SFP 73: What firms should know about succession and M&A

09/22/22 • 26 min

Transforming: Tales of Business Evolution

Terrence Putney, CPA, managing director with Whitman Transition Advisors, is among the top advisers on accounting firm mergers nationwide. Over his 44-year career, Putney has been involved with hundreds of accounting firm M&A deals and also co-written more than 20 articles on succession-related issues for the Journal of Accountancy.

In this episode of Small Firm Philosophy, Putney addresses succession and related M&A issues including:

Three trends besides succession that are driving accounting firm M&A
Is the current firm M&A market favoring buyers or sellers?
What small firm partners should be doing today so they can retire in a few years.
What a two-stage deal is and why it’s well suited for solo practitioners and small firms.

Resources mentioned in the conversation:

The JofA “Succession Series”.
JofA article on “The Culture Test” in accounting firm mergers
JofA article on “A two-stage solution to succession procrastination”.
PCPS and Succession Institute 2020 Succession Planning Survey results, analysis and resources

Click on the link to contact Terry.

This episode is brought to you by the AICPA’s Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS), the home of small firms. To learn more about PCPS, check out our membership information or sign up for a free web tour. Note: If your podcast app does not hyperlink to resources, visit https://aicpasmallfirm.libsyn.com to access show notes with direct links.

In this episode of Small Firm Philosophy, Putney addresses succession and related M&A issues including:

Three trends besides succession that are driving accounting firm M&A
Is the current firm M&A market favoring buyers or sellers?
What small firm partners should be doing today so they can retire in a few years.
What a two-stage deal is and why it’s well suited for solo practitioners and small firms.

Resources mentioned in the conversation:

The JofA “Succession Series”.
JofA article on “The Culture Test” in accounting firm mergers
JofA article on “A two-stage solution to succession procrastination”.
PCPS and Succession Institute 2020 Succession Planning Survey results, analysis and resources

Click on the link to contact Terry.

Previous Episode

SFP 72: How MAP Survey results improve small firm management

The Private Companies Practice Section’s National Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) Survey gathers key metrics from thousands of U.S. firms of all sizes. In this episode of the Small Firm Philosophy podcast, Steven Bankler, CPA, shares how he and his small firm break down the survey results to build a better practice.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

National MAP Survey

To learn more about Steven, please visit bankler.com. This episode is brought to you by the AICPA’s Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS), the home of small firms. To learn more about PCPS, check out our membership information or sign up for a free web tour. Note: If your podcast app does not hyperlink to resources, visit https://aicpasmallfirm.libsyn.com to access show notes with direct links.

Next Episode

SFP 74: What a CPA learned starting his own advisory firm

Launching an advisory firm after 20 years in public accounting requires courage, confidence and commitment. It also helps to get some business coaching and to focus on changing customer needs.

Those are some of the lessons Zack Ryan, CPA, shares in this episode of the Small Firm Philosophy podcast. The founder of Value Forward Advisory explains how meeting regularly with business owners on a fixed-fee basis has relieved workload congestion and produced much improved revenue and profit per client.

Resources from this episode

Starting Your CPA Practice – Planning Checklist
“On Your Own! How to Start Your Own CPA Firm (note: links to Amazon.com)
Client acceptance evaluation tool

To learn more about Ryan, connect with him on LinkedIn. This episode is brought to you by the AICPA’s Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS), the home of small firms. To learn more about PCPS, check out our membership information or sign up for a free web tour.

Note: If your podcast app does not hyperlink to resources, visit https://aicpasmallfirm.libsyn.com to access show notes with direct links.