Acquiring a CPA firm

July 31, 2023

by a searcher from New York University in Nashville, TN, USA

Everyone,
I wanted to see if anyone has had any experience in acquiring a CPA / Tax firm. Not interested in the legal ramifications, but more so the experience in buying a practice based on a gross revenue multiplier (as common in this industry), and how that has translated to longevity of clients and earnings/multiple.

Thank you, appreciate any guidance or thoughts.

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Reply by a professional
from Babson College in Tempe, AZ, USA

If you are searching for accounting firms to buy, then these are the upcoming conferences you absolutely should attend to meet firm owners with firms that are worth buying: https://tri-merit.com/tucpa-conference-2023/ - In Chicago later this month and I'm speaking on a panel about M&A with two others involved in accounting M&A https://thriveal.com/deeper-weekend/ - amazing content and focused on M&A this year https://quickbooksconnect.com/ - one of the largest gathering of firm owners and accounting industry leaders in the country. It's in Vegas this year and absolutely fun - I will be speaking here on four sessions (2 panels, 2 lectures) DM or contact me if you plan to attend any of these and I'll make sure to introduce you around (I'm serious - want you to feel absolutely welcome). My cell is###-###-#### if you want to call or text me.

Reply by a searcher
in Rochester, MI, USA

Someone in my network is very active in the CPA firm acquisition scene here in southeast michigan. From what I've seen, having a retention clause like Charles mentioned is imperative. He has purchased a variety of books from low-end to high-end (tax, audit, and bookkeeping), and it seems to be more important how the old CPA ran their practice rather than the type of clients they had. Sometimes the change was too much and they ended up going elsewhere but generally speaking clients are very sticky, assuming you don't do huge rate increases.

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