pe deal tracker update: alan whitman plants a flag in the private equity landscape

tracker surges into 2026 with more than 200 transactions.

in january alone, dozens of private-equity-backed deals surfaced — more than a quarter of all 12 months last year. and it hasn’t slowed down yet.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
cornerstone reports

former baker tilly ceo alan whitman is returning to the center of accounting’s private equity vortex with a new mandate and a new sponsor, taking the helm of a newly capitalized triple-threat cpa firm, insurance agency, and transaction consultancy.

alan whitman: breaking the mold with pe backing | holistic guide | more cornerstone reports | more private equity

in the new edition of the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pe deal tracker™, madison dearborn partners, the chicago-based private equity firm, founded in 1992 and managing more than $28 billion in assets, is backing the combination of nichols cauley, a georgia-based cpa firm, with partners risk services and jgh consulting in a three-entity formation designed not as a tuck-in acquisition but as an integrated advisory foundation from inception.

at nichols, an eight-office regional leader, whitman may be inventing more than the next generation of cpa firms. it could be a new breed.  “it’s going to be a lot of fun scaling a new product,” whitman tells 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间’ rory henry in the latest episode of the holitic guide to wealth management. “it’s kind of a new category in the space.”

nichols cauley adds new acquisition capacity to a market where deal volume has risen sharply over the past three years.

whitman has long argued that growth must be engineered rather than accumulated. “plans are actions,” he tells henry. “strategy is what you are looking to deliver, how you want to be seen in the ecosystem. then you put the plan in place to execute getting there.”

todd giddens served as the long-time managing partner of nichols cauley & associates, leading its growth across georgia before the 2026 merger.

whitman’s distinction between activity and architecture now underpins a platform that combines the 200-employee nichols cpa firm in dublin, ga, with an atlanta-based transaction advisory practice and an insurance brokerage arm.

turbulence at tilly

whitman arrives with experience running one of the largest firms in the country. he served as ceo of baker tilly us from june 2016 until march 2023, succeeding tim christen. during that period, baker tilly more than tripled in size, growing from roughly $500 million in revenue to approximately $1.5 billion and completing more than 20 mergers and acquisitions. the firm solidified its position among the top 10 u.s. accounting firms and significantly expanded its geographic and service-line footprint.

but his departure in march 2023 was abrupt. baker tilly announced that whitman resigned “effective immediately,” stating that while he and the board were closely aligned on strategy, they “differed on aspects of execution.” regional managing partner jeff ferro was named interim ceo, and jeffrey deyoung became chairman of the board. industry observers at the time pointed to tensions common in scaling professional services firms under institutional growth pressure, including differing views regarding board oversight and centralized operating frameworks. whitman later said he felt there was still “gas in the tank” for the vision he was pursuing in professional services.

that vision now reemerges in a mid-market platform.

according to the pe deal tracker™, nichols cauley’s cpa business carries estimated revenue of about $48.7 million, implying revenue per employee of about $243,000. jgh consulting adds an estimated $10.5 million in transaction advisory revenue. using only the available revenue figures, the identifiable combined revenue approaches $59 million at launch, before accounting for the risk services unit. the structure embeds accounting, transaction advisory and insurance brokerage under a single capitalized entity positioned for southeast expansion.

203 deals in the tracker

the timing is not incidental. in january 2026, 23 private-equity-backed accounting transactions were recorded in the tracker, representing 27 percent of the 86 deals recorded for the entirety of 2025. it is the highest january total in the dataset. the prior five januarys combined generated eight transactions. january 2026 nearly tripled that figure on its own. if the rest of 2026 comes in at even half the pace, the profession could see another 138 firms snapped up

annual deal volume rose from 15 transactions in 2023 to 62 in 2024 and 86 in 2025. the increase from 2024 to 2025 was 39 percent. in 2025, the tracker averaged 7 deals per month and recorded 4 double-digit months, including may and november at 17 each and december at 13. january 2026 exceeded every month in 2025 and opened at more than three times the prior year’s monthly average pace. 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 is now following 203 transactions since 2019, involving more than 50 deep-pocketed private equity sponsors.

