As a Supervisor at Cray Kaiser, Jim Brennan considers his role the glue that keeps clients and the CK team connected. Jim joined Cray Kaiser in 1993 after working with another local CPA firm. He was inspired by the impact of the firm’s culture on client relationships and client success.

Jim works closely with clients and his fellow team members on audit, review, and compilation engagements. You can often find Jim on the phone or in meetings maintaining communication on the status of the engagements or answering some of clients’ more technical questions. He embraces his role as an educator that is so core to the Cray Kaiser culture.

Jim has worked with family business clients in a variety of industries including wholesale, retail, and manufacturing as well as with clients in the not-for-profit sector. His clients include hardware stores, retailers selling food ingredients, tooling and industrial suppliers, and restaurant suppliers.

Jim enjoys getting to know clients, learning their businesses, and assisting them with their accounting and tax needs. One of his favorite tasks is when he is temporarily assigned to work as an accountant at a client’s office to assist the controller. In this role, he helps clients develop reports and spreadsheets that will then be used on a monthly basis. Jim is a true believer that the more he knows of clients’ businesses and the closer he is able to work at their sides, the better a resource he can be in helping to develop their accounting processes.

Community: Jim is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Illinois CPA Society. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting.