Her Story
About Emily
Emily Gallagher, CPA, is the owner of Ultiemily Advisory Services, a Philadelphia-based firm providing financial services to individuals and small businesses. With a decade of experience in accounting, Emily specializes in tax preparation, bookkeeping, payroll, tax planning, and business advisory services. Her goal is to help clients better manage their finances so they can focus on their businesses and personal lives.
Before founding Ultiemily Advisory Services, Emily built a diverse accounting career through roles in tax, management consulting, ERP integration, and corporate finance. She has worked with organizations including American Water, Kreischer Miller, and Eliassen Group, developing expertise in tax analysis, financial processes, and business operations. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from DeSales University and a Master’s degree in Business Analytics from Temple University’s Fox School of Business.
Emily is also committed to professional leadership and community involvement. She is a member of the AICPA and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants, where she contributes to initiatives supporting emerging accounting professionals. Her accomplishments include being recognized as a PICPA “Woman to Watch” and “Young Leader: Member to Watch.” Through her firm and professional involvement, Emily continues to promote financial confidence, entrepreneurship, and meaningful support for individuals and small businesses.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Emily
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute much of my success to my dad, who has been my lifelong mentor and teacher. As an accountant, his guidance and support have been invaluable, and I’m grateful to have him involved in my business.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Keep trying until you find what you like. I've had a bunch of different jobs, and each of them had their good things and their bad things, but the important thing is finding that middle ground of what you need in your personal life versus your work life. Making sure if you're happy in your personal life, you'll be happy in your work life. Work-life balance was very important.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Kind of similar to before of the work-life balance aspect of it. Especially towards the beginning when I was graduating, it was all go to Big Four, start in public accounting, get a good base, then get a good corporate job. So there's a nice straight path for everybody, but accounting has changed so much. Finding a job where you like the company and the people are more important than the type of work, because the work is going to be the same anywhere you go, but the company and the people change, so finding a company you're passionate about is a good first step.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Some of the biggest challenges, I would say, is navigating the new AI revolution of balance AI doing the grunt work versus the learning curve, so now every year it gets a little bit easier. Finding those new technologies and understanding how they apply to your job without mitigating the learning of the basics behind and knowing when the AI is wrong. Greatest opportunity and the greatest risk all at the same time.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values I have in both work and personal life is just being there for friends, family, and clients. I try to, especially as a business owner, being there for my future husband, all my family members and friends, while I continue building this practice, have been a huge support network, but also the clients are the reasons I get to keep doing these kind of things, so want to support them in how in their lives, and like know what they're up to, and I think that makes me different than other book professionals, because since I'm a smaller business, I'm able to spend more time with them.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.