57% Say PE Threatens the CPA Brand. But They’ll Take the Money.
Thirteen firms rolled up in May, 92 this year.
By CPA Trendlines
PE
CPA PE Deal Tracker™: 10 Years, 466 Deals
Top ten platforms take 52% of the deals.
By CPA Trendlines Research
Rampe: Make Strategy Stick | Gear Up For Growth
Five steps turn vision into execution.
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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines
On the latest episode of “Gear Up for Growth,” host Jean Caragher interviews Matt Rampe, partner at Rosenberg Associates and author of the forthcoming book, “CPA Firm Strategic Planning: Your Roadmap for Long-Term Success,” about how accounting firms can move beyond ad-hoc retreats to a disciplined, accountable planning process that sticks.
Rampe, who advises firms on strategy, succession, partner development, and profitability, said the book grew out of years of facilitation and coaching with firms of all sizes. “The book was in my brain for a long time before it got put on paper,” he says. “When I started writing, it actually came pretty quickly—but I learned there’s a lot more to making a book than a Word document.”
More Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | More Gear Up for Growth
Rampe argues that the profession has reached a disruption point, citing converging pressures including private equity, technology, staffing shortages, succession for retiring Baby Boomers, and a shift toward advisory services. “What worked for us 10 years ago isn’t going to work for us 10 years in the future,” he says. “The old model, where a few partners disappear into a room and come out with a plan, doesn’t work in this age. We need to be nimble.”
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.
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.
CPA-PE Deal Tracker™: How Big Buyouts Are Turning the Profession into a Platform
Venture capital crashes the private equity party in accounting.
By CPA Trendlines Research
Private equity’s push into accounting is entering a new and more complicated phase: platform building, sponsor recycling, technology investments, blended tax and wealth services — and now, a new pipeline of cash from venture capital.
MORE PE Wars: The CPA Platform Economy Is Concentrating Fast | Alan Whitman: Why the Next Big CPA Firms Won’t Look Like CPA Firms | Gear Up for Growth | 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 | Holistic Guide
MORE Private Equity
This month’s CPA Trendlines CPA-PE Deal Tracker™ shows nine new deals in April, down from the first-quarter deal-closing frenzy but bringing the year-to-date deal count through April 30 to 78, well ahead of the 44 logged in the same window of 2025.
The broader verified dataset now includes 452 in-scope events, giving CPA Trendlines a clearer view of what private capital is doing after its first wave of accounting-firm investments.
The latest data does not show a retreat. It shows a transformation. The new gambits go well beyond roll-ups, and include service line extensions, corporate carve-outs, cross-industry tie-ups, recapitalizations, continuations and a buzzy new venture-backed startup.
World domination
The deal models are sprawling in all directions as big money battles for a dwindling number of prime firms and squeezes for synergies in the firms they’ve acquired.
In the mix, accounting is morphing from a profession into a platform. A launchpad from which to sell a growing, and traditionally conflict-laden, range of products and services. From tax planning to wealth management, from outsourced accounting systems to internal audit, and from risk management to insurance sales.
A once incongruous, even contradictory, collection of services are being acquired, aligned and advanced. The ambition is market encirclement. The impulse is world domination.