Why can't I sell my old-school accounting firm?
Many retiring owners overvalue their firms, often asking 1.5 to 2 times revenue for inefficient shops with no formal processes or smooth transition plans. Buyers are also turned off because these practices rely on outdated systems and paper files that make them unattractive to purchase.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Building relationships with trusted firms to strike referral dealsDid this help you?
- 2Selling to main staff members upon retirementDid this help you?
- 3Selling to larger local or regional firmsDid this help you?
- 4Private equity firms acquiring the practicesDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“They are looking to sell but they have not taken the steps necessary to make their firms attractive for purchase.”source ↗
“Those that want to sell severely over value their firms. They want 1.5 times gross revenue for $400 tax returns.”source ↗
“They over value the firms to begin with even if they were efficiently managed. So in reality you have a bunch of inefficient small shops that want 1.5-2x revenue and have no formal processes for their clients for a smooth transition.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 20Leaving Big Four accounting before one year
- 2How to escape dead-end accounts payable contracts
- 2How to extract knowledge from a retiring business owner with no records
- 30How to clean up months of messy client expense records
- 4What careers can I transition to from property management?
- 24Does starting in private accounting ruin your career?