wall street investors are no longer testing accounting as an asset class. they are deploying capital into a consolidation framework with recurring buyers and repeatable integration models.

of the 203 transactions, dfw capital and thrive/bessemer account for 16 deals each, or roughly 8 percent apiece. alpine investors follows with 14 transactions. charlesbank capital partners, bessemer and crestview each hold eight. pai partners, audax, blackstone and lovell minnick partners each have seven. the top three sponsors together control 23 percent of all transactions in the tracker. the top five account for approximately 30 percent. the top 10 collectively represent just under half of the total recorded deals. no single firm controls even one-tenth of the market.

new regional nucleus

madison dearborn’s presence is comparatively modest. the nichols cauley formation marks its first recorded accounting transaction. rather than layering incremental add-ons onto an existing national platform, madison dearborn is backing a new regional nucleus.

the transaction mix illustrates the system’s maturity. in 2026, year-to-date, the tracker records three platform formations and three add-on acquisitions.

january includes the whitman-led nichols cauley formation as well as expansions by established platforms. aprio, backed by charlesbank capital partners, expanded its state and local tax capabilities with the addition of the taxops salt team in denver.

ascend, backed by alpine investors, completed regional cpa additions, including alexander almand & bangs in virginia and gollob morgan peddy in texas. mercer advisors, backed by altas partners, added long run wealth advisors in new york and poterack capital advisory in wyoming. modern wealth, backed by crestview, acquired rochester tax team in new york. platform formation and throughput expansion are operating simultaneously.

the sunbelt heats up

geography and revenue concentration reinforce the pattern. nearly 20 percent of all transactions recorded over the past 24 months occurred in georgia, florida, texas, north carolina and south carolina. among deals with revenue estimates, roughly 35 percent involve targets with annual fees between $20 million and $75 million. nichols cauley’s $59 million places it squarely within that mid-market band.

sponsor participation is broad. since 2024, 52 distinct private equity sponsors have executed accounting transactions in the tracker. the competitive field remains dispersed, with the environment is defined by multiple institutional actors pursuing defined acquisition theses rather than a single dominant consolidator. the next phase of the cycle will not be defined by transaction count alone, but by valuation discipline and operating performance. the system is built. what remains to be tested is the generation of returns.

in professional services, value creation depends less on acquisition velocity than on margin expansion, integration efficiency, and growth in the advisory mix. mid-market targets — which account for roughly 35 percent of revenue-disclosed deals — provide scale, but performance must follow. revenue-per-employee metrics, such as nichols cauley’s approximately $243,000 per cpa employee, will serve as baselines against which operational improvements are measured. platforms that convert acquisitions into higher-margin advisory revenue and centralized operating leverage will justify entry multiples. those that do not will face compression when recapitalization or exit windows open.

grant thornton, cherry bekaert, sikich

comparative transactions illustrate the trajectory. grant thornton’s majority investment from new mountain capital, cherry bekaert’s partnership with parthenon capital and sikich’s investment from bain capital embedded institutional governance within scaled firms while preserving brand continuity. nichols cauley launches at a smaller revenue base but within the same structural model: sponsor-backed, acquisition-oriented and advisory-integrated. its performance will hinge not on whether deals occur, but on how effectively integration translates into earnings growth.

capital market conditions will influence the pace but not the direction. a competitive sponsor field and moderate concentration indicate continued participation. exit pathways through recapitalizations and secondary transactions are likely to emerge more visibly as early investments mature.

the arithmetic confirms the structural shift. more than 200 institutional transactions since 2019. three consecutive years of rising annual volume. platform formations and add-ons are operating in parallel. mid-market revenue concentration. southeastern geographic density. nichols cauley’s formation adds incremental capacity within that framework.

from novelty to performance

private equity in accounting is no longer a test case. it is an embedded capital structure with measurable scale. the numbers have established the baseline. the next measure will be performance.

whitman’s southeast focus is also consistent with regional density plays. january transactions spanned multiple states, reflecting a national sourcing network, but a significant share of pe-backed expansion over the past two years has targeted high-growth sun belt markets.

georgia, florida, texas and the carolinas continue to generate mid-sized firms with revenue in the $20 million to $75 million range — the band most frequently acquired. nichols cauley sits squarely within that acquisition sweet spot: large enough to support centralized infrastructure, small enough to scale through disciplined add-ons.

the governance dynamic may prove equally important. at baker tilly, whitman’s tenure coincided with rapid scale, board scrutiny and debates over execution tactics. the nichols cauley structure begins under private equity sponsorship from inception, with capital partners aligned to an institutional growth plan. that alignment can reduce ambiguity around governance roles that often surface when legacy partnerships transition toward centralized models. it also embeds acquisition capital and integration resources directly into the operating blueprint.

shift from launch to operation

the tracker’s multi-year arc illustrates how that blueprint has evolved. in 2023 and 2024, add-on acquisitions dominated the mix. platforms such as those backed by alpine investors, dfw capital and thrive/bessemer steadily accumulated regional firms, building density and service adjacency. by 2025, the cadence accelerated, with 86 transactions across the year and four double-digit months. january 2026 introduces a parallel trend: new platform formation alongside ongoing throughput. that dual-track pattern signals maturation. the market is no longer defined solely by the expansion of existing players; it is adding new institutional actors.

whitman’s return thus functions as both signal and case study. it signals that seasoned large-firm operators see further runway in institutionalizing mid-market accounting. and it offers a test case: whether a deliberately constructed, multi-disciplinary platform can scale without replicating the governance friction that often accompanies rapid growth in legacy partnerships.

with whitman now back in an operator’s seat, the question is less whether private equity will remain active in accounting than what forms that activity will take. the tracker data suggests the market is moving from a single-mode consolidation phase — dominated by add-ons — into a two-lane system in which platform formations and throughput acquisitions operate simultaneously. that shift matters because each new platform increases aggregate buying capacity. in a market constrained by the number of attractive mid-sized targets, incremental capacity is itself a driver of deal volume.

scale and sequencing

the nichols cauley platform is also a reminder that private equity’s accounting thesis has broadened beyond pure tax-and-audit scale. insurance brokerage and transaction advisory are not peripheral add-ons. they are profit centers with distinct revenue mechanics, client touchpoints, and valuation profiles. integrating those lines at inception shortens the time required to build a diversified advisory mix. it also aligns with what repeat buyers have pursued through serial acquisitions: density in core services combined with adjacency in higher-margin offerings.

for whitman, the environment is familiar. his tenure at baker tilly featured rapid expansion and heavy merger-and-acquisition activity. the difference now is scale and sequencing. baker tilly’s growth unfolded within a legacy partnership structure that was modernizing as it scaled. nichols cauley begins as a sponsor-backed platform, designed with institutional growth expectations embedded from inception.

the accounting sector has crossed another threshold. platform formations and add-ons are occurring in parallel. capital is dispersed across multiple sponsors. and a former big four competitor’s chief executive has returned to build, not merely buy.

the private equity experiment in accounting is no longer a test case. it is infrastructure.

the next phase

if the pattern holds, the next phase will likely be defined less by whether deals occur and more by how platforms differentiate themselves once scale becomes common. with 203 institutional transactions recorded since 2019 and more than 50 sponsors active since 2024, acquisition alone is no longer a distinguishing feature. execution, integration and margin expansion will separate durable platforms from transient ones.

the concentration metrics suggest that differentiation will occur within a competitive field rather than under the dominance of a single consolidator. dfw capital and thrive/bessemer each account for 16 transactions in the tracker. alpine investors follows with 14. charlesbank capital partners, bessemer and crestview each hold eight. the top three together account for 22.7 percent of total recorded deals; the top 10 account for less than half. the remaining share is distributed across dozens of sponsors, including madison dearborn partners, which now counts three accounting transactions with the nichols cauley formation.

that dispersion means that mid-market firms considering a transaction are negotiating within a broad market rather than a concentrated one. it also means that new platforms must compete not only for targets but for operational credibility. nichols cauley’s approximately $59 million identifiable revenue base and roughly 200 cpa employees provide a foundation, but the test will be how efficiently that base scales through additional acquisitions.

