Accounting, auditing and tax firmsFocus

The US$360 billion accounting, auditing and tax industry grew historically through core assurance and closely related services. Since the 1980s, however, consulting and other complementary services have been driving the growth of most firms in this industry. Capitalising on ‘brand permission’ is a major challenge in expanding these services causing firms to grapple with strategic questions such as:

• How to differentiate one firm across many service lines? Is a single monolithic brand or a house of brands preferred?
• How are portfolio choices best made? What to acquire and what to divest?
• How to sustain growth in the face of client maturity, regulatory pressures and competition from many quarters?

Our experience covers strategies and acquisitions for the growth and diversification of the Big 4, through re-positioning globally networked mid-sized accounting, auditing and tax firms, to expanding and transitioning single-city firms.

We specialise in buy-side mandates with clients whose advisory businesses we understand and with whom we are deeply involved.

• Our white papers:

• The global accounting and advisory industry: