Clay D. Bellows, CPA/ABV/CFF, FMVA - President

Background: My life summarized in a few quick paragraphs. I have some roots in California. My grandparents and great grandparents lived in San Francisco. My parents lived in SF in the late 60’s and early 70’s. I was born in SF and raised in Marin County. I graduated from Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley before heading down to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo for college. San Luis Obispo was a wonderful place to attend college, so I tried to extend my stay for as long as possible by living in a garden shed for $50 a month (not adjusted for inflation). Yes, a sheet metal garden shed covered in weeds sitting in the corner of my friend’s back yard. At his point, I was in my early 20’s and had about $1 left in my bank account. After making it through one very cold winter in the leaky shed I somewhat reluctantly came back to Marin for a quick stint doing accounting for a property management company. I quickly realized that I enjoyed a paycheck, cherished heating and insulation, and was intrigued with the world of accounting and finance. On a beautiful spring weekend in 2003, I attended a friend’s wedding which took place in the grass near the 18th hole at Pebble Beach. This certainly seemed like a beautiful place to live, so I took a job in Carmel, CA working at a regional CPA firm, which was part of the RSM network alliance. At this firm I was introduced to the world of valuation, litigation support, and tax. I was fascinated with helping small business owners and individuals, along with their legal counsel, navigate through complex financial matters. Eventually, I made my way back to SF to help with a sick family member and obtained a great job working in downtown SF at DZH Phillips (now Baker Tilly). In 2013, I ventured into the specialized bankruptcy and litigation support firm of Bachecki, Crom and Co., LLP where I became a partner. In 2019, I founded Outer Point Advisory, Inc. and haven’t looked back!

I am a licensed Certified Public Accountant and have worked in public accounting since 2003 valuing privately held businesses, providing forensic accounting services, and helping business owners with tax planning.  In addition to a CPA license, I have obtained specialty designations in the valuation and forensic accounting fields. My work experience includes a large number of litigation engagements to provide financial analysis, calculate economic damages, dissenting shareholder dispute advisory, determine solvency, and perform asset investigations and tracings.  I have valued over 250 closely-held businesses for acquisitions, buy-sell agreements, estate/gift taxes, succession planning, litigation support, and family law cases.  I also calculate valuation discounts for undivided interests in real property. I have extensive experience working with closely-held business owners and high-net-worth individuals on tax compliance and financial planning engagements. I have testified as an expert witness in California Superior Court.

Education: I received my bachelors in science in agbusiness with concentrations in both accounting and international business management from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA. In 1999, I also studied abroad at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia where I focused on tasting the local beers and wines.

Personal: I reside with my wonderful wife, 9-year-old daughter, and 3-year-old son. Whenever grandma is available to babysit, we take the occasional backpacking trip into the Sierra Nevada. We also enjoy traveling. I have visited all continents, except Antarctica (which is on the bucket list). My travels have included gasping for air while hiking over 18,000 foot-tall Himalayan mountain passes, spending well over $100 Euros ordering back-to-back espressos on a very cold and rainy day at a cafe in Paris, negotiating never ending traffic in Vietnam, spotting the elusive leopard on a self-drive safari in Namibia, wandering amongst the ruins at Machu Pichu, and admiring the majestic Taj Mahal at sunrise!!

Specialty areas:

  • Business Valuation

  • Forensic Accounting

  • Tax Planning

Member of:

  • American Institute of Certified Public Accountants - Forensic and Valuation Services Section

  • Marin County Bar Association - Affiliate Member

  • San Luis Obispo County Bar Association - Affiliate Member

Obtained designations:

  • Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Licensed in the State of California (license #97628)

  • Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV), AICPA

  • Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF), AICPA

  • Financial Modeling and Valuation Analyst (FMVA), Corporate Finance Institute

Published articles:

Giving back:

100 People Who Care Marin County https://100marin.org/

Clay in a member of 100+ People Who Care, a members-only circle of like-minded, philanthropic individuals who are dedicated to enhancing the support and awareness of Marin County nonprofits.  100MARIN was created by a group of local, community-minded business professionals, with the following objectives, to 1) increase each circle member’s overall giving impact, and 2) to develop and strengthen the network of individuals who are passionate about the local non-profit community.  The 200+ member group donate collectively to selected local nonprofits biannually.  The pooled donations provide great impact for the recipient nonprofit.

San Francisco-Marin Food Bank https://www.sfmfoodbank.org/

SF Marin Food Bank’s mission is to end hunger in San Francisco and Marin, where one in four people experience food insecurity.  We volunteer annually at the SF Marin Food bank to package donated food to be distributed to those families in need.

Thanks for reading my Bio! I hope we can meet at some point. Click here to contact me for a meeting -> LINK.