practice makes perfect

the revenue band data provide context for that scaling challenge. roughly 35 percent of revenue-disclosed targets fall between $20 million and $75 million. that concentration suggests a steady pipeline of similarly sized firms available for acquisition. at the same time, nearly 20 percent of transactions in the past two years have occurred in five southeastern states, reinforcing the importance of regional density. nichols cauley’s georgia base aligns with that cluster, positioning it within a geography that has produced sustained deal flow.

the annual trajectory underscores that the opportunity set remains active. fifteen deals in 2023 expanded to 62 in 2024 and 86 in 2025. january 2026 opened with 23 transactions. even if monthly activity moderates, the structural shift from sporadic to sustained volume is evident. the cycle has extended beyond initial experimentation into repeatable practice.

whitman’s leadership adds continuity across phases of that evolution. at baker tilly, he oversaw more than 20 mergers and a revenue tripling from approximately $500 million to $1.5 billion. that experience occurred in a partnership environment as it adjusted to modernization pressures. nichols cauley begins within a sponsor-backed structure designed for acquisition from inception. the governance alignment differs, but the integration’s operational demands remain.

the nichols cauley launch is therefore less about novelty than about scale within an established system. it adds one more institutional platform to a market that has expanded measurably over three consecutive years. it reflects the same revenue bands, geographies, and sponsor dispersion as the broader data.

the trajectory remains upward. the consolidation framework remains intact. and the numbers continue to document both.

 

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pe deal tracker

 

february 2026

• peltier, gustafson & miller acquired by capstone accounting and tax (seaside equity partners).
• thompson palmer & associates (tpa) (jackson, wy.; two partners, eight staff) merges into mcgee, hearne & paiz (mhp) (ascend / alpine investors).
• step up consulting (san mateo, ca; $14 million est. revenue) acquired by armanino (further global).
• gerald stinnett cpa pc (suwanee, ga) joins doeren mayhew (audax) effective dec. 1, 2025. founder gerald stinnett and team transitions to doeren mayhew’s metro atlanta office. doeren’s second deal in the atlanta market, follows on agl cpa group in duluth, ga, july 16, 2025. doeren’s ninth deal overall since audax funding in august 2024.
• meritax advisors (feb. 5, 2026), commercial property tax consulting firm with offices in texas, acquired by ryan llc (neuberger berman, onex partners, ares private equity). acquisition to expand ryan’s property tax valuation strategy and litigation management.
• wym rating (feb. 5, 2026), acquired by ryan llc (neuberger berman, onex partners, ares private equity). targeted at expanding ryan’s uk business rates and property tax capabilities.

 

