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PE Deal Tracker Update: Alan Whitman Plants a Flag in the Private Equity Landscape
Tracker surges into 2026 with more than 200 transactions.
In January alone, dozens of private-equity-backed deals surfaced — more than a quarter of all 12 months last year. And it hasn’t slowed down yet.
By CPA Trendlines Research
Cornerstone Reports
Former Baker Tilly CEO Alan Whitman is returning to the center of accounting’s private equity vortex with a new mandate and a new sponsor, taking the helm of a newly capitalized triple-threat CPA firm, insurance agency, and transaction consultancy.
Alan Whitman: Breaking the Mold with PE Backing | Holistic Guide | MORE Cornerstone Reports | MORE Private Equity
In the new edition of the CPA Trendlines PE Deal Tracker™, Madison Dearborn Partners, the Chicago-based private equity firm, founded in 1992 and managing more than $28 billion in assets, is backing the combination of Nichols Cauley, a Georgia-based CPA firm, with Partners Risk Services and JGH Consulting in a three-entity formation designed not as a tuck-in acquisition but as an integrated advisory foundation from inception.
At Nichols, an eight-office regional leader, Whitman may be inventing more than the next generation of CPA firms. It could be a new breed. “It’s going to be a lot of fun scaling a new product,” Whitman tells CPA Trendlines’ Rory Henry in the latest episode of The Holitic Guide to Wealth Management. “It’s kind of a new category in the space.”
AI Tax App Crashes Financial Stocks on Wall Street
A sign of things to come?
Contenders and Defenders: Hazel and a new generation of AI tax and legal tools are challenging the old.
By CPA Trendlines
A major sell-off in brokerage and wealth management stocks followed the launch of a new AI-powered tax-planning tool by the financial technology platform Altruist.
Investors reacted sharply to the launch of Hazel AI, a feature within Altruist’s platform that automates complex tax strategies — a service traditionally handled by human advisors and high-fee wealth management firms.
Goldman Bets $75 Million on Fieldguide: AuditTech Comes of Age
Goldman’s rationale: Vertical AI with measurable ROI.
By CPA Trendlines
Fieldguide, an engagement workflow platform powered by agentic AI, has raised $75 million in a Series C round led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, valuing the company at $700 million.
MORE: Jin Chang: Why Repeat Last Year’s Questions? | The Disruptors, with Liz Farr | Jin Chang: Why the Future Is in Risk Advisory | with Donny Shimamoto
MORE Tech and Assurance
The financing is one of the clearest signals yet that audit technology—long one of accounting’s most conservative corners—is becoming a prime target for growth equity investment.
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