Lavine Lofgren Morris & Engelberg, LLP

Operating since 1985 and describing itself as San Diego's largest local accounting firm, LLME works mainly with closely-held businesses and the individuals behind them. Its clients come from real estate, construction, and manufacturing and distribution, as well as technology and life sciences, hospitality and the nonprofit sector. Start-ups are taken on, and — less usually for a general practice — professional athletes.

Five service lines carry the work, from accounting and audit through business, trust and estate tax to transactional consulting — mergers, acquisitions, reorganizations and ownership transitions. The accounting side runs from full bookkeeping and month-end close up to controller work, job costing and KPI dashboards, with QuickBooks setup and cleanup on either the Online or Desktop version. Partners are said to work directly with clients. Membership of BKR, an international network of independent firms, backs work for clients elsewhere in the country and abroad, and a spring internship program brings new people in.