Brenda Allen
Clarksville
Summary
Multidisciplinary professional with experience in tax preparation and bookkeeping for a small family business, alongside long-term leadership roles as a Team Lead and IT Manager in federal government application development. Adept at combining financial expertise with technical strategy, leading teams, improving systems, and delivering dependable results in business, technology and government environments.
Overview
16
16
years of professional experience
Work History
Bookkeeper/Tax Preparer - Part Time
Advantage Logistics Group
Clarksville
10.2011 - Current
- Prepared business tax returns annually.
- Responded to inquiries from IRS, state and other tax authorities to minimize additional interest and penalty charges.
- Maintained accurate financial records and reconciled discrepancies regularly.
- Processed payroll and ensured compliance with tax regulations.
- Prepared monthly financial statements for management review.
- Collaborated with vendors to resolve billing issues promptly.
- Utilized accounting software to streamline bookkeeping tasks effectively.
- Processed accounts payable and receivable transactions.
- Performed basic accounting, payroll and bookkeeping services to manage business operations.
- Generated invoices for clients and tracked payments received from customers.
- Prepared financial statements, including balance sheets, income statements, and statement of cash flows.
Team Lead/IT Manager - Application Development
Social Security Adminstration
Baltimore
09.2009 - 03.2025
- Coordinated the efforts of back-end developers, user interface designers and accessibility/usability specialists to ensure that public facing web applications delivered an outstanding user experience.
- Monitored several inboxes where we received feedback and complaints, and forwarded that feedback through the appropriate channel so that needed changes could be made.
- Led teams conducting quality assurance and accessibility testing to ensure that our applications and other electronic communication were functionally correct and also in compliance with federal statutes.
- Delegated tasks to team members according to project requirements and employee strengths.
- Implemented training programs to enhance employee skills and knowledge.
- Facilitated communication between departments to resolve client issues promptly.
- Developed reports on team performance for management review and strategy planning.
- Provided leadership and guidance to team members, ensuring that tasks were completed on time and to a high standard.
- Trained new staff in relevant processes and procedures.
- Delegated daily tasks to team members to optimize group productivity.
- Delegated tasks appropriately according to individual skill sets.
- Resolved escalated customer complaints or queries promptly and efficiently.
- Monitored team progress and enforced deadlines.
- Assisted the manager in setting achievable goals for the team while monitoring progress towards them.
- Identified opportunities for process improvements, implementing changes when required.
- Motivated staff through positive reinforcement techniques.
- Conducted performance appraisals for team members, providing feedback and identifying areas of improvement.
Client Support Manager - Part Time
Philip F Smith - Business Loan Broker Training
05.2020 - 11.2023
- Assisted with onboarding new clients into the training program.
- Built websites for new clients (In WordPress), including purchasing domains and setting up hosting accounts for them.
- Worked with several business funding companies to get clients set up as referral partners with their own funding portals.
- Created a support ticket system where clients could get assistance for anything related to their websites and portals.
- Monitored the support desk daily, responding quickly to any questions or issues, hopping on a phone call when necessary to expedite issue resolution.
- Set up Facebook ads for new clients, including setting up a business Facebook page, creating a Business Manager account, setting up ad creatives for testing and providing lookalike audiences to improve ad targeting.
- Attended client conferences in Las Vegas to provide onsite support to the clients in attendance.
- Coordinated with the tech support team to refer out-of-scope questions to them to ensure the clients would get a quick response.
Education
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) - Computer Science and Mathematics
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA, USSkills
- Tax preparation
- Tax law compliance
- IRS communication
- Bookkeeping/Tax Prep software (Quickbooks/TaxAct)
- Audit preparation
- Payroll processing
- Financial statement preparation
- Financial recordkeeping
- Financial reporting
- Training development
- Deadline management
- Evaluating employee work
- Staff training
- Leading team meetings
- Feedback delivery
- Key performance indicators
- Work Planning and Prioritization
- Giving constructive feedback
- Team assessment
- Employee evaluation
- Onboarding and orientation
- Performance evaluations
- Attention to detail
- Team leadership
- Advanced computer skills
- Customer support
Timeline
Client Support Manager - Part Time
Philip F Smith - Business Loan Broker Training
05.2020 - 11.2023
Bookkeeper/Tax Preparer - Part Time
Advantage Logistics Group
10.2011 - Current
Team Lead/IT Manager - Application Development
Social Security Adminstration
09.2009 - 03.2025
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) - Computer Science and Mathematics
University of Pittsburgh