Patil kept seeing a pattern: a PE firm studies its target for months, builds a model, and sets a range before ever calling the owner. By the time the owner hears a number, the buyer has already decided what the firm is worth, and often what they are willing to pay for it.
“By the time an owner hears the first offer, the buyer has been studying the firm for months,” said Patil, a nine-time Accounting Today Top 100 honoree. “This book gives owners that same view of their own firm, early enough to act on it, whether they intend to sell or to stay independent.”
PE DEAL READY: See Your Firm the Way Private Equity Already Does Before You Sell, Merge, or Stay
This is the first book written specifically for CPA firm owners weighing a sale to private equity, and just as much for those planning to stay independent while PE-backed platforms consolidate their markets. The eBook is available now at accountaneur.com/pe-deal-ready-book.
The book draws on three years of research into PE-CPA transactions, including direct conversations with managing partners preparing firms for sale and with the PE investors evaluating them. Its 24 chapters cover the full arc of a deal, from the first unsolicited call through closing and the two years after. Readers get:
- More than 200 specific preparation actions
- The 41 questions PE buyers ask sellers
- The 32 questions sellers should ask in return
The book also includes the Enterprise Attractiveness Scorecard, which calculates a firm’s TRUE FirmWorth, a self-scoring worksheet built on the ten dimensions PE diligence teams typically use to size up a firm. Appendices cover EBITDA normalization and management-presentation interviews, and a glossary defines more than 40 deal terms in plain language. Hitendra states PE sale is not the default outcome. A dedicated chapter weighs internal succession and peer mergers on equal footing with a private equity sale. “Independence is a real strategic path, not just what’s left over when a firm doesn’t sell,” Patil said. “It takes its own ways of preparation to defend.”
Early readers include leaders at some of the profession’s largest firms. “Every firm owner thinking about PE needs to read this first,” said Jason Meredith, CPA, CFP®, Managing Director of Mid-South CFO, an Archer Lewis firm. Jim Bourke, CPA, Partner and Managing Director of Advisory Services at Withum, pointed to the book’s treatment of the full option set: “There’s real value in stepping back, understanding your options, and choosing a path that aligns with your culture and long-term vision.”
The opening chapter is available free at accountaneur.com/pe-deal-ready-book/free-chapter. Firm owners can also request a complimentary TRUE FirmWorth score through the book’s page.
About the Author: Hitendra R. Patil is a nine-time honoree of Accounting Today’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting and the author of True Advisor®, Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide, and Accountaneur: The Entrepreneurial Accountant. He has worked directly with CPA firms for more than two decades on practice growth and firm strategy, and has spent the past three years focused on private equity activity in the accounting profession.
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Tags: Firm Management, private equity
