About Freedom Financial Accounting
Our story
In 2008, Brian Hunt was newly married, a decade into a career in banking and financial planning, and working as a small business banker — a job he loved, helping business owners with their financial needs. Then the Great Financial Crisis unfolded, and Brian found himself out of work, facing a decision about what came next.
He went back to school to earn his CPA — studying nights and weekends while working as a security guard. After passing the CPA exam, he founded Freedom Financial Accounting in 2010. The name was the mission: he wanted the firm to offer business owners two things — freedom, reflected in its name, and peace, represented by the leaf in its logo.
For the firm’s first decade, Brian also built a career inside other companies — financial controller roles at a multi-location company and a civil engineering firm, running month-end closes, audits, internal controls, ERP systems, and job costing. The firm grew the way he hoped it would: slowly, and almost entirely by word of mouth.
In 2014, Rebecca Hunt was preparing to welcome the couple’s first child and knew her work would need to change so she could put family first. Around that time, a man from their church approached Brian needing help with his bookkeeping. Brian recommended Rebecca — he’d seen her attention to detail firsthand. She took the work on, and she never really put it down: Rebecca has run the firm’s bookkeeping ever since, more than twelve years now, working remotely on online platforms long before that was common.
In late 2023, Brian stepped out of the employee controller chair, and his work has run through the firm he founded ever since: he consults for other companies — contracted through Freedom Financial Accounting — and leads the firm’s controller and fractional CFO work personally. Today, Freedom Financial Accounting works the way it quietly always has: Rebecca leads the bookkeeping — a dedicated bookkeeper who knows each client’s books day-to-day — and Brian leads controller and CFO work personally. Based in Bartlett, Illinois, the firm serves clients nationwide. Freedom for owners to run their businesses; peace about their numbers. That’s still the whole idea.
Founded 2010 · Bartlett, Illinois · Remote-first — serving clients nationwide · Rated 5.0 from 4 Google reviews
Meet the team
Brian R. Hunt, CPA — Controller & Fractional CFO
Brian earned his CPA the hard way — nights and weekends in school while working as a security guard, after the 2008 crisis ended his banking career. He founded Freedom Financial Accounting in 2010, then spent a decade-plus as a financial controller inside real companies (multi-location operations, an engineering firm with job costing, audits, ERP implementations, internal controls). Since 2023 his work has run through the firm he founded — consulting for other companies and leading FFA’s client work. At FFA he leads Controller and Fractional CFO engagements personally: clean closes, honest cash-flow visibility, and numbers owners can make decisions on. Illinois-licensed CPA; 25+ years in banking, finance, and accounting.
“They’ve handled all of our bookkeeping, accounting, and strategic financial guidance with exceptional professionalism, intelligence, and integrity… a true partner in every sense.” — George Coll
Rebecca Hunt — Lead Bookkeeper
Rebecca has run Freedom Financial Accounting’s bookkeeping since 2014, when a fellow church member needed help with his books and Brian pointed at the most detail-obsessed person he knew. Twelve-plus years later she leads the firm’s bookkeeping — accounts payable and receivable, payroll, and the monthly close — specializing in online accounting platforms and in the thing clients mention most: quick, clear communication. Before accounting, Rebecca spent a decade in education — a master’s in youth development from Michigan State — and it shows in her patience and her habit of explaining the “why” behind the numbers.
“She communicates quickly and thoroughly… she makes an aspect of my business that stresses me out, much less stressful!” — Kathleen Dunn