OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Private Equity’s Accounting Playbook Is Shifting from Dealmaking to Operating Systems

Prove It: PE-Backed Firms Must Now Deliver on Their Big Strategies

CPA Trendlines CPA-PE Deal Tracker™ — May 2026

Target Platform/Buyer Sponsor Funding Strategy
Jackson Thornton Ascend Alpine Investors PE-backed Wealth management, Gulf Coast expansion
Jefferson Wells U.S. Sikich Bain Capital involvement Institutionally backed Consulting and staffing capabilities
Copeland Buhl Frazier & Deeter General Atlantic PE-backed First Midwest footprint
Price Kong Aprio Charlesbank PE-backed Arizona and cannabis specialization
SWKJD Citrin Cooperman Blackstone PE-backed South Florida expansion
Gorfine Schiller & Gardyn Sorren DFW Capital PE-backed Mid-Atlantic expansion
Gordon Advisors Cohen & Co. Lovell Minnick PE-backed Michigan expansion
ArightCo Abbott Stringham & Lynch — Conventional M&A CAS and fractional CFO scaling
ASO Advisors Windsor Path Family-office backed Private capital Platform’s second deal
GBC Advisory Springline Advisory Trinity Hunt Partners PE-backed Oklahoma expansion
MCA Connect Grant Thornton Advisors New Mountain Capital PE-backed AI and digital transformation
Burke & Associates Platform Accounting Group / Shoreline Cynosure Group Private capital Massachusetts expansion
Of the month’s notable deals, 10 are funded by outside capital, led by Grant Thornton’s deal for a tech consultancy and Sikich’s for a staffing service.
Half “decidedly opposed” and the other half in favor, in talks or done. (CPA Trendlines Research)

By CPA Trendlines

Marking a new phase in the private equity takeover of the CPA business, the next test for accounting platforms will be proving that serial acquisitions can be converted into integrated firms, not just larger collections of offices, partners and legacy systems.

MORE CPA-PE DEAL TRACKER™: How Big Buyouts Are Turning the Profession into a Platform |  PE Wars: The CPA Platform Economy Is Concentrating Fast | Alan Whitman: Why the Next Big CPA Firms Won’t Look Like CPA Firms | The PE Takeover: Audit Problem? What Audit Problem? | 1,000 Deals Show Where PE Money in Accounting Really Goes. | The 7.6x Machine: How Grassroots Firms Are Taking Private Equity for a Ride | Deal Tracker(™): PE Platforms Accelerate the Grab for CPA Firms | With Apax Sale, CohnReznick Starts Building a National Platform | PE Deal Tracker™ for Feb. 2026: 57 deals in 60 days | PE Deal Tracker™ Update: Alan Whitman Plants a Flag in the Private Equity Landscape | Alan Whitman: Breaking the Mold with PE Backing
MORE Private Equity

Call it: The Implementation Imperative. It’s the place where grand schemes on paper meet the concrete realities of running a business. The first phase was acquisition. The second was consolidation. The next is all about making it work.

The May 2026 edition of the CPA Trendlines CPA-PE Deal Tracker™ illustrates the change. And a CPA Trendlines survey in April shows 44% of accountants are eager, open or already closed on a deal.