipline,” he said.
Friedman said his job, in part, is to maintain and to improve the company’s financial discipline as well as to make sure it is financed for the next decade.
“I think a big piece of my job is to ensure the financial stewardship of the firm, along with our incredible board of directors. But I think in large part that’s what we’ve been doing for the last several years,” he said.
Friedman thinks his new position will be much more banking, treasury and investment related than he’s been involved with in the past.
“I will be getting much more involved in our real estate strategies, our procurement strategies and most importantly our growth strategies for the firm,” he said.
Friedman has served on a variety of civic endeavors including Health Midwest, Menorah Hospital, Overland Park Hospital, Starlight Theater, Reach Foundation, Minority Supplier Council, and the Full Employment Council. He and his wife, Sondra, have two children, Micah, a sophomore in college and Lily, a junior at Pembroke.