SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Christian (Chris) Frederiksen, Bay Area CPA, business advisor, author and highly regarded international lecturer on “How to Build a Million Dollar Practice” received an honorary Ph.D. from his alma mater, Golden Gate University, at the commencement exercises in San Francisco on Friday, May 1. “This means more to me than all the other awards I have received over my 50 year career in the accounting profession.”
Chris graduated from Golden Gate University in 1966 when the school was located in the YMCA building on Golden Gate Avenue. In his acceptance speech, he related how the beginning accounting classes were small and taught on the ground floor immediately below the weight-lifting room. “The regular sound of dropped barbells kept all the students awake,” stated Frederiksen. Now the school has grown in both size and academic acclaim with over 600 undergraduate and 4,400 graduate students.
After graduating from Golden Gate University, he won the John F. Forbes medal for the highest CPA exam score in California. Always grateful to his alma mater, he joined the adjunct faculty and taught many different classes, including Accounting Theory, in the Graduate School.
He later joined Touche Ross and Co. in 1969, and by 1973 became one of the youngest partners in the firm. Leaving Touche Ross, he founded several Bay Area firms including his current firm in Corte Madera, Frederiksen-Crawford CPAs.
Chris lectures and conducts seminars around the world with the 2020 Group, the world’s largest membership organization for smaller CPA firms which he co-founded in 2000. The 2020 Group now has offices on five continents.
Other professional accomplishments and honors are his being named as one of the 100 most important people in the Accounting profession by Accounting Today and being inducted into the Accountant’s Hall of Fame. He has written several business books; his latest is 57 Ways to Grow Your Business.
Being passionate about education and particularly Golden Gate University, Chris states, “I arrived in America as an immigrant from England with little money and barely a high school diploma. Thanks to Golden Gate University, I was able to work and go to school. I have achieved everything I could have ever wanted – I have truly lived the American Dream.”