About the firm
Deep roots. Still growing.
Fifty years of continuous practice serving Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, national-firm experience along the way, and today an independent firm owned by the partners who work in it.
Our story
Three local practices, one national chapter, and a homecoming.
In the summer of 1976, Davis & LeGate opened its doors with offices in Westlake Village and downtown Los Angeles. In 1983, Foster, Bounce & Gemberling began practicing a few miles away in Thousand Oaks. For more than a decade the two firms served neighboring communities as independent local practices.
In 1994, American Express Tax & Business Services acquired both, Davis & LeGate in the summer and Foster, Bounce & Gemberling that winter, and brought them together as a single office. In 1997 a third long-standing local practice merged in, when the clients of Earl Mulford, CPA, found a new home with the firm. For nine years the combined practice operated as part of a national organization, with the resources, training, and standards that came with it, while the same people kept serving the same clients.
In 2003, the partners bought the firm back, and it has been independent and partner-owned ever since. Today Foster, Griffith & Allen, Inc. is led by John Foster, CPA and Kyle Griffith, CPA. Most of our clients are in Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, where the firm has always been based, and today we also work with clients across the country. We carry the names of the people who built these practices, and we intend to keep doing what they did: careful work, for people we know.
Timeline
1976 to today.
Every chapter of the firm's history, in order.
Davis & LeGate founded
Summer 1976, with offices in Westlake Village and downtown Los Angeles.
Foster, Bounce & Gemberling founded
Thousand Oaks, California.
Acquired by American Express Tax & Business Services
Davis & LeGate in the summer; Foster, Bounce & Gemberling in the winter. The two practices were combined into one office.
A third practice merges in
The clients of Earl Mulford, CPA, a long-standing local practitioner, found a new home with the firm.
The partners buy the firm back
Foster, Griffith & Allen, Inc. becomes an independent, partner-owned firm, and has remained one for more than twenty years.
A new office, the same neighborhood
The firm moves to 2801 Townsgate Road, Suite 101, in Westlake Village.
Our values
How we work with you.
- We tell you the truth.
- If a strategy won't work, if something from last year needs fixing, or if a question falls outside what we do, you'll hear it from us plainly. Bad news is easier to handle when it arrives early.
- We take care of our people.
- Good client work comes from a team that wants to be here. We work at making this a place people stay, and it shows: several of us have been here for decades, and most of the team measures its time at the firm in years, not months. When you call, you'll reach someone who knows your history.
- We handle it.
- The filings, the deadlines, the forms nobody enjoys. When we say we'll take care of something, you can take it off your list. If it comes back to you, it's because we need something only you have.
- We keep it practical.
- Advice you can act on, explained in plain English, sized to your situation. We'd rather solve the problem in front of you than impress you with what we know.
- We answer.
- Calls and emails get returned by a person who knows your file, not a queue.
- We do fewer things well.
- We've chosen our services on purpose so we can be excellent at each of them.
- We think about the whole picture.
- The business, the household, and the years ahead, not just this year's return.
Curious whether we're the right fit?
The first conversation is free. Tell us a little about your situation and we'll give you an honest answer.
No cost, no pressure, no obligation
What happens when you reach out
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You send a short note or call
A few sentences about your situation is plenty. You don't need to gather documents or know the right terminology.
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We get back to you
You'll hear from a member of our team, not an automated reply.
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We talk about whether we're a fit
The first conversation is free. We'll tell you plainly what we can help with and what it would look like to work together.