Quick Comparison
| Firm | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| <a href="https://www.taxandbusinessservice.com/">Tax and Business Services of Oakland</a> | Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor firm led by President LaLane Coaxum, who carries 20-plus years of bookkeeping, tax, and financial-analysis work. | QuickBooks setup, monthly bookkeeping, payroll, and tax preparation for family-owned and mid-sized businesses out of a West Oakland storefront. |
| <a href="https://smallbizmaven.com/">SmallBizMaven</a> | Independent advisory practice running since 1998 (28 years) under founder Blythe Adams, with deep QuickBooks, NetSuite, and Gusto experience. | Cloud-based bookkeeping, controller management, HR, payroll, and operations advisory for Bay Area small businesses and nonprofits. |
| <a href="http://b-sb.com/">Business-Savvy Bookkeeping</a> | Family-led independent firm established in 2006 (20 years) by Ann Valliant, now led by son Loren Valliant; expert QuickBooks consultants. | Bookkeeping, payroll, operations support, and tax-advice handoff for small businesses run by busy owners and self-employed professionals. |
1. Tax and Business Services of Oakland
- Address: 1684 7th St, Oakland, CA 94607
- Phone: (510) 291-8295
- Founder / Owner: LaLane Coaxum, President
- Operating Since: 20-plus years of leadership tenure under LaLane Coaxum
- Credentials: Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor firm under the Intuit ProAdvisor Agreement; B.S. in Business with an Accounting concentration from San Francisco State University; certifications in Real Estate and Life Insurance
- Service area: West Oakland office at 1684 7th Street, plus engagements with individuals and family-owned and mid-sized businesses across the East Bay
- Industries served: Family-owned and mid-sized businesses, hospitality clients, individuals, and small-business owners needing combined bookkeeping, payroll, and tax preparation
- Website: taxandbusinessservice.com
Seventh Street Storefront in West Oakland
The firm runs from a working office at 1684 7th Street in West Oakland, and the address is published on the practice site, on the Yelp business listing, on the BBB profile, and on the OpenCorporates entry filed under California entity number C4678482. The (510) 291-8295 line is the firm phone tied to the same set of records.
QuickBooks ProAdvisor Footing
The firm publishes its work under the Intuit, QuickBooks, and QuickBooks ProAdvisor registered trademarks under the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Agreement, which it discloses in the footer of the QuickBooks Services pages. That footing covers QuickBooks setup, employee training delivered at the client site or in office, transaction processing, general ledger reconciliation, and periodic file clean-up.
Two Decades Under LaLane Coaxum
President LaLane Coaxum brings 20-plus years of work with individuals, family-owned, and mid-sized businesses in tax planning and preparation, alongside hands-on accounting, bookkeeping, financial analysis, and tax work for organizations such as Hewlett Packard, United Parcel Service, and Uber Technologies. Her tenure clears the five-year minimum used in this directory by a wide margin.
Bookkeeping Plus Tax Under One Roof
The firm is positioned as a bookkeeping firm first, with QuickBooks file maintenance, payroll, and 1099 issuance as core monthly work, and year-end tax preparation as a follow-on service rather than the only offering. That mix lets an owner-operator keep books and tax with one team without paying a separate CPA hourly rate at year-end.
2. SmallBizMaven
- Address: 460 Boulevard Way, Suite 4, Oakland, CA 94610
- Phone: (415) 505-3115
- Founder / Owner: Blythe Adams
- Operating Since: 1998 (28 years)
- Credentials: Independent advisory firm under founder Blythe Adams with hands-on QuickBooks, NetSuite, Dropbox, and Gusto experience, plus complex accounting-system setup work
- Service area: Boulevard Way office in Oakland plus a Nevada City satellite, serving Bay Area clients and beyond on a cloud-first basis
- Industries served: Small businesses, nonprofits, and growing companies needing bookkeeping, controller support, HR, payroll, and operations management
- Website: smallbizmaven.com
Founded During the Dot-Com Era
SmallBizMaven was started in 1998 during the dot-com years of San Francisco and has continued under founder Blythe Adams ever since. The firm currently runs out of 460 Boulevard Way, Suite 4 in Oakland’s 94610 ZIP, with a secondary office in Nevada City. Both the address and the (415) 505-3115 phone are cross-verified across the Birdeye review profile, the Yahoo Local listing, and the company site contact page.
