What experiences have you had when acquiring an accounting practice?

Stan Henslee
CPA

What experiences have you had when acquiring an accounting practice?

Yes, I was part of a team that worked on the acquisition of accounting practices to merg them into our firm. And there were several factors that we looked at in trying to make a decision or to make an offer for an acquisition. The first one, we looked at the customer's target base. Were their clients the type of client that the new firm or our firm would be able to serve and retain? Were the employees properly trained and skilled and would they fit into our model of accounting practice? Would we be able to keep the owner involved in the targeted practice for at least a short time to help with the transition into the new firm? Fourthly, what type of management requirements would it make on our parent firm? Would we be able to manage the transition of the target? And then just as a general rule, you'd want to look at how the deal was structured. Would it create a debt service that the target company would not be able to generate enough cash to meet some type of a return on our investment and be able to meet the debt service to the seller.