A playbook for PE — and beyond

December 12, 2025 3:50 PM

The preeminent question on many firm leaders' minds these days seems simple: To PE, or not to PE?

But nothing is ever simple, let alone a question that will determine the future of your firm and everyone who works in it. The decision to pursue private equity investment — or investment from any of the many other strategic partners that are starting to display an interest in the accounting profession — or to remain independent, is multifaceted, and with a huge range of different factors to work into the calculus.

The accounting firm leaders and deal-makers who spoke at Accounting Today's second annual PE Summit, held in mid-November in Chicago, explored all of these issues and more; below are 13 key takeaways from the event, on everything from how to determine what kind of deal you should take (if any), to how to remain independent, to how to get your partners and your staff on board with whatever decision you make in the end.

1. PE isn't your only option

Phil Whitman

While private equity has tended to dominate the conversation, in the past few years the number of groups looking to form strategic partnerships with accounting firms has grown enormously.

"There's a myriad of opportunities out there for firms — not just PE, but family offices, venture capital, wealth managers, and so on," explained Phil Whitman, the CEO and president of Whitman Advisors, and a co-chair of the PE Summit. "There are so many people out there looking to get into and investing in the profession. And they're really looking at investing, not taking over."

Firms need to look carefully at the capital needs, their time horizons, their partner group, and their priorities, and then find the kind of strategic investor that matches them.

"You have to look at your DNA and decide what's right for you," Whitman said.

2. Know thyself

Jeff Taraboulos

Before you even start looking at potential outside partners — whether it's a private equity deal, a traditional merger with another accounting firm, or anything else — a little soul-searching among the partners and owners of the firm is critical. A strong sense of your goals, culture and the future you all want for the firm can help guide you to the best fit.

"You have to realize who you are and who you want to be five years down the road," warned Jeff Taraboulous, CEO of Miami-based KSDT, whose firm joined PE-backed platform Ascend in September. "Too many times, I've seen people find their partner and then try to match what they want to be against their partner. You need to know what you want to be first."

3. Ask 'What do you want to be famous for?'

Allan Koltin

According to Allan Koltin, CEO of Koltin Consulting and co-chair of the PE Summit, firms should contemplate this question to help steer their direction. "What is it you want to become? Right now the status quo is comforting; you want to believe it's where you will be forever."

And for those firms seeking PE courtship, specialization is very important in what Koltin deemed a "saturated market."

"You're going to need something spectacular or different," he explained, noting potential investors are saying "We only want tax, or we only want high-net-worth, or only CAS."

4. Culture ≠ values

(L to R): Phil Whitman, Bob Lewis and Allan Koltin

When discussing the risks of any transaction between firms, culture surfaces as the most significant potential snag. But Koltin thinks firms worrying about preserving their own culture in the face of PE acquisition or partnership are being too precious.

"Culture changes all the time … protect culture? What is it we are protecting?" he asked PE Summit attendees. "Don't confuse culture with values. … A sole practitioner has culture, and as soon as a second partner joins, it changes again" and on and on with new partners, new offices, new cities, and more.

Not only that, but the culture many firms boast about might not differentiate their practices as much as they think, provided they meet a basic threshold, according to Bob Lewis, president of The Visionary Group and also a co-chair of the event: When it comes to the accounting practices PE firms are looking at, "They all have a really good culture."

In the end, whether a firm does a deal or not, strong values will weather all the winds of change, according to Koltin, who added: "Integrity is a constant no matter what."

5. Make decisions on data

Bob Lewis

Four years into the "great lab experiment" of PE in accounting, statistics are emerging on its success, and while firms should assess those numbers, they also need to do their own internal calculations.

"Make an informed decision," said Lewis of The Visionary Group, while advising firms in even considering private equity. "Don't let emotions drive the entire process."

And in evaluating options, firms need to stay up to date, urged Koltin, not just with private equity but with artificial intelligence, offshoring, and other investments firms make to remain competitive. With offshoring, for one, Koltin is seeing firms "getting work done by uber-smart people at the rate of one-fourth, one-fifth of what we [get paid]."

"People say, 'We tried that 40 years ago,'" he continued. "I'm not sure that's representative of today."

6. Independence isn't just saying 'No'

Bob Lewis

Staying independent isn't simply a matter of turning down a deal or refusing to entertain suitors — it can require as much planning and thinking as signing up with PE.

As Lewis said, "People need to make a conscious choice to remain independent, and they need a plan — but a lot of firms don't have a plan."

What's more, you need to regularly check that your strategy for remaining independent is still working in a rapidly changing environment.

"You have to stress-test your plan," explained Lewis, "and know that if there are holes in it, you need to be able to fix that — and it's not the kind of thing you can do in just a year; it may take a few years or more."

