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The CPA PE Playbook: Private Equity 2026 Outlook & Strategy Guide
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The Definitive Guide to Private Equity’s Transformation of the CPA Profession
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By CPA Trendlines Research
The accounting profession is changing faster than at any time in its modern history—and private equity is driving the shift. More than $30 billion in new capital has entered CPA firms since 2020, igniting a powerful wave of consolidation, modernization, and strategic reinvention. Firms that once relied on incremental growth and traditional partnership structures are now operating as high-performance platforms built for scale, technology adoption, and national reach.
The CPA PE Playbook is the most comprehensive analysis available today on this historic transformation.
If you want to know where the profession is heading, how PE-backed firms are competing, and what it will take to thrive in the next decade, this is the report you need.
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Valuing More Than the Balance Sheet | ARC
Understanding a company’s history, leadership, and future matters as much as financial statements.
Sponsored by The Balanced Millionaire: The Advisor Edition by Dr. Jackie Meyer | See Today’s Special Offer
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Accounting ARC
With Donny Shimamoto
Center for Accounting Transformation
Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, opens a recent episode of Accounting ARC with a simple question: How do you value a business when the numbers tell only part of the story?
His guest, Baria Jaroudi, a Houston-based director in BDO’s business valuation and advisory practice, says valuation work requires more than reviewing financial statements. It requires understanding how owners built the business, where cash flow comes from, and what risks and assumptions shape a credible and defensible value — especially in family law and divorce matters, where the stakes can run high.
MORE Accounting ARC: Accounting’s “Untalked-About” Frontier | Why Happiness is Hard-Fought for High Achievers | The Fastest Way to Lose Talent Is “Dick Leadership” | Post-Holiday Fatigue Isn’t a Failure; It’s a Signal | OCR, Research Bots & Meeting Assistants: What Actually Helps Now | Return Season is the New Stress Test | Small Firms May Have the Biggest Advantage in 2026 | Downgraded: What the DOE Said About Accounting | Savage: Using Your License as a Megaphone | Baker: Interpreting Pricing Psychology | Don’t Get Fired by Your Own Automation | What Amazon Doesn’t Tell You | Royalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC
“I like to think of myself as someone who brings clarity and calm in moments that can otherwise feel overwhelming,” Jaroudi says.
Shimamoto, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation, says that role reflects a core purpose of the profession: accountants deliver peace of mind. In Jaroudi’s work, that means translating complex analysis into conclusions clients can understand — and conclusions that can withstand scrutiny.
Bissett Bullet: What Are You Known For?
Today’s Bissett Bullet: “Of all of the components of an effective marketing strategy, your message is arguably the most important.”
By Martin Bissett
If you are known for being accountants, if that is what you tell people you do, then you will find yourself lumped in with all of the other accountants in the marketplace. But what if you reframed the message and were known for something that made you stand out from the competition?
If you help time-poor business owners who are too bogged down with admin for their own business to add value to their own customers and give them a platform to go out and create new sales, then that is your message. You put business owners in control of their finances. Would you not rather be known for that than for being “just another accountant”?
Today’s To-Do:
Think about three outcomes your deliverables have for your clients. How could you use them to describe what you do?
See more Bissett Bullets here
Cut Tax Season Stress: Twelve Tips
Quick, low-cost ideas.
By Sandi Leyva
The Complete Guide to Marketing for Tax & Accounting Firms
I don’t want to stress you out, but we really do need to do something about our stress levels.
MORE by Sandi Leyva
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.
The American Psychological Association says our kids are getting headaches, having difficulty sleeping, and eating too little or too much because of pressure from school and household finances. The worst part is that most parents were not aware of the severity of their children’s stress.
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The 7.6x Machine: How Grassroots Firms Are Taking Private Equity for a Ride
Fewer than 200 investors triggered almost 900 acquisitions.
By CPA Trendlines Research
A multiplier that has grown fourfold since 2021 reveals a transformation driven not by new private equity entrants, but by platform firms consuming the mid-market at speed.
It belies the notion that PE is taking over the accounting profession. In fact, new global research argues that local and mid-size firms worldwide are taking control of their own futures and using institutional capital to pick up the tab.
MORE Private Equity | Deal Tracker: PE Platforms Accelerate the Grab for CPA Firms | With Apax Sale, CohnReznick Starts Building a National Platform | Unicorns and Funerals: From the Demise of Botkeeper to the Rise of Basis.ai | Jeremy Dubow: Raising the Bar for Talent | Big 4 Transparency | Twelve Great Reasons to Merge In a Smaller Accounting Firm
The numbers that define private equity’s advance into accounting do not look the way most people expect. The headlines feature the big firms and the brand-name investors — TowerBrook Capital and EisnerAmper, New Mountain Capital and Grant Thornton, Ares Management and Baker Tilly. But the actual architecture of the transformation is being built one level below: in the relentless, largely unnoticed roll-up of smaller practices into PE-backed platforms.
Cultivate Holistic Wealth with the SHiFT Framework
The assets in your life fall into four categories.
By Jackie Meyer
The Balanced Millionaire: Advisor Edition
Success is often defined in dollar signs and business metrics, but as a seasoned advisor you know that true wealth extends far beyond the financial statement. After all, what’s the point of a seven-figure firm if your health is in shambles, your relationships are strained, or you have no time to enjoy life?
MORE by Jackie Meyer
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In this article, we’re going to zoom out and look at the whole picture of what it means to be a “Balanced Millionaire.” This is about cultivating holistic wealth across all areas of life, using the SHiFT Framework – Social, Health, Financial, Time. These are the four pillars of holistic wealth and well-being that support a truly balanced and fulfilling life for a high-achieving professional.
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