KIM YEUNG LING P.C.
Certified Public Accountants
Tax, Accounting, and Payroll Services for Individuals and Small/Medium-Sized Businesses
We wish to help you achieve the American dream...
American Dreams
Here at Kim Yeung Ling P.C., our purpose is to serve our Community by acting as a bridge between our ethnic community and the government. Through high-quality payroll, accounting, tax, and consultative services, we help members of our community develop their businesses, pay their taxes, pay their employees, feed their families, and ultimately work towards the American Dream.
Even members of our own Sr. Accounting staff have achieved the American Dream starting with very little. Here are some of our employee stories.
Mr. Kim Yeung Ling, CPA
Mr. Ling came to this country from his birthplace, Hong Kong, in 1974 with less than $500 in his pocket for a better life and a better future. One of 6 children, he was the first to leave the island for a college education. He arrived in a small town in Texas where he attended junior college. His first job was delivering newspapers and passing out advertisements for a minimum wage of $2.20 per hour. He later transferred to the University of Arkansas where he earned a degree in Operational Research. He worked over the summers as a dishwasher and waiter to pay his expenses and tuition.
After obtaining his undergraduate degree, he went on to do an evening MBA program at La Salle University in Philadelphia. He worked as a bartender in Chinatown and as an accountant for a small Jewish tax and accounting firm.
In 1981, after graduating with his MBA, he started working for himself. In the beginning, he struggled to pay rent, so he shared an office with a Jewish lawyer and a Chinese insurance agent. Over time, he gradually grew his business, bought a house, supported his parents, started a family, and expanded into other business ventures. More than thirty years later, he has successfully grown his CPA firm to approximately 30 employees and 2 offices. He has three adult children that he has put through college and a wife that has helped him grow the business over many years.
He wants to ensure that his business will continue to thrive and provide quality service for as long as possible, with or without him. Even after retirement, he plans on serving his long-term clients, friends, and community year after year for as long as he is capable.
Mr. Charles Chow, CPA
Mr. Chow came to the US by himself from Hong Kong in 1991 with very little English skills. Admittedly, he was not the hardest worker in school and only exceled in math. He came to the US for a better education, attending Cushing Academy in Massachusetts and focusing on improving his English. After much teacher support and hard work in high school, he was accepted by and attended Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts, where he concentrated on Accounting. At Bentley College, he developed a strong foundation in accounting which led to his internship at a mid-sized accounting firm during his senior year.
He realized that, as an immigrant and Chinese-American minority, with differing values and culture than the majority of the population, his career options and advancement opportunities would be limited if he worked for a traditional American accounting firm. Despite this realization, he had a strong desire to practice what he spent years studying and what he loved.
In 1999 he moved to live in Philadelphia where his parents and sister had moved from Hong Kong. He was referred to Mr. Ling by a mutual friend and was hired in December of 2002. At Kim Yeung Ling P.C., he was able to practice what he loved while serving the Community that he is part of. This was also the time when he studied diligently (finally) and earned his CPA.
Today, after more than 18 years at Kim Yeung Ling P.C., Mr. Chow has proven to be a trusted advisor for our clients, a strong leader within our practice, and a respected mentor among the staff. Not only has he continued to develop and update his tax knowledge through government publications and case studies, he has passed on that knowledge by training more than 30 accountants throughout the years. In other words, he has been an instrumental part of our growth and will drive us forward in better serving the clients in our Community.
Ms Lilian Trieu, EA
Ms. Trieu came to the US in 1987 at the age of 27 to be closer to her family. The majority of her family had immigrated to the US from Vietnam over the years for a better life. In Vietnam, higher educational opportunities were not generally available. Since she was interested in accounting, she had to be resourceful and find more ways to learn with the little that she had. She self-studied and found private teachers that could improve her accounting knowledge.
Even though she knew little English, she was able to pass her GED not too long after arriving in the US. She started attending community college in Philadelphia and later transferred to Temple University. She was hired at Kim Yeung Ling P.C. in 1988 which gave her the chance to improve and practice her accounting skills while continuing her formal education. Eventually, she had to discontinue her studies at Temple in order to start a family.
Throughout the years, she had improved her accounting skills under the guidance of Mr. Ling. In 1996, she self-studied and passed the Enrolled Agent exam which gives her the right to represent clients before the IRS and demonstrates a certain level of tax and accounting knowledge.
In 1999, the Company opened up a second office in South Philly to better serve the Vietnamese community. Ms. Trieu, being fluent in Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and English, was well suited to run this office and serve the surrounding community.
In 2004, due to a growing client base, the South Philly office hired their first administrative staff. Over the years, Ms. Trieu has trained various accounting staff in the South Philly office. She has a large and active client base within the Vietnamese community and understands their unique needs. In short, after coming to this country from Vietnam with very little, her hard work and dedication to her clients has made her a respected member and trusted advisor of the Vietnamese-American community.
