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. My father worked in Cayucos in San Luis Obispo in the 1990s consulting at the now closed Chevron oil terminal, which was my introduction to the Central Coast. I then decided to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for college. San Luis Obispo was such a wonderful place that 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 this 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 with a very long extension cord for power I somewhat reluctantly came back to Marin to work on accounting and other matters for a property management company. I quickly realized that I enjoyed a regular 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 care for 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. for autonomy 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, 11-year-old daughter, and 4-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 after trekking through the Andes mountains, and admiring the majestic Taj Mahal at sunrise!!

Specialty areas:

  • Business Valuation

  • Forensic Accounting

  • Financial Forecasting

  • Tax Planning for Complex Transactions

Member of:

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

  • Marin 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:

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