january 2026

• ryan llc (jan. 14, 2026) reports neuberger berman capital solutions and neuberger berman private markets commit to acquire “significant minority equity interest” for up to $1.2 billion, valuing ryan at $7 billion. neuberger joins onex partners and ares private equity funds as minority shareholders. closing first half of 2026. 
• alexander almand & bangs (aab) (gainesville, ga.) merges, effective jan. 1, 2026, with wilson lewis, strengthening ascend’s georgia footprint. (alpine)
• baseline wealth management (geneva and zurich, switzerland) to creative planning. announced jan 13, 2026. first foreign deal for creative planning.
• bauknight pietras & stormer, p.a. (bps) acquired by smith + howard (columbia, s.c.). announced jan 13, 2026. backed by broad sky partners. expands smith + howard into the south carolina market.
• bradshaw rogers acquired by prime capital. announced jan 22, 2026. adds roughly $600m aum to the abry partners-backed platform.
• cherry bekaert acquired tarsus, a washington-based accounting firm with cfo/outsourced accounting services, adding offices in ca, mo and bangalore; bolsters outsourced accounting/cfo advisory.
• darnell sikes wealth partners (lafayette, la.; approximately $1.9 billion in assets under management; affiliated with darnall sikes & frederick cpas) joins avantax, a unit of cetera financial group.
• delap merged into aprio effective jan. 1, 2026, giving aprio a major presence in the pacific northwest; part of charlesbank-backed expansion.
• gettleson witzer (gwo) joins ascend. announced jan 20, 2026. merged into the lucas horsfall platform firm.
• gollob morgan peddy  (tyler, tx) joins ascend. announced jan 5, 2026. adds $17 million in revenue and a strong east texas presence.
• grunden financial advisory (denton, texas) acquired by allworth. announced jan 20, 2026. allworth is backed by lightyear capital and ontario teachers’ pension plan.
• herbein financial acquired by choreo. announced jan 21, 2026. the cpa arm was previously sold to cherry bekaert.
• hoffman stewart & schmidt (lake oswego, ore.) combines with aprio. effective jan 1, 2026. pacific northwest market.
• long run wealth advisors (lake placid, n.y.; approximately $640 million in client assets) acquired by mercer advisors.
• manley garvin (greenwood, s.c.) acquired by uhy. effective jan 1, 2026. summit partners backed. marks uhy’s entry into the south carolina market.
• mlcworks (metairie, la) joined eisneramper. announced jan 13, 2026. towerbrook backed. adds digital growth advisory to the firm.
• nichols cauley, partners risk services and jgh consulting merged to form a new financial services platform backed by madison dearborn partners, with former baker tilly us ceo alan whitman as ceo.
• owen j flanagan acquired by sax llp. announced jan 23, 2026. backed by cobepa, this was sax’s second deal of the month.
• poterack capital advisory (jackson, wyo.; approximately $265 million in client assets) acquired by mercer advisors (altas partners). announced jan 7, 2026.
• rochester tax team joins modern wealth. announced jan 20, 2026. modern wealth (crestview) acquired team from manning & associates.
• scheidel, sullivan & lanni cpa llc and sierra financial advisors (sacramento, calif.) acquired by sax llp.
• smith schafer  (rochester, minn.) acquired by cohnreznick. effective jan 1, 2026. backed by apax partners, cohnreznick expands into minnesota.
• ssl/sierra acquired by sax llp. announced jan 8, 2026. this was sax’s first major transaction of the month.
• tarsus (washington, d.c., with additional offices in california and missouri; outsourced accounting and cfo advisory services) acquired by cherry bekaert (parthenon). announced jan 13, 2026.
• taxops salt acquired by aprio. announced jan 21, 2026. the nine-person team is led by judy vorndran (based in denver).

the pe platform power rankings (pro forma 2026)

the flurry of deals in early 2026 has officially moved the accounting industry into a “post-consolidation” era. the traditional “top 100” rankings are being rewritten as private equity-backed platforms aggressively scale.

1. citrin cooperman: the valuation leader. citrin remains the heavyweight of the pe-backed world. following a 2025 deal with blackstone that valued the firm at $2 billion, citrin has moved beyond just “buying firms” to “building a corporate powerhouse.” they currently dominate the mid-atlantic and northeast corridor, but are using blackstone capital to aggressively target the west coast. their integration of berdon set the blueprint for how a $100m+ firm can be folded into a pe structure without losing its high-net-worth client base.

2. aprio: the technological aggressor. aprio’s pro-forma revenue jumped to $800 million this january following the massive hss and delap combinations in the pacific northwest. they are now the dominant “tech-forward” firm for the middle market. by targeting firms with strong pcaob (public company audit) and cybersecurity practices, they are positioning themselves to compete directly with the big 4 for high-growth tech clients. their entry into the oregon/washington corridor makes them the premier “coast-to-coast” pe platform.

3. ascend: the identity preserver. ascend is the most unique player. unlike aprio or citrin, who eventually rebrand acquisitions, ascend allows firms like gettleson witzer (gwo) and alexander almand & bangs to maintain their local identity. ascend is capturing the “independence minded” segment of the market. they are winning deals because partners at $15m–$50m firms are wary of being “swallowed” by a national brand. their secret sauce: providing a centralized ai and data analytics stack that these regional firms could never afford on their own, essentially giving “main street” firms “wall street” technology.

for professionals in the cas (client advisory services) and ai space, these deals are significant because they represent a massive shift in how services are delivered. the “cas backbone:” all three are currently hiring “head of ai” roles to standardize their advisory offerings. aprio, for instance, is moving toward a model in which “human-in-the-loop” ai handles bookkeeping, allowing advisory teams to focus strictly on strategic tax and m&a planning.

