Happy 80th Anniversary - Crawford Ellenbogen

In 1941, my grandfather, Joseph Ellenbogen, & his partner, John Crawford, left Price Waterhouse & started CrawfordEllenbogen. My dad, Alex Ellenbogen, joined the firm about the time I was born. I joined the firm when I graduated from high school, working for both my dad and my grandfather [& going to school at night.]

It's crazy to reflect on the changes I've witnessed in almost 5 decades. We bought our first computer in 1979, an Apple IIe. Software was virtually non-existent, but we started by playing with that odd-looking machine to see if we could do anything useful with it. In those days, we prepared tax returns & financial statements by hand. General Ledgers were not software driven but were actually funny looking binders with handwritten entries. We used pencils [& erasers] on 14-column paper to prepare trial balances & draft financial statements. Secretaries typed financial statements, using carbon paper if more than one copy was needed. There was no backspace key to correct errors. And of course, there was no internet, no email, no answering machine, no cell phone, and copy machines were quite expensive. We had paper files and lots of paper cuts! Today, we are about 80% paperless, affording us the luxury of working from home, which has been a blessing during the COVID induced pandemic.

My partner, Vic Dozzi, and I would like to thank our dedicated employees and appreciative clients for traveling on this journey with us. We're fortunate to enjoy the work we do and look forward to many more celebrations together.

Joan Ellenbogen, Managing Partner