7. Act now

Jeff Taraboulos

Firms that are open to a PE deal but are putting it off because times are good and they're prosperous now may want to rethink that approach; if they wait until circumstances change — when a wave of retiring partners puts stress on the firm's revenues, for instance, or when the economy hits a rough patch — may find they are less attractive to outside investors.

"Too many firms do a deal when they have to," said KSDT's Taraboulos. "You want to do a deal while you're still strong.

8. State your (letter of) intention

Phil Whitman

Phil Whitman shared the story of a firm leader who was both proactive and creative about seeking a minority transaction.

"He wrote a letter of intent: 'This is the deal I will do,'" Whitman explained. "And he took it and shopped it — not the traditional fashion — and he got it."

But even firms not looking to PE could benefit from the kind of goal and strategy alignment that a LOI surfaces, according to Bob Lewis.

"Phil said if you are looking for a deal, a letter of intent is what you want," Lewis recalled in a later session. "The same strategy could be used for the independent side. It's what we need to all be doing."

9. Prize your people

Allan Koltin

Accountants are responsible for attracting private equity to accounting, as all PE Summit speakers stressed, but perhaps PE can return the favor and help a profession that's been leaking its most valuable resource.

Koltin acknowledged that "fewer people want a [accounting] degree or to sit for the exam."

"The thing about talent, PE-owned or not — we don't have an accounting, tax, audit firm. We have a people business. In four decades, I've watched two undeniable truths: We are in a people business. The firms every year that recruit and retain talent win the game. It's all about leadership."

It is the responsibility of leadership, then, to value their people as much as outside investors have, with rewarding roles and salaries, "keeping them happy."

"In a private equity organization, stars make more," Koltin said. "There's nothing worse than having a superstar, and [you say], 'I feel bad, the firm had a bad year and we can't pay you.'"

10. Cut everyone in on the deal

Charley Weinstein

Firms that do a deal need to make sure that the benefits don't accrue solely to the partner group, so that staff at all levels feel like the new arrangement is good for them, too.

At Eisner Advisory Group — one of the first firms to sign a PE deal — CEO Charley Weinstein said that one of the firm's first move was to cut everyone in: "In the transaction, we gave everyone on the staff a bonus — not a retention bonus, just a check for getting us to this point," he said. "They felt appreciated by that."

And at MarksNelson, managing partner Josh Beck explained, "We have created a program to push equity down below the partner level, and the demand has surprised me, so we're aiming to increase that program."

11. Communicate like crazy

Michelle Thompson

Once a firm is ready to announce a deal, there is no such thing as over-communicating, according to Michelle Thompson, CEO of Cherry Bekaert, which was one of the first accounting firms to take on a PE deal, back in 2022. To announce the news, her firm had a large group call for the whole firm, then group calls with each of the firm's offices, and then calls with each individual partner.

"That took about a week," she explained at the PE Summit, but it was important because they knew that different members of the firm would come at the issue from vastly different perspectives: "We're going to have partners who are about to retire — they're going to have one set of concerns. We're going to have young people — they're going to have a different set of concerns. We had people we had just acquired — they're going to have their own concerns."

Cherry Bekaert also made a point of matching up who from the group of 20 or so firm leaders that were working on setting up the deal would explain it to individual partners — with a young partner, for instance, being delegated to talk to other young partners.

With all that said, communication is mostly important only after the deal is ready to go; Thompson explained that while Cherry Bekaert launched its deal process in January, "Our partners didn't know that we were in discussions until May."

12. Never say never

David Bundy

Staying independent is not a decision a firm should make just once. With options multiplying almost daily, and the landscape of the profession changing almost as quickly, even firms that are fiercely committed to avoiding entangling alliances also know that they need to revisit the discussion

"It's a constant for us," explained David Bundy, president and CEO of Top 100 Firm Dean Dorton. "When PE first came, we decided it wasn't for us, and we just parked it, but two years ago we realized we couldn't just leave it. We have conversations regularly — and we know that when the time comes that we need capital, we know where to find it."

"I think about it daily," agreed Jeff Barbacci, managing shareholder of Thomas Howell Ferguson. "As a group, we talk about it at least annually and make sure we are making the decisions for the right reasons."

13. Don't play for an end game

The co-chairs of the 2025 PE Summit

For all the pathways now open to accounting firms, none should be confused with a finish line, according to the experts at the PE Summit. While investments, alternative practice structures, and new financial incentives can boost firms' revenues and shape new growth trajectories, leaders should be concentrated on long-term sustainability.

"People ask about the end game," Koltin mused. "There isn't always an end game. Bet on everything that you will continue to grow, on succession, and that 10 to 20 years from now you're still going on."

Reducing the focus on an end point does not mean disregarding the new rules that have emerged in the wake of PE.

"This is not going away," Bob Lewis told attendees. "Let it soak in: I've got to change how I play this entire game."