 

december 2025

• north star acquired by capstone accounting & tax, backed by seaside equity partners. acquired dec. 29, 2025, to strengthen capstone’s presence in washington.
• lancaster & reed acquired by doeren mayhew, backed by audax. completed dec. 17, 2025; establishes a miami international private client presence.
• bpb (berkowitz pollack brant) acquired by baker tilly, backed by hellman & friedman. planned acquisition announced dec. 15, 2025, to expand into south florida.

  

• mark rule & co. acquired by capstone accounting & tax, backed by seaside equity partners. joined dec. 10, 2025; expands capstone into the montana market.
• marshall financial group acquired by creative planning, backed by tpg capital. announced dec. 9, 2025; adds $900m+ aum to the platform.
• dk partners acquired by cri (carr, riggs & ingram) backed by  centerbridge/bessemer. joined dec. 5, 2025; cri’s fifth merger since receiving pe funding in late 2024.
• the vroman group was acquired by bgm, backed by unity partners. announced nov. 21, 2025; integration was fully underway by december.
• glass jacobson wealth acquired by mercer advisors, backed by genstar capital. announced dec. 2, 2025; adds $1b aum and deepens mid-atlantic presence.
• burt wealth advisors.  acquired by creative planning, backed by tpg capital. announced dec. 2, 2025; adds $1b aum and establishes a north bethesda hub.
• wolf maryles & assoc acquired by pkf o’connor davies, backed by investcorp. announced dec. 5, 2025; team joined the new york office effective jan. 1, 2026.
• casey neilon acquired by sorren, backed by dfw capital. announced dec. 19, 2025; establishes sorren’s presence in nevada. effective october 2025, nicola “niki” neilon was appointed chair of nasba, leading the association’s board and helping guide policy on cpa licensure, mobility, and related regulatory issues across the 55 u.s. jurisdictions.
• fsa wealth acquired by allworth financial, backed by lightyear. closed dec. 1, 2025; team relocated to allworth’s waltham, ma office.
• farkouh furman & faccio acquired by prosperity partners, backed by unity partners. completed dec. 9, 2025; serves as prosperity’s flagship new york city office.
• rosen sapperstein & friedlander (rs&f) was officially announced as joining frazier & deeter on dec. 10, 2025.

consolidation trends 

geographic land grab: florida and the mid-atlantic (maryland/dc) were the primary battlegrounds in december, with major players like doeren mayhew, baker tilly, and creative planning aggressively acquiring local market leaders.

wealth + accounting synergy: firms like mercer and creative planning are increasingly targeting accounting-heavy rias (like glass jacobson) to offer “connected” tax and wealth services.

employee ownership models: unity partners (via prosperity) is utilizing a “purpose plan” for employee ownership to differentiate its acquisition model from more traditional pe structures.

november 2025

• richardson & co to ascend (walter shuffain). effective nov. 1, 2025. integrated into boston-based walter shuffain.
• john g. burk to ascend (tss advisors). effective nov. 1, 2025. expands tss advisors’ footprint across northern new england.
• mcmurray fox to doeren mayhew. effective nov. 10, 2025. the $658 million figure is a likely error; the firm consists of a small team in nashville.
• scl consulting to sax llp. effective nov. 14, 2025. revenue correction: sax llp’s total net revenue was $110.89 million at the time of acquisition.
• bflc to mercer advisors. announced nov. 12, 2025. adds 20 tax professionals and offices in el segundo, irvine, and ontario.
• novotny cpa group to doeren mayhew. effective nov. 6, 2025. partners randy novotny and tom winkelman joined as principals.
• mennenga tax to merit financial. effective oct. 31, 2025, though widely reported in early november.
• gatto pope & walwick to citrin cooperman. announced nov. 7, 2025. added 10 partners and over 60 professionals in san diego.
• smart accountants to springline advisory. completed nov. 5, 2025. part of a global partnership alongside infinity globus.
• rs&f to frazier & deeter. announced nov. 5, 2025. deepens frazier & deeter’s mid-atlantic footprint from towson, md.
• pesta finnie & assoc. to frazier & deeter. announced nov. 4, 2025. strengthens real estate tax and family office expertise in charlotte.
• biggskofford to ascend. announced in early november. revenue correction: the $697 million figure likely refers to the pro-forma revenue of the platform.
• mize cpas / prism financial to aprio. effective nov. 1, 2025. added 20 partners and 300+ professionals; prism manages $1.8 billion aum.
• auxis to grant thornton advisors. this transaction actually closed on sept. 2, 2025, not november.
• demott & smith to insero advisors. effective nov. 7, 2025. added a team of 12 employees, including two partners, in rochester, ny.

