PE-Backed CPA Platforms · Tax · CAS · Advisory
Turn a collection of acquired firms into one platform with the capacity to grow.
Private equity now backs many of the profession's largest firms, and the platforms it funds grow by acquiring firms that each arrive with their own software, workflows, pricing and partner habits. The return depends on turning that collection into one operating model with more capacity per professional: enough to absorb busy season, grow CAS and advisory, and price for scope and value instead of hours. Ometz works with platform leadership and their sponsors on integration, throughput, staff leverage, advisory growth and pricing, with AI and automation built into the redesigned work. We are not a CPA firm and give no attest or tax advice.
Financial Services
The landscape
From partnership to platform.
Private capital has reached the top of the profession. KPMG Corporate Finance counted 11 of the 30 largest US accounting firms with private equity investment as of the third quarter of 2025, and the platforms keep buying. The thesis is broadly the same everywhere: acquire firms, put them on one operating model, lift capacity per professional, and shift the mix toward client accounting and advisory services, where practices reported median growth of 17% in the 2024 AICPA and CPA.com CAS benchmark survey. Every one of those steps is an operating problem.
The binding constraint is people and process. AICPA data show the number of new accounting graduates falling for three straight years even as enrollment recovers, so the next few busy seasons will be staffed largely by the people already in the building. AI changes what those people can produce, but adoption is running ahead of measurement: Thomson Reuters reports that 34% of tax firms now deploy generative AI at an organizational level, and only 19% of those firms measure the ROI of their AI tools. The capacity gain comes from redesigning intake, preparation and review around the new tools and tracking hours per return and realization as the work changes, not from the licenses alone.
There is also a structural reason to bring in an outside operator. A growing platform's usual advisers are other accounting firms, several of them PE-backed acquirers competing for the same targets and clients. Ometz has no attest, tax or advisory practice, so the operating work carries no conflict over targets or clients.
The market problem, in published numbers
11 of 30
largest US accounting firms had taken on private equity investment as of Q3 2025
KPMG Corporate Finance, Professional Services Industry Update, Winter 2025 (2025)
17%
median growth rate reported by client advisory services (CAS) practices, in a survey of 206 self-selected US practices (2023 data)
34%
of tax firms deploy generative AI at an organizational level; only 19% of those firms measure the ROI of their AI tools
55,152
accounting bachelor's and master's graduates in the 2023-24 academic year, a third straight annual decline after falls of 7.4% and 9.6%; enrollment has since begun to grow again
AICPA, 2025 Trends report (news release, October 27, 2025) (2025)
Figures are third-party market benchmarks from the cited sources, not Ometz Partners client results. We share them so you can size the problem before we ever talk.
Where performance is lost
Integration stalls at the software
Acquired firms keep their own tax, practice-management and document systems, so the platform runs several firms under one name.
Busy season sets the ceiling
Incomplete client packages, review queues and partners doing manager-level work cap how many engagements the platform can take.
Advisory growth without the hours
CAS and advisory carry the better margins, but the people who would sell them spend the season on compliance.
Pricing still tied to hours
As AI shortens preparation time, hourly billing hands the efficiency to the client, and legacy fixed fees go unrepriced as scope grows.
The CPA & Advisory Platforms program
Programs built around how your business runs.
VALUE CAPTURE
Acquired-Firm Integration Program
Every acquired firm moved onto one platform standard for systems, workflows, pricing and reporting on a set schedule, so the platform's capacity and margin show up in the numbers instead of staying in the deal model.
What we measure
- Time to platform standard per acquired firm
- Client and staff retention through integration
- Realization at acquired firms versus the platform
01
Integration playbook per firm
A repeatable sequence from signing to platform standard: systems, data migration, engagement letters, pricing, people and client communication.
02
Workflow and data migration
Client files, engagement history and workpaper conventions moved onto the platform's systems, with automated migration and reconciliation led by our technical co-founder.
03
Integration scorecard
Time to standard, client retention, staff retention and realization tracked per acquired firm for platform leadership and the sponsor.
