Firm Profile

Our Services

Auditing and accounting, tax services, and management advisory services constitute most of our business, and we pride ourselves on our close contact with our clients and on our knowledge of their businesses. Our clients present us with a wide range of challenges on a daily basis and our services emphasize tax and financial planning and financial controls. We stress partner availability and responsiveness to our clients' needs and work hard to anticipate those needs, rather than simply react to them.

Our Resources

The firm’s greatest resource is its professional staff. In addition to our three partners, we have seven professionals whose experience ranges from 4 to over 50 years. Each professional adds an expertise in specific areas of audit or tax practice. We all work together to ensure the highest quality service to our clients. For individual backgrounds and expertise please visit “Our Team” tab.

The firm also maintains a complete tax and accounting library and our computer system is networked with major national computer tax, financial and accounting research systems. We are fully equipped with accounting and tax software programs which serve as diagnostic and consulting tools for our professional staff.

Our Partners

 DAVID J. ARRICK


David J. Arrick, a Certified Public Accountant, joined Boas & Boas LLP in 1987, specializing in accounting and tax issues for businesses and individuals. In 1990, he was made a partner of the firm. Prior to joining Boas & Boas, he served for three years as the Corporate Controller and Tax Director at Brae Corporation in San Francisco. He also spent six years working for the public accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand in both the Los Angeles and San Francisco offices.


Within David’s tax practice, tax planning and compliance services are provided to both individuals and business entities. He has determined the tax implications of a variety of transactions, including corporate and partnership formations and liquidations and tax deferred exchanges of property for individuals, trusts and related businesses. David’s clients include real estate operators, retail and wholesale businesses, professional service firms, software developers and restaurants, among others.


David’s accounting practice consists of providing services to clients including financial statement analysis, consulting with respect to financial controls and cash management. David has many clients who require financial audits or reviews to comply with lender or funding requirements.


David has provided litigation support services to both plaintiffs and defendants involving both financial statement and tax return analyses as well as the treatment of specific transactions. He has been called upon to evaluate lost profit calculations and other damage claims.


David is an active participant in professional organizations including the American Institute and California Society of Certified Public Accountants. He received an M.B.A. from the U.C.L.A. Graduate School of Management (1979) and an M.S. in Taxation from Golden Gate University (1988) in addition to an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut (1975). As a demonstration of the degree of confidence placed in David, he serves as a board member, officer and trustee for several non-profit organizations and private enterprises.

 PHILIP F. MONOHAN


Phil has been in public accounting for 40 years, joining Boas & Boas LLP in 1979. Phil attended California State University in Los Angeles, obtaining both B.S. and M.B.A. degrees in Business and Accounting. After beginning his accounting career in Los Angeles, he moved to San Francisco for a position with Laventhol and Horwath where he specialized in taxation. He has been a partner with Boas & Boas LLP since 1980.


His chief interest within the tax arena is in estate and trust taxation. Phil has been honored with membership in the Estate Planning Council of San Francisco. This is a prestigious group of attorneys, accountants and trust officers who meet regularly to discuss current developments in estate planning. He may be able to guide the transfer of family wealth from generation to generation without paying significant transfer tax.


Phil’s many years of experience in both tax and accounting enable him to serve clients in many different industries and professions. Within the tax area, he accents planning with emphasis on the income and estate tax structures of a proposed transaction. Throughout his career, Phil has demonstrated creative thinking with respect to the accomplishment of a family objective with the least tax cost.


Phil has an active role in civic and community affairs. He is a member of the San Francisco Rotary, and is involved with local interests in San Carlos, where he resides. On the personal side, Phil is married with two daughters. His wife, Marie, is active in the art docent program at SFMOMA. Professionally, Phil is a member of both the American Institute and California Society of Certified Public Accountants.

THOMAS P. COUGHLAN


Thomas P Coughlan, a certified public accountant, joined Boas and Boas in 1998 and became a partner in 2007. His work includes income tax planning and compliance for high net worth individuals and closely held companies. He has extensive experience with tax characterizations of transactions, such as issues related to stock options and real estate. He also has experience with business valuations of closely held companies.


Prior to joining Boas & Boas, he served for two years as the Controller at a post-production facility. Tom also spent six years working for another local public accounting firm. His experience includes work with real estate developers, start-up companies, distribution and construction companies, and non-profit organizations including homeowners associations and museums.


Tom earned a BS degree from the University of San Francisco (1990). He also holds a Masters in Taxation from Golden Gate University (2002). In addition, he holds the AICPA credential of Accredited in Business Valuation. He is a member of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He also is a member of the California Society of CPAs Litigation Section’s Business Valuation Section.

Our Commitment


As a demonstration of the degree of confidence placed in us, members of our firm serve as conservators, trustees, and members of boards of directors of various organizations and companies. We frequently have been involved in business valuations, consulted to most industries with regard to tax planning and accounting systems and controls, and provided expert witness testimony in litigation matters. Geographically, most of our clients are based in the San Francisco Bay Area, but range throughout California and numerous other states.

Privacy Policy


We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information obtained in the course of our practice, except as required or permitted by law. Permitted disclosures include, for instance, providing information to our employees, and in limited situations, to unrelated third parties who need to know that information to assist us in providing services to you. These would be firms employed by our clients, such as attorneys or retirement plan administrators.