Managing Partner
A J Smith, CPA
Twenty years advising Fortune 500s, closely-held businesses, and the owners behind them — with a bias for practical strategy over paperwork.
Read biography →
Orange County · Southern California
Financial leadership for Southern California companies ready to scale with confidence.
Smith Going & Associates is the advisory firm established businesses graduate to — proactive strategy, executive-level guidance, and a long-term partnership built for the next chapter of your growth.
20+ yrs
Advisory experience
50 states
Client reach
Year-round
Proactive planning
1:1
Advisor relationship
Leadership
Meet the advisors behind the strategy.
The firm's greatest asset is the depth of its bench. Every client engagement is partner-led — the same advisor at the table year after year, not a rotating cast.
Partner
John Going, EA
The advisor clients call throughout the year — creative on tax outcomes, exacting on the details, and relentlessly practical for owners.
Read biography →
Advisory Principal
Mary Beth Girton, CPA
A decade across industry and practice — she turns messy financials into the reports leaders actually make decisions from.
Read biography →The Smith Going difference
Beyond compliance. Built for growth.
Most accounting firms tell you what already happened. We help you decide what should happen next. Tax planning, financial leadership, and executive-level counsel — delivered the way business owners actually need it: ahead of the decision, not after the deadline.
For our clients, we function as an extension of their leadership team. When a hiring decision, an acquisition, a distribution, or a lease is on the table, we're the first call — not the last invoice.
Strategic tax planning
Multi-year projections and quarterly tax conversations. Every major business move made with the full tax picture in front of you.
Business advisory
Quarterly business reviews, profitability analysis, and the strategic conversations that actually change outcomes for the year.
Financial leadership
Executive-level oversight for owners who need CFO-caliber thinking without a full-time hire.
Long-term relationships
The same partner-led team, year after year. Advisory that compounds because the context compounds.
Executive-level guidance
Board-quality reporting, capital decisions, entity structure, and owner comp — treated with the seriousness they deserve.
Proactive communication
You'll hear from us before the deadline, before the transaction, before the fire. That's the whole point.
Who we help
A firm shaped by the clients it serves.
We work best with established, ambitious owners — the kind of clients who want a real advisor, not a filing service.
Growth Companies
Scaling businesses moving past founder-led finance and building a real financial function — with the systems, reporting, and strategy that come with the next stage.
Explore →Family-Owned Businesses
Multi-generational operators who need long-view planning: succession, ownership transitions, and the conversations that keep the business — and the family — intact.
Explore →Professional Service Firms
Law firms, medical groups, agencies, and consultancies. Partner comp, owner distributions, entity structure, and the strategic tax picture behind them.
Explore →Real Estate & Investment
Sponsors, operators, and investors managing complex entity stacks — with the cost segregation, 1031, and structuring conversations that come with real portfolios.
Explore →High-Net-Worth Individuals
Executives, founders, and families where the personal, business, and investment tax picture have to be planned together — not filed separately in silos.
Explore →Services
Organized around business outcomes.
We don't sell tasks; we deliver outcomes. Every engagement is built around what a stronger business actually needs — clarity, protection, performance, and a plan for what's next.
01
Build stronger financial systems
Clean books, close cadence, and month-end reports leadership actually reads. The foundation everything else is built on.
- Accounting
- Bookkeeping
- Reporting
- Payroll
02
Increase business performance
Quarterly reviews, forward-looking cash visibility, and the strategic conversations that turn financial data into decisions.
- Strategic advisory
- Financial planning
- Cash flow
- Forecasting
03
Protect more of what you earn
Year-round tax strategy across your business, personal, and estate picture — coordinated, not fragmented.
- Tax planning
- Business taxes
- Estate planning
- Entity optimization
04
Plan what's next
The bigger conversations: preparing to transition, preparing to sell, or simply preparing to grow past the current version of the business.
- Succession planning
- Exit planning
- Business consulting
- Long-term advisory
The client experience
What working with an advisory firm actually looks like.
A calm, deliberate rhythm — closer to hiring an executive team than engaging an accountant. Every step is designed to move your business forward, not just close a book.
01
Discovery
A candid conversation about your business, your owners, and what a great financial partnership actually looks like.
02
Business Assessment
We audit the current state — books, tax posture, entity structure, reporting — and identify what's costing you money or attention.
03
Strategic Roadmap
A written plan for tax strategy, systems, cadence, and the decisions ahead over the next 12–36 months.
04
Implementation
We put the systems, workflows, and calendar in place — quietly, so the business keeps moving.
05
Ongoing Advisory
Monthly close, quarterly business reviews, and the phone-a-friend seat for the decisions in between.
06
Annual Planning
Year-end tax planning and a forward-looking plan for the next year — always ahead of the calendar, never behind it.
Why businesses stay
Advisors clients keep for a decade — not a season.
Long-tenured client relationships are the truest measure of an advisory firm. Our partners have walked with owners through hires, acquisitions, ownership transitions, exits, and the quiet years in between.
"They're not our accountants — they're part of our leadership team. That distinction has changed how we run the business."
10+ yrs
Average client tenure
48 hrs
Response promise
Partner-led
Every engagement
Year-round
Advisory cadence
Insights Center
Educators — not just accountants.
Business strategy, tax planning, cash flow, exit planning, and the leadership conversations that shape how ambitious companies grow.
Tax Strategy
The five year-end conversations every owner should have with their CPA.
8 min read→
Cash Flow
Reading your cash forecast: the four numbers that matter more than net income.
6 min read→
Exit Planning
Selling your business in five years? Start these three moves this quarter.
10 min read→
Business Advisory
Owner comp, the S-corp trap, and the reasonable salary conversation.
7 min read→
Community
Proudly serving Southern California businesses.
Our clients operate across the country, but our roots are firmly planted in Orange County's business community. We show up locally — in Irvine, Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, and Santa Ana — and stay involved with the operators, families, and institutions that shape this region.
IrvineNewport BeachCosta MesaSanta AnaOrange CountySouthern California
Next step
Let's build what's next for your business.
A candid conversation is the best way to know whether Smith Going is the right long-term partner. We'll listen, ask the right questions, and be honest about fit.