QuickBooks-Centered Tool Stack
Blythe Adams is described across her public profiles as a QuickBooks expert, with hands-on configuration work in QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, NetSuite, Dropbox, and Gusto. The firm’s published service set includes QuickBooks setup and clean-up, transaction categorization, accounts payable and receivable, payroll, and monthly financial reporting built for the owner rather than the auditor.
Controller-Style Engagement Model
SmallBizMaven publishes a controller-management service that goes past pure data entry into budgeting, forecasting, royalty and commission reporting, inventory tracking, and audit-preparation work. That positioning lets the shop support clients past the early bookkeeping stage without forcing them to hire an internal finance head.
HR and Operations Layer
On top of bookkeeping the practice adds HR support, payroll processing, employee onboarding workflows, handbook drafting, and compliance work. That second layer is what differentiates SmallBizMaven from a pure books-only shop and shows up in client reviews on Yelp, Alignable, and Birdeye that mention HR and operations help alongside the financial reporting.
3. Business-Savvy Bookkeeping
- Address: 5564 Marshall St, Oakland, CA 94608
- Phone: (510) 394-2178
- Founder / Owner: Ann Valliant (founder, semi-retired 2012) and Loren Valliant (current lead)
- Operating Since: 2006 (20 years)
- Credentials: Family-led independent practice; expert QuickBooks consultants per the firm’s published positioning and community recommendation directories
- Service area: Marshall Street office in North Oakland plus on-site and remote engagements with East Bay small businesses
- Industries served: Small-business owners and self-employed professionals needing bookkeeping, payroll, operations support, and tax-handoff work
- Website: b-sb.com
Family-Run Since 2006
Ann Valliant launched Business-Savvy Bookkeeping in 2006 after years of running other people’s businesses, looking for the flexibility and self-determination of her own shop. Her son Loren joined the company in 2008, and Ann moved into semi-retirement in 2012 with Loren continuing the family tradition. Twenty years of continuous family operation clears the five-year tenure floor used in this directory.
Marshall Street Office in North Oakland
The firm runs from 5564 Marshall Street in the 94608 ZIP near the Emeryville border, and the location is cross-verified across the Yelp business listing, the Birdeye review profile, and the shop’s own b-sb.com contact page. The (510) 394-2178 line is the published business line tied to the same set of records.
QuickBooks Consultant Bench
Ann and Loren Valliant are published as expert QuickBooks consultants for small-business owners, with service descriptions covering bookkeeping, payroll, operations, and tax advice. The firm picks up owner-operators who need their QuickBooks file maintained monthly and explained in plain English rather than handed back as a stack of reports.
Built for Owner-Operators
The firm tilts its engagement model toward small-business owners and self-employed professionals who want a bookkeeper they can call rather than a dashboard subscription. Published reviews on Yelp and Berkeley Parents Network describe Ann and Loren as warm, savvy, and clear, which lines up with how the practice positions itself on its own site.
Reference Notes
Tax and Business Services of Oakland office at 1684 7th Street, Oakland, CA 94607 and phone (510) 291-8295 are cross-verified across the firm’s own site (taxandbusinessservice.com), its Yelp business listing, the BBB Business Profile under file number 1116-940970, and the OpenCorporates record under California entity number C4678482. President LaLane Coaxum’s 20-plus year leadership tenure and her published Bachelor of Science in Business with an Accounting concentration from San Francisco State University come from the company’s Meet the President page, the PTIN Directory entry, and her LinkedIn profile. The firm’s QuickBooks ProAdvisor footing is published in the footer of its QuickBooks Services page under the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Agreement.
SmallBizMaven’s 1998 launch and Oakland headquarters are documented on smallbizmaven.com, the Alignable Oakland profile, the Yelp Oakland listing, founder Blythe Adams’s LinkedIn page, and the Birdeye review profile that lists the shop at 460 Boulevard Way #4, Oakland CA. The (415) 505-3115 phone is published on the Yahoo Local listing and the practice contact page. Service-line detail covering bookkeeping, controller management, HR, payroll, and operations comes from the firm’s own services pages plus the Alignable profile and the Poyst directory entry.
