STRATEGY

Deal Tracker: PE Platforms Accelerate the Grab for CPA Firms

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Over 1,000 deals since 2021, according to IFAC.

Dealflow this year is running three times hotter than year-ago.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The CPA Trendlines PE-CPA Deal Tracker™ logged 31 transactions in January 2026 and 21 in February — a combined 52 deals in the first two months of the year. The comparable figure for January–February 2025 was 16. Year over year, the pace has more than tripled.

MORE Private Equity | PE Deal Tracker Update: Alan Whitman Plants a Flag in the Private Equity Landscape | Jody Padar: The New Playbook Is AI-Powered and Human-Centered | Big 4 Transparency | Jeremy Dubow: Raising the Bar for Talent | Big 4 Transparency | Poe: What P.E. Really Wants from Firms | The Disruptors |

January’s 31-deal total is the highest single-month figure in the tracker’s history, spanning more than 340 transactions dating back to 2016. The prior five Januarys combined — 2021 through 2025 — produced 24 transactions. January 2026 exceeded that five-year total on its own.

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Want Better Leaders? Grow Your Own

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A development academy might be the answer.

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

When it’s time to make decisions about new partner admissions, here is what senior leadership at many small and midsized CPA firms often hear:

  • “If Mary doesn’t make audit partner this year, she will leave the firm. We can’t afford to lose her as she gets all the work done at ABC Manufacturing Corporation, who pays us over $300,000 a year. Without Mary, this client will leave the firm” and
  • “We need to make Joe a tax partner this year because he is the only one in the firm who understands ‘C.’ Without him, we will have a big hole in our tax department capabilities. It could put a big hurt on the firm.”

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In their guts, these leaders know that, while both Mary and Joe are solid professionals, there is little chance that either of them will develop beyond client service partners.
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Small Firms Can Be Trusted Business Advisors

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Two businessmen talking in office

Move past the lip service.

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

Several of the Top 50 CPA firms, particularly the larger ones that derive a majority of their revenues by providing recurring attest services that add integrity to financial statements and reduce the cost of capital, emphasize that they are trusted business advisors providing forward-thinking solutions to their clients.

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As examples, here are excerpts found on the websites of four CPA firms:

  • “We are more than accountants, we are trusted business advisors”
  • “Our role is to be trusted advisors. …”
  • “Our mission … serving as a trusted business advisor to our clients”
  • “We believe a true business advisor always protects a client’s vital interests”

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Fourteen Components to Your Firm’s Strategic Plan

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Execute it; don’t let it sit on a shelf.

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

Many CPA firms do not have a living, breathing strategic plan that enables them to successfully navigate through their next two or three years.

MORE by Domenick J. Esposito
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That in and of itself is not very surprising because most CPA firms are basically small and midsized businesses with the same generational challenges faced by most small and midsized family and privately owned operating companies. READ MORE →