The Founder and President of Mitchell Freedman Accountancy Corporation and MFAC Financial Advisors, Inc. knows a thing or two about sound fiscal planning.
Member of Adelphi University’s Profiles in Success program.
Founder and President, Mitchell Freedman Accountancy Corporation and MFAC Financial Advisors, Inc.
Favorite professor: Neale Kurlander in the Accounting Department.Proudest professional accomplishment: Receiving a Distinguished Service Award from the AICPA in 2007.
Advice for students: “Don’t let what others say you can or can’t do determine your limitations. You can do it your way.”
Providing Sound Financial Planning
Mitchell Freedman ’64 had childhood hopes of becoming a composer and rock-and-roll star, and for good reason. His high school band had an agent, an entertainment lawyer, and was offered a recording deal. At the time, he was only 16. And although his performing days are long over other than an occasional “gig” at the local karaoke bar, Mr. Freedman is still drawn to the magic of arts and entertainment. So is his accounting firm.
Mitchell Freedman Accountancy Corporation (MFAC), the accounting firm he founded in a small Los Angeles office in 1981, has grown into a successful corporation with well-known clients, and his financial advisory firm, MFAC Financial Advisors, Inc., keeps them well-heeled.
“We specialize in business management and financial counseling for performing and creative artists, and individuals with complex and unique financial needs,” he says.
His clients include Oscar-, Emmy-, and Tony-Award-winning television and film directors, actors, writers, producers, variety performers, and executives.
“I can’t tell you who they are,” he says. “But you know them, and if you go to Las Vegas, you might see one or two of them in their resident shows.”
Mr. Freedman has been honored five consecutive times as one of the “250 Best Financial Advisors” in the United States by Worth magazine, twice by Accounting Today as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People” in the accounting profession, and he has appeared on three consecutive lists of the “50 Name$ to Know in Financial Planning” by Accounting Today. He has also been a commentator on CNN, Entertainment Tonight, and BBC3.
He co-authored the Guide to Planning for Performing and Creative Artists and the Guide to Planning for Divorce. He is also a founder and past-chair of the California Jump$tart Coalition, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the financial literacy of California’s youth.
“It’s extremely problematic that we have a generation of individuals who spend more than they earn, resulting in the first negative savings rate in this country since the Great Depression” he says. “We work to emphasize the importance of using credit wisely, and learning to plan and save.”
Among Mr. Freedman’s strongest memories of Adelphi are time spent with his Alpha Phi Beta fraternity brothers, and having to park in “Siberia” when arriving on campus for afternoon classes.
His first job after Adelphi was with Phillip F. Seckler & Co., a small accounting firm in New York City. He has also served as an adjunct professor in the Adelphi on Wheels Edu-train program.
Mr. Freedman has lived in the Los Angeles area since 1978 and currently lives in Malibu, California with his wife, Arlene. Music is still a big part of his life, and he regularly enjoys retreating to a music studio in his home.
For further information, please contact:
Todd Wilson
Strategic Communications Director
p – 516.237.8634
e – twilson@adelphi.edu