Last week, Grant Thornton announced it will acquire CBIZ for five billion dollars. All cash, backed by New Mountain Capital. The deal creates the fifth-largest accounting firm in the country overnight. That’s the headline.
But if you’re in the accounting profession, or if you work with accounting firms, the Grant Thornton deal is one data point in a much larger story. Private equity has now been in accounting long enough that the first investors are starting to exit and those exits are going well. We’re in what some are calling the flip era.
Two Audiences, One Question
This matters differently depending on where you sit.
If you’re at an accounting firm, your firm either has PE capital, is evaluating it, or is watching PE-backed competitors acquire at a pace that partnership economics simply can’t match.
If you’re in corporate finance (as a CFO, controller, or audit committee member) the firm you hired two years ago may have different owners, different priorities, and a different value-creation plan by the time your engagement renews. PE ownership almost always leads to change: pricing structures shift, service delivery evolves, and the people doing the work are often feeling the pressure of it.
The question isn’t whether PE belongs in accounting. That debate ended years ago. The question is what phase we’re in, and what it means for your situation right now.
Three Phases, All Running at Once
The PE wave in accounting has moved through three distinct phases, and all three are active simultaneously in 2026.
Phase 1 — Entry (2021–2023). The first institutional capital entered top-20 firms. EisnerAmper, Citrin Cooperman, Cherry Bekaert, Baker Tilly. PE firms built out the Alternative Practice Structure — splitting the CPA entity (which must remain majority CPA-owned under state licensing law) from the advisory entity (where PE actually invests) — and started ramping acquisitions.
Phase 2 — Scale (2024–now). What started as a thesis for a few funds became the consensus trade. Deal volume went from around 12 transactions in 2021 to 176 in 2025 alone, according to the CPA Trendlines PE Deal Tracker. The biggest deals got much bigger: Baker Tilly absorbed Moss Adams to become the sixth-largest firm. Crowe took a nearly $3 billion investment from KKR in June 2026. Eide Bailly closed with Reverence Capital. And then Grant Thornton at $5 billion.
Phase 3 — The Flip (2025–now). This is the new development. PE firms typically hold investments for three to seven years. The early 2021–2022 cohort is hitting its exit window — and instead of IPOs or strategic sales, the exits are happening PE-to-PE.
The First Flips — and What They Prove
In January 2025, New Mountain Capital sold its stake in Citrin Cooperman to Blackstone at roughly 15x EBITDA — up from the 11x it paid in 2021. Citrin’s revenue had grown from $315 million to approximately $850 million over that period, almost entirely through PE-funded acquisitions. The return on equity was roughly four times in three years.
In March 2026, Schellman, a top-50 cybersecurity compliance and attestation firm, flipped from Lightyear Capital (its sponsor since 2021) to Goldman Sachs Alternatives. Lightyear stayed on as a minority investor. The new thesis: global expansion into healthcare and financial services, plus a deeper push into AI assurance.
These two transactions answer the question the profession has been asking since 2021: can PE actually exit profitably from an accounting firm? The answer, at least so far, is yes. That proof-of-concept has accelerated deal flow. As Allan Koltin put it, there will be more flips in 2027 than in 2026, and a lot more in 2028, as the 2021–2022 investment cohort reaches maturity.
What the Playbook Actually Looks Like
Every PE deal in accounting uses the same structural approach. The firm splits into two entities: a CPA LLP that retains the attest function (audit, review, SSAE engagements — required by state licensing to remain majority CPA-owned) and an advisory LLC covering tax, consulting, outsourced CFO services, and everything else. PE invests in the advisory side. The CPA entity keeps its license and its name; the economics shift.
Once inside, the playbook is predictable: acquire smaller firms to add revenue, optimize EBITDA through cost discipline, push toward fixed-fee engagements that improve margin predictability, and invest in technology to reduce delivery costs. The goal is to build a platform that exits at a higher multiple than entry.
One consistent pattern worth noting: staff at PE-backed firms tend to report a significantly worse experience than partners. Partners often do well, their equity stake appreciates. Staff face tighter cost controls, higher utilization targets, and the cultural shift that comes from reporting through a management services organization rather than a traditional partnership. If you manage a team at a firm that has recently taken PE investment, it’s worth checking in.
The Independence Constraint That Doesn’t Go Away
For auditors, the structural complexity of PE ownership creates a recurring independence problem, not a one-time one. When a PE firm acquires the advisory side of your firm, they bring a portfolio of companies with them. Every portfolio company is a potential independence conflict for your public-company audit clients. That analysis has to be redone every time the sponsor acquires a new company, and again every time the sponsor itself changes in a flip.
The Blackstone deal with Citrin Cooperman was structured to keep Blackstone’s ownership stake below 50% specifically to manage independence concerns. The SEC’s Chief Accountant has publicly flagged that PE investment in accounting firms risks a culture shift away from a public interest mindset in audit quality.
For CFOs and audit committees: the firm you selected two years ago may look materially different at renewal. Add these questions to every re-engagement review: Who owns the firm now? Has there been a sponsor change or new portfolio company addition since our last review? Are there any new conflicts in our industry or among our counterparties?
Key Takeaways
- PE is the structure now, not a trend. Nearly half of the top 30 U.S. accounting firms have PE capital as of mid-2026. The debate about whether this belongs in the profession is over.
- The flip era has started, and early returns are real. Citrin Cooperman returned roughly 4x equity to New Mountain Capital in three years. The PE-in-accounting model has now proven it can generate profitable exits.
- Different sponsors bring different mandates. First-hold PE tends to focus on institutionalizing operations and acquiring. Second-hold PE — as Schellman’s Goldman partnership shows — targets expansion into new verticals and geographies. A flip isn’t just an ownership change; it’s a strategic reset.
- Independence analysis is recurring, not one-time. Every ownership change, sponsor acquisition, or flip is a potential independence trigger. Build ongoing monitoring into your processes, not just an initial review at engagement inception.
- The scale has moved upmarket. Grant Thornton + CBIZ at $5 billion means PE consolidation has reached the top ten. This is no longer a story about mid-size firms.
If you don’t know who owns your audit firm right now, today is the time to find out. In 2027 and 2028, as the next wave of flips hits, that answer may be changing faster than the engagement letter.
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