Acquisition Search · Certified Public Accountants
Bennett & Company acquires accounting, tax, advisory, and financial services practices as owner-operators — not as a financial buyer assembling a platform to resell.
Your clients keep their advisor. Your staff keep their jobs. Your name keeps its meaning.
NDA signed same day. Nothing you tell us leaves the two of us.
Funding in place through a lender specializing in accounting practice acquisitions, partner equity, and a network of private investors.
Single-owner practices and multi-partner firms both work. If you're smaller than that and the fit is right, still reach out.
Audit and assurance, tax, accounting/CAS and bookkeeping, fractional CFO, FP&A, controllership, valuation, wealth management, strategy consulting. We are not looking for one narrow specialty.
We operate virtual-first with a footprint in North Carolina and Michigan. Fully remote practices are welcome, not a complication.
Owners who want to stay on part-time are a fit. So are owners who want to be gone in ninety days.
Not sure yet, or not ready this year?
That's normal — most owners we speak with are twelve to thirty-six months out. A conversation now costs you nothing and gives you a real number to plan around.
Most acquisition interest in accounting firms today comes from one of two places: a financial buyer assembling a platform to consolidate and resell, or a first-time individual buyer still looking for financing. We're neither.
| Key factors | Bennett & Company | Financial buyers & platforms | First-time individual buyers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who runs the firm after close | We do — experienced owner-operators | A regional management layer | The buyer, learning as they go |
| Time horizon | Long-term hold | Three to seven years to the next sale | Varies |
| Your brand | Retained and respected | Absorbed into the platform | Usually replaced |
| Your staff | Retained; we invest in them | Often restructured for margin | Depends on capacity |
| Financing | Committed lender, partner equity, investor network | Committed | Usually uncommitted or conditional |
| Has closed a deal before | Yes | Yes | No |
We're not against financial buyers. We just aren't one — and if what you want is the highest possible multiple with no regard for what happens next, they will probably beat us on price. If you want your clients to still be well served in the long term, talk to us.
No forced migration to a new platform, no repricing engagement letters in year one, no service model swapped out from under them. Where you're willing, we're introduced as part of the transition rather than announced as a change.
We buy firms because of their people, and we invest in staff and technology rather than cutting our way to a return. Your team hears about this from you, with us in the room, on a timeline you set.
Your firm's name and reputation are part of what we're buying. We don't strip it for parts, and we don't put your name on decisions you wouldn't have made.
In 2026 we acquired a fully virtual accounting and assurance practice and now operate it as Bennett and Company — team, systems, and client relationships intact. The transaction was funded with bank financing from a lender that specializes in accounting practice acquisitions, meaningful partner equity, and a structure aligned with what the seller needed.
For the next seller, that means no learning curve. The diligence checklist, the lender relationship, the technology stack, and the transition playbook have all already survived a real closing. You are not going to spend six months teaching your buyer how to buy a firm.
Every conversation you have is with a decision-maker.
Founder and owner of a public accounting firm she has built over seventeen years, entirely on referrals. An audit and assurance specialist, peer reviewer, and national speaker who has trained more than 5,000 business owners and professionals. Her firm was built on the conviction that personalized service and innovation go hand in hand — thoughtful adoption of technology, service models that grow alongside clients, and advisory work that extends well beyond tax and accounting. Relationships sit at the center of every decision, proving a small firm can make an extraordinary impact.
S. A. Bennett works out of metro Detroit and has spent seventeen years as the owner whose name is on the door. She knows exactly what a seller is handing over — the clients who call you first, the staff who stayed, the reputation built one referral at a time. Which is why she won't take on a firm she can't serve properly.
Finance and operations executive with fifteen-plus years across accounting, FP&A, valuation modeling, pricing strategy, and national account leadership at publicly traded and PE-backed companies. He owns the P&L, systems, and integration work — which keeps our CPAs focused on technical and client work.
Adrian Williams is based in Raleigh and spent fifteen years watching good businesses get worse after they were sold. That's most of the reason we structured this the way we did.
Between us: 40+ years in accounting and finance, and 5,000+ owners and professionals trained nationwide.
No documents, no commitment. You tell us about the practice, we tell you what we're looking for. NDA signed same day if you'd rather have one first.
Three years of financials, a client concentration summary, a staff roster, your service mix. We work from what you have; we don't send you a homework assignment.
A real range with the reasoning behind it, and the structure we'd propose. If we're far apart, you'll know here — quickly, and having learned something useful either way.
Price, structure, transition terms, and your role after close. Exclusivity is limited and time-boxed.
Confirmatory diligence, lender process, legal. Then a joint transition plan for clients and staff on your timeline.
You can stop at any step. Most of the owners we talk to aren't ready to sell this year, and that's a perfectly good outcome for a first conversation.
Funded by a committed practice-acquisition lender and partner equity.
Where deferring a portion of proceeds improves your after-tax outcome.
For when the two of us disagree about what the book will do — structured so you benefit if you're right.
Many owners want two or three years at twenty hours a week, then out. That's a feature. Some want a clean break at close; that works too.
If you'd rather keep a piece of the upside than take all of it now.
Purchased or leased, whichever suits you.
Tax treatment drives a lot of this — asset versus stock, allocation, installment treatment. We'll model the alternatives with you rather than hand you one take-it-or-leave-it number.
Most buyers keep this vague until you're deep in a process. Here is roughly where practices in our target size trade, so you can decide whether a conversation is worth your time before you spend any of it.
These are general market ranges for practices in the $500K–$5M band, not a valuation opinion and not an offer. Your firm may fall outside them in either direction — the only number that matters is the one we put in writing after seeing your numbers.
Yes, completely — from the first conversation through the post-close announcement. We'll sign your NDA or send ours, same day. We do not contact your staff, your clients, or your referral sources at any stage, and not after signing either, until you tell us it's time.
Practices in your range generally trade between roughly 1.0× and 1.25× annual revenue, or about 2.5× to 4.5× adjusted earnings — and the spread inside that is wide. It depends on service mix, client concentration, realization rates, staff depth, and how much of the work runs through you personally.
We'll give you a specific range within two weeks of seeing three years of numbers, with the reasoning shown.
No. Part-time roles, advisory arrangements, and multi-year transitions are all normal. Tell us what you want your week to look like and we'll build toward it.
They keep their jobs. We invest in people and technology rather than cutting to hit a return, and your team hears about the transaction from you, with us there, on your schedule.
Very common, and not a dealbreaker — it's a structuring question, usually solved with a longer transition and a retention-linked component. We'd rather talk about it openly than discover it in diligence.
Not to talk to us. If you're already working with one, we'll deal with them directly and respect the engagement.
Ninety to a hundred and twenty days from first conversation to close is typical. Faster is possible with clean books; slower is fine if your timeline is longer.
Yes — a lender that specializes in accounting practice acquisitions, partner equity, and a private investor network. The same combination that funded our 2026 closing. We'll provide proof of funds and lender references on request.
No — it's close to ideal. Two years of runway is enough to make small changes that materially raise your value, and we'd rather help you plan than show up the month you burn out.
This form goes directly to S. A. Bennett and Adrian Williams. You will not be added to a mailing list, and we will not contact anyone at your firm.
One of the two partners will reply personally within one business day. If you'd like an NDA in hand before we speak, say so in your reply and we'll send it the same day.
Our one-page acquisition profile — criteria, track record, and what a seller can expect. No form required.
Download the acquisition profile (PDF) →