MARGIN
Busy-Season Capacity Program
More returns and engagements through the same team: intake, preparation and review redesigned around one standard workflow, with AI and automation where they shorten the cycle, and partners taken off preparer-level work.
What we measure
- Hours per return or engagement, by complexity band
- Days in the review queue at peak
- Engagements per professional (staff leverage)
01
Client intake and document collection
Organizers, requests and reminders automated, with source documents classified and extracted into the workflow before a preparer opens the file.
02
Preparation and first-review standard
Standard workpapers and checklists, with AI-assisted preparation and review notes checked by your professionals before anything is signed.
03
Capacity and queue management
A live view of work in progress by stage, staff level and deadline, so managers rebalance the queue before extension season.
REVENUE
Advisory, CAS & Pricing Program
Capacity turned into revenue: CAS and advisory offered systematically to the existing book, and pricing moved from hours to scope and value as AI compresses preparation time.
What we measure
- CAS and advisory share of revenue
- Realization and effective rate per hour
- Upgrades from compliance-only clients
01
Book segmentation and offer design
Clients segmented by entity complexity, industry and life events, and matched to CAS, tax planning and advisory offers your partners approve.
02
Pricing architecture
Tiered, scope-based pricing and engagement-letter terms that capture the value of faster delivery, with change-order triggers for out-of-scope work.
03
Advisory pipeline
Proactive outreach and partner meeting preparation for the upgrade pool, tracked from first conversation to signed engagement.
The diagnosis
What we look for in your firm.
A Performance Diagnostic measures these in your own systems first, so every later result is judged against the same baseline.
How many tax, practice-management and document systems still run across acquired firms
Hours per return or engagement by complexity band, and how they moved last season
Days work waits in manager and partner review at peak
Staff leverage: hours by level spent on preparer-level work
Realization and write-downs by service line and by acquired firm
Scope delivered versus scope in the engagement letter
CAS and advisory share of revenue, and conversion from the compliance-only book
How an engagement runs
01
Weeks 1–4: Performance Diagnostic
A fixed-fee diagnostic of 2–4 weeks on the platform and one or two recently acquired firms. We baseline hours per return, review cycle time, realization and service mix from your own systems, price three improvement plays, and leave a 90-day plan timed to your filing calendar.
02
Before the deadline peak: Capacity sprint
Client intake, document collection, preparation and first review standardized and redesigned, with automation and AI built in where they shorten cycle time, live before the season's volume arrives.
03
Through the year: Integration and growth
Acquired firms move onto the platform standard on a set schedule, CAS and advisory offers go into the existing book, and pricing shifts from hours to scope and value. Capacity and margin per professional are the scoreboard.
Our thinking for CPA & Advisory Platforms
All insightsCPA & Advisory Platforms FAQ
It removes the conflict. A growing platform's usual advisers are often competing for the same acquisitions and clients; Ometz Partners has no attest, tax or advisory practice. It also sets the boundary of the work: we redesign how the work flows and build the tools, while professional judgment, independence decisions and sign-off stay with your licensed people. We give no attest or tax advice.
We build to your obligations as your counsel and risk leaders interpret them: the Internal Revenue Code's consent rules for using or disclosing tax-return information, your information security program under the FTC Safeguards Rule, and your engagement terms. Data stays in systems you designate, AI access is scoped during the diagnostic, and anything a client relies on is reviewed by your professionals before it leaves the firm.
The diagnostic takes 2–4 weeks and is planned around your filing calendar. We sequence intake and document collection first because they relieve the peak directly, and schedule deeper workflow and integration changes for the windows after the deadlines.
Alongside them. The sponsor and platform leadership own the value-creation plan; we run the integration office work, the capacity redesign and the build the platform's own team has no bandwidth for, and report progress against the same baseline to both.
Next step
Start with a Performance Diagnostic.
The Performance Diagnostic runs for two to four weeks at a fixed fee and ends with a baseline, three priced improvement plays and a 90-day plan. The findings are yours whether or not we continue.