Overview

As its name suggests, Advocate offers all the services you expect from a CPA. Tax planning, management, and tax return preparation are the starting point, but you can also call on us for guidance in cost management, asset protection, cash flow, and especially the preparation, presentation, and analysis of clear, relevant financial data.

In addition to professional and consulting services, Advocate also offers a range of record-keeping, bill payment, payroll, QuickBooks training, and other administrative services. Recognizing that each business is unique, Advocate works with each client to develop the optimum service package from its comprehensive menu of both professional services and administrative support.

History

Advocate started in 2002, when James A. Sherman, CPA, left the world of giant corporations to offer Fortune 500 strategies, resources, and expertise to entrepreneurial mid-sized and emerging businesses. Incorporated in 2005, today Advocate serves a nationwide practice from its base in Naperville IL. bringing a full range of professional, consulting, and administrative services to its clients, thus accelerating their growth and profitability...

Leadership

Jim Sherman, Advocate’s Founder and CEO, has been a CPA for more than 20 years. Graduated with honors from Northern Illinois University, Jim began his accounting career at Centel Corporation, a Fortune 500 telecommunications organization. After eight years there in positions of increasing responsibility, he left for a $3.5 billion division of Sprint Corporation, first as assistant treasurer and then acting treasurer, becoming a leading contributor to a $50 million cost savings project.

In 1996, the Chief Financial Officer position lured him to a $90 million independent national transportation and distribution company. By renegotiating corporate debt and slashing expenses, he not only helped save the company from bankruptcy, but turned a deficit of $4 million to a profit of $2 million in two years, positioning the company for sale.

Then Jim spent six years at Mitsubishi Corporation, a $300 billion conglomerate, as Chief Financial Officer of a $250 million division, before taking the entrepreneurial leap of founding Advocate. His vision: to bring mid-sized and emerging businesses the same strategic insight, financial methods, and economies of scale from shared resources that characterize big business in America.

Following the advice he gives clients, Jim concentrates on counseling, tax planning, and financial analysis for Advocate’s clients.

Industries served

Advocate works with a wide variety of businesses and professional organizations, in the service industries, healthcare, retailing, wholesale distribution, manufacturing, and more. With its physical location in the heart of the Silicon Prairie, and Jim Sherman’s depth of experience in the telecommunications industry, technology companies play an important role in the Advocate portfolio.

Facilities

Advocate is headquartered in a contemporary office park in the heart of the Silicon Prairie, just a few minutes from downtown Naperville IL, and thirty minutes southwest of downtown Chicago. Click here for directions and map.

Careers

There are no job openings at Advocate at the present time. However, we frequently assist our clients in their recruiting for financial and record-keeping positions, so we invite the confidential submission of resumes from those with suitable credentials.