M&A for accounting practices facing the succession decade.
The Australian accounting profession is in the middle of the largest succession event in its history. Founders are exiting, internal succession is increasingly difficult to fund, and external buyers — domestic and international — are aggressively acquiring practices for scale, specialisation and platform capability. Novastrone advises practice owners and acquirers through these decisions.
Sectors we serve within accounting.
From traditional compliance practices to advisory-first and specialist boutiques — the buyer pool, structure and pricing change materially by sub-sector.
- CPA practices
- Bookkeeping firms
- Tax preparation
- Outsourced CFO & fractional finance
- Audit firms
- Payroll services
- Advisory & consulting practices
- Specialist niche — e-commerce
- Specialist niche — medical
- Specialist niche — property
- Specialist niche — R&D
- International tax
What's driving M&A right now.
A founder cohort exiting at scale, capital actively consolidating, and a widening multiple gap between traditional and advisory-led practices. Five forces, one window.
- Succession crunch. A large founder cohort is reaching retirement with limited internal succession options.
- Roll-ups by mid-tier firms and PE-backed consolidators. Australian and international entrants are actively acquiring practices in the $1M–$20M revenue range.
- Cloud-native and advisory-first practices command premium multiples. Compliance-heavy traditional firms transact at the lower end of the range.
- Larger firms acquiring specialist boutiques. Forensic, R&D, international tax, e-commerce accounting.
- Geographic consolidation across regional and metro practice combinations.
What buyers actually pay for.
Headline revenue is the easy number to quote. The premium sits in the quality and stickiness of that revenue — and in whether the practice can run without the founder in the room.
- Recurring fee base — compliance, monthly bookkeeping, fixed-fee advisory
- Client retention metrics (5+ year tenure attracts a premium)
- Revenue per client and per fee-earner
- Partner-to-staff leverage ratios
- Tech stack maturity — Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online
- Specialist or niche concentration that creates defensibility
- Strength of the second tier — managers and senior staff
Cloud-native, advisory-led firms sit at the top of the multiple range.” The practice premium
Common structures, and the traps that come with them.
Practice transactions live or die in the transition window — the structure has to align both sides through it.
- Earn-outs tied to client retention through transition (typically 12–36 months).
- Vendor finance is common — 20–50% of consideration is frequently deferred.
- Partner buy-in or merger structures rather than clean third-party sales.
- Restraint of trade clauses are heavily negotiated and material to value.
- Earn-out protection clauses matter — sellers need to ensure post-close decisions don't undermine targets.
- Key-person risk where one partner is the rainmaker.
- Client concentration in the top-10 list.
- Charge-out vs. realisation gaps that overstate true profitability.
- Pre-billed or unearned fee treatment in the working capital negotiation.
- Cultural fit issues that surface mid-earn-out.
Start a confidential conversation.
Whether you're a partner planning your exit, or a firm building through acquisition — a confidential first call is the right place to begin.
Request a confidential consultation