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Managing Partner

Elaine E. O’Brien,
CPA, CMA

Financial leadership, CFO strategy and corporate accounting. Fifteen years spent inside corporate financial management, risk mitigation and strategic planning and, since 2022, leading this firm.

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Elaine E. O'Brien, CPA, CMA, Managing Partner of O'Brien & Co. CPAs
At a glance
  • RoleManaging Partner
  • PracticeCFO strategy & financial management
  • LicensedCPA (Massachusetts), CMA
  • Experience15+ years in corporate finance
  • BasedBoston, Massachusetts
  • PronounsShe / Her
Profile

A finance executive
who kept doing the work.

Elaine E. O’Brien, CPA, CMA, is a senior finance executive with extensive expertise in corporate financial management, risk mitigation and strategic planning. Over more than fifteen years she has played a central role in financial structuring, business transformation and regulatory compliance across a range of industries.

As Managing Partner at O’Brien & Co. CPAs she leads corporate finance and accounting operations, working closely with CFOs, business owners and executive teams to strengthen financial performance, compliance and long-term growth strategy. Her expertise spans budgeting, forecasting, risk management and M&A financial due diligence.

She came to the firm in 2020 from a decade in corporate finance leadership: director-level work at Sterling & Partners LLP, finance management at Cambridge Financial Group, and the analyst and associate years at Harborview CPAs where the technical foundation was laid. That route matters in practice: she has sat on the client’s side of the table, which is a different education from advising across it.

She reviews every valuation and every transaction engagement that leaves the office, and continues to carry a small portfolio of owner-managed clients herself, partly because she enjoys it, and partly because a managing partner who has stopped doing the work stops understanding it.

Work with Elaine About the firm
Core expertise

Six areas where
she is genuinely deep.

Not a list of everything an accountant can do: the specific work she has done repeatedly enough to be useful on a first call.

CFO Strategy & Corporate Financial Planning

Budgeting, forecasting and the multi-year financial plan behind a growth decision, built with the executive team rather than handed to it.

GAAP Compliance & Corporate Accounting

Technical accounting positions, revenue recognition and the reporting standards that lenders, boards and auditors will actually test.

Business Structuring & Cost Optimization

Entity design, cost frameworks and the structural work that makes a business scalable rather than merely larger.

Mergers, Acquisitions & Financial Due Diligence

Quality of earnings, working capital and the diligence findings that decide a price, on both sides of a transaction.

Risk Management & Regulatory Compliance

Regulatory risk assessment, internal financial controls and the mitigation plan that survives an examination.

Executive Leadership & Business Process Improvement

Finance team structure, process redesign and the operating rhythm that gets a company closing on time and deciding on current numbers.

Career

Seventeen years,
four firms.

Analyst to managing partner, without a detour out of finance. The through-line is corporate financial management for companies that are complicated but not enormous.

O'Brien & Co. CPAs

Boston, Massachusetts · On-site

Managing Partner | CFO Strategy & Financial Management

2022 – Present
  • Leads corporate finance operations, accounting compliance and CFO strategy across the firm.
  • Works directly with C-level executives and board leadership to optimize financial performance.

Senior Partner | Financial Management

2020 – 2022
  • Oversaw financial restructuring, cost control and long-term business planning engagements.
  • Advised on capital allocation, investment strategy and risk mitigation for privately held clients.

Sterling & Partners LLP

Boston, Massachusetts · On-site · 5 yrs 1 mo

Director, Corporate Finance & Business Strategy

2018 – 2020
  • Led financial planning, risk analysis and M&A financial due diligence.
  • Designed cost optimization frameworks for business scalability and sustainability.

Senior Finance Manager

2015 – 2018
  • Oversaw corporate accounting, GAAP compliance and regulatory risk assessments.
  • Implemented financial modeling strategies to support business expansion.

Cambridge Financial Group

Boston, Massachusetts · On-site

Finance Manager

2012 – 2015
  • Provided financial strategy consulting for mid-sized businesses and corporate clients.
  • Assisted CFOs with capital restructuring, financial reporting enhancements and cost management.

Harborview CPAs & Financial Solutions LLC

Boston, Massachusetts · On-site · 3 yrs 1 mo

Senior Associate, Corporate Finance & Business Planning

2011 – 2012
  • Developed cash flow management strategies and financial planning models.
  • Assisted in corporate risk mitigation, budgeting and internal financial controls.

Financial Analyst

2009 – 2011
  • Conducted corporate financial reporting, regulatory analysis and investment evaluations.
  • Assisted in business growth strategy formulation and capital allocation assessments.
Credentials

Licensed, and
schooled for it.

Both licenses are active and independently verifiable through the issuing bodies.

Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

Massachusetts Board of Public Accountancy

Issued January 2013

Certified Management Accountant (CMA)

Institute of Management Accountants (IMA)

Issued January 2015

MS, Accounting & Financial Management

Northeastern University

2009 – 2011

BS, Business Administration, Accounting & Finance

Boston University

2005 – 2009

Her role

What she actually does
on an engagement.

You should know who is doing the work, what they are responsible for, and who to call when something is urgent. All three are named in the engagement letter.

01

She owns the relationship

Named, and reachable

The partner who takes your first meeting is the partner who signs the returns and takes the call when something is genuinely urgent. Not a relationship manager who forwards it on.

02

She reviews the hard work herself

Valuation and transactions

Every valuation and transaction engagement is reviewed by her before it leaves the office. On that work the reader is often a buyer, a lender or a court, and the standard has to be set by someone who has sat on their side of it.

03

Specialists are drawn in

As the work requires

SALT, valuation and assurance capability joins for the piece that needs it, then steps back out. You are not billed for a standing team you do not need.

04

She keeps a portfolio

By choice

She still carries a small book of owner-managed clients directly, partly because she enjoys it and partly because a managing partner who has stopped doing the work stops understanding it.

Direct

The first meeting is
with the partner.

Not with someone whose job is to introduce them later. Forty-five minutes, no charge, before anyone mentions an engagement letter.

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