Carol L. King & Associates, P.A. is a full-service Certified Public Accounting firm licensed in the state of North Carolina. All of our CPAs hold valid North Carolina State CPA Certificates.
The Firm:
A lifelong entrepreneur, Carol has been a practicing Asheville-area CPA for 30+ years. Her mission is to help people make money and achieve their dreams. A graduate and active alumni of the University of North Carolina-Asheville, Carol specializes in designing creative solutions to meet all of the financial needs of her clients, including tax planning, investment strategies, and family financial planning. She has won many awards including UNCA's Francine M Delany Award for Service, Mountain Microenterprise Leadership Award, and is an active member of Rotary International. She likes to spend time horseback riding and ballroom dancing. Check us out on BrokerCheck.
Born in Akron, Ohio, Bruce earned degrees from the University of Miami and the Thunderbird School of International Management before settling on Accounting as his life’s profession. He stayed in Akron and worked for both large firms and small for nearly 40 years before deciding to head in the mountains of WNC with his wife Jan, a Special Education Administrator. Their son Michael lives in Asheville and is director of Blue Spiral 1 Gallery, and daughter Stacey lives in Minneapolis and is connected with the Hennepin County Hospital. Bruce likes helping people and solving puzzles, is deeply interested in small business success, and has specialties in real estate and tax planning. He is also an avid golfer and became a first time grandfather this past spring.
![]() A wiz with Excel, Don loves to slice and dice numbers to help his clients. An Asheville native, Don has a Masters of Accountancy degree from the Muma College of Business at the University of South Florida, along with over 8 years of experience as an accountant and auditor. In college, Don fell in love with accounting and changed his major after aceing his first class because it clicked with him. After 3 years as an auditor, Don decided to change direction and use his skills to help small businesses grow. Since joining the CLK Team, he has rediscovered his love for accounting along with a passion to help people realize their financial goals. Don believes in being active in the community and enjoys camping and playing sports, especially baseball and football.
Keith Bristol Originally from Morganton, North Carolina, Keith was a small business owner and a software engineer before deciding accounting was his calling. He simply loves numbers! Keith received a BS degree in Business & Economics from University of Kentucky, and later an MS in Computer Science from the University of Nebraska. He owned a Domino’s Pizza franchise in Hartford, Connecticut from 1987 to 1996, and worked as a software engineer for IBM before returning to North Carolina to pursue accounting. Keith is the proud uncle of 7 nieces and nephews, has a pet Border Collie named Lucy, and enjoys playing tennis and pickle ball as well as reading and exploring the great outdoors.
![]() Cheryl was born in Asheville and raised in Candler as one of 8 children born to native Asheville parents. She is the mother of 2 girls, grandmother to 2 grandsons, and has 18 nieces and nephews and 18 grand nieces and grandnephews. A graduate of Enka High School, Cheryl has had a lifelong interest in the accounting profession and has taken a number of business and accounting classes at AB Tech. She loves to bake and has developed a specialty in cake decorating, a gift she shares for weddings, birthdays, and other special events.
Laura grew up in the mountains of Western North Carolina, started college at Eastern Carolina University, and finished her degree in Business Management and Administration at UNC Asheville. Industrious and capable, she began her working years helping in her father’s construction business, and has also worked part time in the lab at Mission Hospital for the past 11 years. She and her husband Doug are parents of a teenager, Danielle, and young son, Jackson. Laura stays busy attending archery, soccer, softball, and basketball games. She is also active in her church and claims to know enough Spanish to be dangerous.
Lisa Shearer, Payroll Assistant Lisa grew up in central Pennsylvania, near Penn State University, and chose to go away to college; she graduated with a degree in Business Administration from Salisbury State University near Ocean City, Maryland and worked for the Chamber of Commerce in Rehoboth Beach for 10 years. Lisa moved to Asheville in 2009 and after a brief stint back in Delaware, came back to the mountains to stay and raise her family. She and her 3 children Abby, Jack, and Donny live in Black Mountain and enjoy hiking, swimming, and small town life.
![]() Kathy Fender, Bookkeeping & Payroll A lover of harmony, hiking and a workplace that hums, Kathy found her groove doing bookkeeping for the interesting and unique clients at Carol L. King & Associates. Born in Hendersonville, Kathy played baritone sax in her high school marching band before moving to Buncombe County. She attended ABTech and discovered she likes balancing the books just as much as walking on the beach. A mother of 3 grown children, Kathy shares her home with 3 cats who rule the roost.
Trish Gall, Administrative Assistant Trish Gall is a small town girl from Virginia. She moved to Asheville from Orlando in 2010 to be closer to family. She enjoys spending time with her husband, Jason, two daughters, Paige and Linzy, and their husky, Yukon. Trish loves the outdoors, music, and cooking.
Jessica Cannon, Administrative Assistant A southern girl through and through, Jessica Cannon spent summers with family in the High Country of North Carolina to escape steamy South Alabama, and dreamed of moving here one day. Her dream came true when she and her partner John accepted jobs in Asheville and made their home in Fletcher. She joined the Carol King staff in the fall of 2019 and enjoys the opportunity to hone skills gained when she studied business management in college: marketing, project management and helping people. Jess and John are avid hikers and often spend weekends exploring trails, discovering waterfalls or hiking mountains with their German Shepherd, Sammy.
Judi sees creative possibilities in every opportunity and loves connecting people with information, ideas and each other in order to grow small businesses and create jobs. A skilled public speaker and group leader, she spent 40 years with nonprofits, universities and governments bringing people together to solve community economic problems and highlight assets. Judi moved to Asheville in 2010, where she helped grow the craft economy throughout Western North Carolina and developed her own craft and teaching practice in the fiber arts. In 2011 she helped found a non-profit - Local Cloth - to grow the region's fiber economy and is current Board Chair. She has a BA in psychology and an MA in Speech Communication and Human Relations, and lives with her husband Gary Burge in Weaverville.
|