Al Hathaway is a professional practice held in private hands since 1961. We advise closely held businesses, families and their trustees on the matters that decide whether capital is preserved or lost.
Our History
Sixty-five years, one owner, and a rule about how fast an answer ought to arrive.
The practice opened in the spring of 1961 in two rooms above a hardware store on Telegraph Street, four doors from where it stands today. Alexandar Hathaway had left a national firm over a disagreement about speed. His position, which we have never revised, was that a client is better served by a considered answer in a fortnight than a confident one on Friday.
For eleven years he took no client he could not reach in a morning’s drive. The rule was not modesty. It meant that when something went wrong he could be in the room by lunchtime, and clients came to expect it.
The second office opened in Santa Barbara in 1978, at the request of a client who had bought a business there. Every office since has opened the same way — because someone we already acted for needed us to be somewhere. None has opened because a market looked attractive.
The firm has never been sold, merged or recapitalised. Every partner has been promoted from within. Our longest-standing client relationship began in 1964 and is now in its third generation.
Garry Fisher
Managing Partner
Milestones
1961
Alexandar Hathaway opens the practice in two rooms above a hardware store on Telegraph Street, four doors from where it stands today.
1964
A family engaged that year is still a client. The relationship is now in its third generation.
1978
Santa Barbara opens at a client’s request. Every office since has opened the same way.
1991
Taxation and advisory are established as service lines in their own right, each under a named partner.
2003
The first managing partner from outside the family is appointed, having joined as an articled clerk in 1979.
2026
Nine offices across three states. Still privately held, and every partner promoted from within.
Operating Principles
01
We do not accept work we are not competent to do, and we will tell you who is.
02
The fee is agreed in writing before the work begins. It does not move afterwards.
03
The partner who signs the engagement letter does the work on it.
04
We decline more prospective clients than we accept.
05
Bad news reaches you first, and quickly. We have never held a finding back to soften it.
06
What you tell us stays in this office. Permanently, and without exception.
Memberships & Registrations
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Member firm since 1963
California Board of Accountancy
Registered, Licence No. 00-0000
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
Registered since 2004
State Bar of California
Affiliated legal practice
National Association of Insurance Advisers
Member since 1996
Peer Review Program
Passed without comment, 2016–2025
Every engagement begins with a conversation, not a proposal
Speak to a partner or call 1-888-000-0000, 24 hours a day.