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Acquisitions
Modeling the deal, the structure, and the after‑tax reality before anything gets signed.
Imperial Beach · San Diego County · Since 2006
Strategic advisors for Southern California business owners, established families, and entrepreneurs navigating what comes next.
HNK CPAs has spent nearly two decades guiding the entrepreneurs, multi‑generation family businesses, and established households shaping the South Bay — through growth, succession, tax strategy, and the capital decisions that determine what gets built next.
2006
Founded locally
30+ yrs
Leadership experience
2
San Diego offices
The Decisions Behind the Numbers
Great financial outcomes are the result of better decisions — not better paperwork.
Tax returns and statements record what already happened. We help our clients shape what happens next — the structural choices, the timing, the trade‑offs that compound for years.
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Growth
Pricing, hiring, capital, and cash — built on numbers you actually trust.
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Succession
Transferring a business — to family, partners, or a buyer — with intention and clarity.
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Tax Strategy
A year‑round plan instead of an April surprise; entity, comp, and timing handled in advance.
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Capital Decisions
Real‑estate, equipment, debt vs. equity — quantified before the commitment is made.
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Wealth Creation
Aligning the business, the household, and the long‑term plan into one financial picture.
Our History
Two firms. One vision. A new standard for Southern California advisory.
In 2020, two respected practices came together — Wade Howard and Associates in El Cajon and Beach CPAs in Imperial Beach — to form HNK CPAs. The merger brought five partners to the table: Patrick Howard, Matthew Howard, Jason Kaminsky, Karen Bennett, and Shirley Nakawatase.
What emerged was more than a combined client list. It was a multi‑location, multi‑talented team designed for progressive advisory — offering not only traditional audit, review, and tax services, but also coordinated wealth creation and management for the business owners and families we serve across San Diego County.
El Cajon RootsImperial Beach Roots5 PartnersMulti‑LocationWealth AdvisoryAudit & Assurance
The founding partners of HNK CPAs — formed from the 2020 merger of Wade Howard and Associates (El Cajon) and Beach CPAs (Imperial Beach).
Beyond Public Accounting
Our perspective comes from helping businesses — and from running them.
Many CPAs have never sat in the operator's seat. Our leadership has. Years inside executive roles — CFO, Controller, partner-level operator — change the way you read a P&L and the way you advise the person sitting across the conference table.
We know what it costs to make a bad hire, mis‑time an acquisition, or under‑plan a transition. So we don't just hand you the report. We tell you what we'd do with it.
CFO experience
Patrick served as CFO of Brian Tracy International — owning forecasting, capital, and the conversations that follow a hard quarter.
Controller experience
Years as Controller of Broadband Innovations — building the operating cadence growing companies actually need.
Executive decision-making
We've made the call to hire, the call to cut, and the call to wait. That perspective shapes every recommendation we give.
Growth-side perspective
We understand the texture of running a business that's outgrowing yesterday's systems — and what to fix first.
Built For The Long Game
Built for businesses that plan to be here tomorrow.
We're not built for one‑off transactions. We're built for the owners, families, and companies that intend to compound — across decades, generations, and the next economic cycle nobody can see coming yet.
Decades, not deadlines
Most of our client relationships measure in years and generations. The work is built to last that long.
Continuity of counsel
The same advisors year after year — institutional memory of your business, not a rotating bench.
Stewardship over speed
We move quickly when the moment calls for it, and patiently when it doesn't. Both matter.
What We Do
Services framed around the decisions, not the deadlines.
Every engagement is built around growth, stewardship, and the long‑term financial picture — not the next compliance cycle.
Tax Planning
Move on the opportunity before it expires.
Year‑round projections, entity strategy, and timing decisions handled in advance — not in April.
Learn moreTax Preparation
Filed with the strategy already done.
Federal, state, and multi‑entity returns prepared with the planning conversation already behind us.
Learn moreAudit & Assurance
Confidence that holds up to outside scrutiny.
Audit, review, and attest engagements for businesses, nonprofits, and lenders that need certainty.
Learn moreWealth Management
The business, the household, and the legacy in one plan.
Coordinated wealth strategy across the company, the family, and the next generation.
Learn moreBusiness Advisory
A trusted voice on the calls that matter.
Quarterly strategy, profitability, owner compensation, and the decisions that shape the next chapter.
Learn moreFinancial Consulting
CFO‑level thinking when you need it most.
Forecasting, capital structure, acquisition modeling, and the operator's perspective on each.
Learn moreAccounting Services
Clean numbers behind every decision.
Monthly close, reporting, and the operational financial cadence growing companies depend on.
Learn moreNonprofit Support
Stewardship for organizations built to serve.
Audit, assurance, and advisory for the nonprofits shaping the South Bay community.
Learn moreWhat Working With HNK Feels Like
Responsive. Experienced. Proactive. Quietly in your corner.
The advisor relationship clients describe most often: the call gets returned, the question gets answered straight, and the work is already underway before the deadline.
Step 01
A real first conversation
We start with a one‑on‑one — your business, your household, your priorities. No script.
Step 02
Calm onboarding
Documents move through a secure portal. The handoff from your prior firm is something we manage, not you.
Step 03
Year‑round advisory
Quarterly strategy conversations, mid‑year tax projections, and the proactive nudges that prevent surprises.
Step 04
Tax planning before tax filing
The plan happens first. The return reflects the strategy you already decided on.
Step 05
Wealth strategy in view
Business and personal financial pictures coordinated, not siloed — so decisions don't work against each other.
Step 06
Ongoing support
The same team, year after year. The institutional memory of your business sits with us, not in a file somewhere.
Our Team
The advisors actually sitting across the table.
Partners, CPAs, and senior advisors who have spent careers — not seasons — inside Southern California business and household finance.
Patrick Howard, CPA, MT
Partner · Financial Advisor
Matthew Howard, CPA
Partner · Financial Advisor
Shirley E.M. Nakawatase, CPA
Partner
Jason B. Kaminsky, CPA
Partner
Karen Bennett, EA
Partner
Thomas Dixon, CPA
Attest & Assurance Manager
Santa Tommka, CPA
Tax & Assurance Manager
Kim Omahen
Customer Service Supervisor
Proud To Serve Imperial Beach & Greater San Diego
Coastal roots. Long South Bay memory. A practice built where we actually live.
You'll find us where the Silver Strand meets the South Bay — a short walk from the pier, a short drive from Chula Vista, Coronado, and the rest of San Diego County. The business owners and families we serve aren't a market segment to us. They're our neighbors, our friends, and the community we've grown up working alongside.
Imperial BeachSouth BayChula VistaCoronadoSan Diego CountyEl Cajon
The next conversation
Let's map the next chapter — together.
A first conversation is the cleanest way to find out whether HNK is the right team for the chapter your business — or your family — is heading into next.
Built for business owners, families, and entrepreneurs playing the long game.