key market observations

global talent plays: the springline acquisition of smart accountants and infinity globus highlights a shift toward acquiring offshore delivery centers (in ahmedabad, india) directly rather than outsourcing to them.

wealth-accounting convergence: acquisitions such as prism financial (by aprio) and beach freeman (by mercer) demonstrate that the line between high-net-worth tax work and asset management continues to blur.

 

october 2025

• herbein + company, inc. (reading, pa) acquired by cherry bekaert (backed by parthenon capital). in january 2026, choreo agrees to acquire substantially all assets of herbein financial group, the firm’s affiliated wealth management business.
• nissen & meyer (redmond, or) acquired by capstone accounting and tax, expanding capstone’s central oregon presence.
• shorepoint capital partners, llc (norwood, ma; $850 million aum) acquired by allworth financial (backed by lightyear capital and ontario teachers’ pension plan).
• singer burke (los angeles, ca; $1.2 billion aum) acquired by mercer global advisors and integrated into mercer’s ultra-high-net-worth regis group (backed by oak hill capital).
• toone & associates (baltimore, md) was acquired by the family office of md.
• tkr advisors (washington, d.c. region) joins crete professionals alliance.
• gilmore advisors llc (sanmateo, ca) acquired by elevate.

key private equity backers & platforms

parthenon capital – backing cherry bekaert. since investing in cherry bekaert in june 2022, parthenon has fueled over 15 acquisitions, including the herbein + co. deal.

seaside equity partners – backing capstone accounting and tax. based in san diego, seaside focuses on “mission-critical” services in the western u.s.. they partnered with capstone in april 2025 using a $325 million investment vehicle. they directly supported capstone’s acquisition of nissen & meyer in october 2025.

oak hill capital – backing mercer advisors.  oak hill has been a majority owner of mercer advisors since 2019, alongside genstar capital and altas partners. this backing has enabled mercer to scale to over $69 billion in assets, facilitating large acquisitions like singer burke.

lightyear capital – backing allworth financial. lightyear is a specialist in financial services pe. they provide the capital for allworth financial’s aggressive “hub-and-spoke” acquisition model, which includes the shorepoint capital deal.

 

september 2025

• adeptus advisors (ocean, nj) acquired by crete alliance (bessemer/thrive).
• crete professionals alliance announced that adeptus joined the alliance on september 9, 2025. crete is backed by bessemer venture partners and thrive capital.
• richey may & co. (denver, co; backed by f3 partners) formed a national platform by combining with four firms: wsrp (ut), moss krusick & associates (fl), sobul, primes & schenkel (ca), and usx advisors (wa)
• horton lee burnett (birmingham, al) acquired by smith + howard (broad sky)
• ksdt (miami, fl) acquired by ascend (alpine investors)
• orba, formerly ostrow reisin berk & abrams (chicago, il) acquired by citrin cooperman (blackstone)
• the nashville-based cpa firm carson & mckinney was acquired by doeren mayhew on september 22, 2025. this was doeren mayhew’s eighth acquisition of 2025, supported by capital from audax private equity.
• tys advisors (walnut creek, ca) joins elevate llc. elevate’s inaugural investment.

posted on february 16, 2026