Calegari & Morris
Insightful. Proactive. Human.

At Calegari and Morris, we believe our clients are best served by obtaining expert advice in every area of their financial profile. In order to achieve this, we have built a boutique tax and financial advisory practice with the most highly qualified, experienced and personable people in San Francisco. We have 30 professionals: 90% are CPA's averaging greater than five years of "Big4" tax experience. In addition, we have a network of complementary services providers such as lawyers, bankers, pension administrators and investment managers who share our philosophy and quality of talent. As a result, when you work with our firm you can be assured that you will receive service from the people best suited to provide it, in the most timely manner and at the most reasonable cost. This is the way we built our firm over the last 70 years and the reason we have extremely low turnover of professional staff and clients.

At Calegari and Morris, we believe that sound
advice is never a commodity; that personal
relationships are the best way to serve our clients;
and that our mission is to provide our clients
greater service and higher satisfaction than any
firm in San Francisco.

"...I have a great many clients in common with Calegari and Morris and they are just great... savvy, practical and responsive as all get out... this is not suggested because of mutual back scratch; it is because they are good..."
—Barry Reder Esq, Coblentz, Patch, Duffy, and Bass

A positive start at the height of the depression

In 1932, in order to make ends meet, the regional accounting firm that employed Al Calegari suggested that he and a fellow CPA share one salary. Al, with a wife and two children, a smaller family than the other man’s, suggested instead that the company give his colleague a fulltime job, and that he would find other work.

A former client of Al’s heard the news and suggested a trade: accounting services for office space in downtown San Francisco. Other former clients wanted to retain Al’s services too, and he was soon doing well. Al founded his firm with three guiding principals: be your clients’ best advocate, set the standard for quality service, and deliver that service ahead of time. He followed these personal principles until the day he retired in 1979.

Serving Greater San Francisco for over 70 years

In 1942, Al volunteered to serve his country, doing so (not surprisingly) as an auditor for the army. When he returned at the end of the war, three years later, he found all his clients ready for him to resume their relationships. Al’s son Greg joined his father in 1965, bringing in other top professionals, including, in 1970, George Morris as a partner. Big changes were coming to business and, proactive even then, Calegari & Morris was prepared for them. When the professional corporation law changed in the early 1970s and pension plans could be put in place, the firm helped hundreds of clients reap the benefits and enjoy new levels of financial security. Increasing our clients’ net worth remains our number one objective.

Today, Calegari & Morris is the twentieth largest CPA firm in the Greater San Francisco area, and if we thought getting bigger in a hurry by offering auditing services would serve our clients better, we would. We won’t because our objectivity (we don’t sell products nor do we receive fees for referrals) allows us to be your best advocate. From this position, we can most effectively serve your needs, helping you limit tax liabilities and increasing your net worth. Besides, instead of spending lots of time hiring and training new people, we get to concentrate on our passion—income tax planning and compliance.

Team players who stay ahead of the game

Our partners and many of our CPAs have years of “Big Four” experience. On average, our CPAs have at least five years of “Big Four” accounting experience. But unlike a “Big Four” client, with Calegari & Morris, you’ll have direct access to the senior team members handling your business.

Over our many years, we’ve also developed close relationships with a number of lawyers, bankers, and other professionals outside the firm, a network of San Francisco’s best to help you address needs that lie outside of our practice areas. If you already work with trusted people, we’re more than happy to collaborate with your team.

“We earn our fees long before the end of the year.”
—Greg Calegari

A personable, proactive approach

If you don’t call us, we’ll still call you. Our approach is proactive: we know your business, and often your family, and we project and plan to your best advantage all year long. To serve you even better, our company culture is big on cooperation—we make use of one another’s experience and knowledge. We don’t believe in hierarchy here. Which is one reason why the people we recruit stay. We encourage a balance between work life and life life and it works: less stress equals a sharper more productive staff. Plus, you benefit from the continuity—again, this is something you’re unlikely to experience with most firms. We also have the technology to give team members private, 24/7 access to the information they need to answer your questions.

Well worth the change

Unless you’re just starting a business, you’re perusing this site because somewhere along the line, your present accountant hasn’t taken care of you. Still, we realize that it’s a big decision to change accountants. There’s only one reason to do it: your financial wellbeing. When you become a client here, we’ll learn everything we can about what your past accountant has or hasn’t done for you, and then we’ll develop strategies to go forward in a way that will make the change well worth it.

“It’s simple: increasing our clients net worth increases ours.”
—George Morris