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MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

CBIZ: Spanning 2 Rollup Eras in 2 Centuries

CBIZ, once known as Century Business Services,  started with a “rapacious appetite” for acquisitions. Now it’s the appetizer.

By CPA Trendlines Research
Special Report

The company that helped pioneer Wall Street-backed accounting consolidation in the 1990s is set to be absorbed by today’s private-capital version of the same idea.

MORE Special Report on the CBIZ-Grant Thornton Deal: 

  1. Fatal Attraction: How the Marcum Deal Set Up CBIZ for the Grant Thornton Takeover
  2. CBIZ Tells Grant Thornton No, No, No, Before Saying Yes
  3. Grant Thornton Flexes PE Muscle in CBIZ Deal
  4. CBIZ: Spanning 2 Rollup Eras in 2 Centuries
  5. $55 a Share: Who Won, Who Lost in CBIZ’s 29-Year Rollup
  6. CPA PE Deal Tracker™: The Consolidator Gets Consolidated

COMING NEXT: Was CBIZ CEO Jerry Grisko Worth It? MORE Private Equity

Twenty-seven years ago, a rollup called Century Business Services was buying accounting firms with what its own mergers chief called a “rapacious appetite.” Today it goes by a different name — CBIZ. And on July 28, it agreed to be bought.
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MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Grant Thornton Flexes PE Muscle in CBIZ Deal

The biggest bank account wins.

By CPA Trendlines Research
Special Report

If the Grant Thornton deal for CBIZ suggests the next stage of accounting firm consolidation, then size alone, as measured in top firm rankings, is no longer the decisive advantage.

MORE Special Report on the CBIZ-Grant Thornton Deal: 

  1. Fatal Attraction: How the Marcum Deal Set Up CBIZ for the Grant Thornton Takeover
  2. CBIZ Tells Grant Thornton No, No, No, Before Saying Yes
  3. Grant Thornton Flexes PE Muscle in CBIZ Deal
  4. CBIZ: Spanning 2 Rollup Eras in 2 Centuries
  5. $55 a Share: Who Won, Who Lost in CBIZ’s 29-Year Rollup
  6. CPA PE Deal Tracker™: The Consolidator Gets Consolidated

COMING NEXT: Was CBIZ CEO Jerry Grisko Worth It? MORE Private Equity

Instead, capital that can be deployed repeatedly into acquisitions, technology and integration is today’s essential ingredient. READ MORE →

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

CPA PE Deal Tracker™: The Consolidator Gets Consolidated

The month culminates with $5 billion CBIZ – Grant Thornton deal as flow drops 47%.By CPA Trendlines Research
Special Report

CBIZ spent years buying firms before agreeing to be bought itself on July 29 by Grant Thornton for $5 billion.

The biggest deal ever comes as the deal flow slows, but the deals get bigger.

MORE Special Report on the CBIZ-Grant Thornton Deal: 

  1. Fatal Attraction: How the Marcum Deal Set Up CBIZ for the Grant Thornton Takeover
  2. CBIZ Tells Grant Thornton No, No, No, Before Saying Yes
  3. Grant Thornton Flexes PE Muscle in CBIZ Deal
  4. CBIZ: Spanning 2 Rollup Eras in 2 Centuries
  5. $55 a Share: Who Won, Who Lost in CBIZ’s 29-Year Rollup
  6. CPA PE Deal Tracker™: The Consolidator Gets Consolidated

COMING NEXT: Was CBIZ CEO Jerry Grisko Worth It? MORE Private Equity

The CPA Trendlines CPA PE Deal Tracker™ records nine institutionally backed acquisitions in July, down from 17 a year earlier. The rolling 12-month institutional transaction count falls from a record 230 in March to 225 in April, 223 in May, 215 in June and 207 in July.

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Rillet’s Raise: Betting $100 Million on Fewer Accountants

$1 Billion Valuation Puts AI at the Center of Accounting’s Next Software War

By CPA Trendlines Research

Kopp: Accounting for ‘what happens next.’

Rillet’s new financing round values the accounting software company at $1 billion as AI-native ledgers, accounting agents and incumbent ERP vendors compete for control of the accounting workflow — and investors fund competing answers to the profession’s labor problem.

MORE A.I. and Tech

Rillet’s $100 million Series C gives the market another heavily financed challenger just six months after Basis raised $100 million at a $1.15 billion valuation. Around them, Ramp, Digits, Puzzle, Light and SoftLedger are pushing into different layers of the finance stack while Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, Workday and NetSuite defend systems already embedded in corporate accounting.

The fight is over where artificial intelligence belongs in accounting software – inside the system of record, in agents operating across existing systems or in a new layer that sits around the ERP and performs the work.

“What stands out to us is how customers actually run on it — multi-billion-dollar businesses operating with finance teams a tenth the traditional size, closing their books continuously,” says Seth Pierrepont, an ICONIQ general partner and Rillet board member.

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ABOUT US

CPA Trendlines Webinar on Pricing Strategies

Weinstein

Led by Michelle Weinstein, founder of The Abundant Accountant

By CPA Trendlines

In partnership with CPA Trendlines, Canopy has scheduled a free webinar aimed at helping accounting and tax professionals overcome their reluctance to raise client fees.

FREE CPE WEBINAR

“How to Overcome the Fear of Raising Your Prices & Get Paid Your Worth”

with Michelle Weinstein

Tuesday, July 28, 1 pm ET

Register here | Learn more

The session, “How to Overcome the Fear of Raising Your Prices & Get Paid Your Worth,” will be led by Michelle Weinstein, founder of The Abundant Accountant. The webinar will focus on pricing strategies designed to help firms move beyond hourly billing, communicate value more effectively, and increase revenue without adding clients or hours worked.

Attendees will learn how to identify the beliefs that keep firms from charging appropriately, reframe services around client outcomes rather than hours worked, and evaluate the financial impact of strategic fee increases.

Weinstein, a sales strategist and business coach for accounting professionals, says clients of her consulting practice have collectively added more than $38 million in revenue by improving pricing and sales processes.