Business-Savvy Bookkeeping’s 2006 launch under Ann Valliant, her son Loren Valliant’s 2008 entry into the company, and Ann’s 2012 semi-retirement are documented on the shop’s own b-sb.com pages, on the Yelp Oakland listing under file business-savvy-bookkeeping-oakland-2, on the Birdeye accountant review profile, and through Berkeley Parents Network community recommendations. The 5564 Marshall Street address and (510) 394-2178 phone are cross-verified across the same three independent directory profiles.
Selection Methodology
This list applies four filters to the Oakland market. First, the practice has to be independent and either owner-led or family-led rather than part of a national rollup or franchise. Second, the firm should be a QuickBooks-focused practice with either Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor status or published QuickBooks consultant positioning verified on the company’s own site and across third-party directories. Third, the shop has to have been in business for more than five years, with priority going to firms past the fifteen-year mark. Fourth, the practice has to position itself as a bookkeeping practice rather than a pure CPA tax-preparation shop. National rollup and franchise brands such as Bench, Pilot, QuickBooks Live, BELAY, Bookkeeper360, Bookminders, Supporting Strategies, Bookkeeper.com, and 1-800Accountant were excluded at the shortlist stage. Firms whose street address and phone could not be cross-verified across two independent sources were also excluded, as were firms already covered in the San Francisco and San Jose entries in this directory.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do these firms work with clients outside Oakland proper?
Yes. Tax and Business Services of Oakland is based at 1684 7th Street in West Oakland and works with individuals and family-owned and mid-sized businesses across the East Bay. SmallBizMaven runs from a Boulevard Way office in Oakland with a Nevada City satellite, and the firm takes on cloud-first engagements across the Bay Area and beyond. Business-Savvy Bookkeeping runs out of a Marshall Street office in North Oakland and handles on-site and remote work for East Bay small businesses.
Are these firms CPA practices or bookkeeping practices?
All three are positioned as bookkeeping practices rather than as full CPA tax-preparation firms, though Tax and Business Services of Oakland adds in-house tax preparation alongside its bookkeeping and QuickBooks work. SmallBizMaven and Business-Savvy Bookkeeping handle monthly books, reconciliations, payroll, and reporting, then hand the file to an outside tax preparer at year-end. Owners who want one team handling both books and taxes typically pick Tax and Business Services of Oakland.
What does QuickBooks ProAdvisor certification cover?
Intuit’s ProAdvisor program certifies practitioners on the current QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop releases, with annual recertification required to keep the credential active. Tax and Business Services of Oakland publishes its ProAdvisor status under the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Agreement in the footer of its QuickBooks Services page. SmallBizMaven and Business-Savvy Bookkeeping both publish deep QuickBooks consultant positioning on their own sites and across third-party directories, with full software-platform spreads covering QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and related tools.
How long have these firms been operating?
Tax and Business Services of Oakland has run under President LaLane Coaxum for 20-plus years of leadership tenure, per her published profile. SmallBizMaven was founded in 1998 by Blythe Adams and has run for 28 years from the Oakland headquarters. Business-Savvy Bookkeeping was launched in 2006 by Ann Valliant, with her son Loren Valliant joining in 2008 and leading the company since Ann’s 2012 semi-retirement. Each clears the five-year minimum tenure threshold this directory applies, and each has stayed independent across that window.
Editorial Note
This post was prepared on 2026-05-11 using publicly available web sources, including each firm’s own website, Yelp business listings, Better Business Bureau profiles, the Alignable neighborhood directory, the Birdeye review platform, the Poyst business directory, the Yahoo Local listing, the PTIN Directory, the OpenCorporates record for California entity C4678482, Berkeley Parents Network community recommendations, and LinkedIn profiles for the founders and principals. Address, phone, ownership, and tenure details reflect those sources at the time of writing. Readers should confirm current details directly with each firm before contracting, since office locations, phone numbers, and ownership can change after publication.