Webinar recap and Q&A: The firm you built is worth selling, not closing

Last week, tax and accounting firm owners joined a conversation on a question most put off for years: what happens to the firm you built when you’re ready to move on, and what it takes to buy one worth having.

We brought together a four-person panel, each with a different view of the deal.

Chase Insogna, CPA, built his firm, grew it to 20 people, and sold it in 2025, and now leads Customer M&A at TaxDome. Rocky Lippold, EA, founder of Freedom Accounting & Tax, has built and sold firms and actively buys practices today. Jon Gross, TaxDome’s CFO, a former M&A professional from investment banking and private equity, brought the finance view of how buyers decide what a firm is worth. Petar Iliev, TaxDome’s CRO, hosted.

We also used the session to announce something new: the TaxDome Customer M&A Program, which connects TaxDome buyers and sellers. More on that below.

It drew a great turnout, with plenty of questions right through to the end. If you missed it, want to watch it again, or want to send it to a peer, the full recording is here.

Here’s what we covered

Firms are changing hands faster than ever, and most owners are working it out alone. The market backdrop made the point: accounting deal volume hit a record in 2025 and 2026 is running ahead of last year, and private equity crossed half of all accounting deals for the first time, and SBA lending to CPA practices has climbed sharply since 2022. Buyers are active at every firm size, not only the large practices.

The session was built around two firsthand stories, one from a seller and one from a buyer, plus the finance view of how deals actually get valued and structured.

Getting exit-ready: the seller’s side

Chase didn’t set out to sell. As he put it:

That curiosity turned into a three-year stretch of conversations, and eventually 20 offers from very different kinds of buyers. What made his firm easy to buy was built over years, not staged at the end: clean financials, recurring revenue without dangerous client concentration, documented processes, one system of record, a team that could carry the relationships, and clarity about what he actually wanted out of the deal.

The thing he kept coming back to is that the highest number was not automatically the best deal:

He chose the buyer he trusted to take care of his clients and his team.

What buyers actually look for: the buyer’s side

Rocky has been on every side of this. He got his start doing taxes in the military, then built his own firm to three offices and around 1,600 clients before selling it. Since then he has acquired several practices and is still buying today, so his read on a deal comes straight from the buyer’s chair. 

For him, it starts with the person, not the spreadsheet:

From there, the drivers are what you’d expect a buyer to reward: strong client retention, clean and understandable numbers, documented workflows, a team likely to stay, and a firm that runs without the owner in the middle of everything. Valuation is a spectrum. Size sets the range, and readiness sets where you land in it.

The bigger message: transition, don’t just close

The part that landed hardest wasn’t about multiples. Too many good practices simply close their doors when they could have changed hands. Petar’s message to owners was direct:

Chase, who has seen owners walk away from years of work, put it plainly: 

Introducing the TaxDome Customer M&A Program 

Sellers can’t tell which buyer is serious, and buyers can’t find firms they can trust. 

The TaxDome Customer M&A Program was built to fix that. It connects TaxDome buyers with TaxDome sellers. Chase meets with you, helps with valuation and due diligence, and builds a curated match on size, geography, service mix, and what you want out of the transition. 

It’s open to firms of any size, from a solo practice to a $1M+ firm.

And because both sides run on the same platform, the handover protects the client relationship instead of disrupting it. When the firm you buy or sell is already on TaxDome, clients keep logging into the same 4.9-star app and doing the same things, so the transition barely registers on their end.

There will also be a monthly M&A session inside the TaxDome Community, where owners who have bought or sold share what they learned.

Your questions, answered

Questions came in throughout, on valuation, deal structure, earn-outs, what happens to your team and clients, and how the program works. Here’s the full set.

1. Selling your firm

How do I know when it’s the right time to sell?

There’s rarely one trigger. Common signals include the firm reaching a point where further growth would take major reinvention, owner burnout, and wanting to give the team room to grow. Many owners also start with curiosity rather than a decision, then move once the timing feels right.

Chase’s path shows the pattern: he spent three years having conversations before selling, and acted when he felt his firm was at its peak and continued growth would have required significant reinvention, as well as his highly educated team looking for more challenging work that his firm couldn’t provide to help elevate their professional careers.

What should I do now to sell for the most later?

The biggest driver is making the firm run without you. Chase credits his stronger multiple and smoother handover to a firm where he didn’t do daily bookkeeping or returns and didn’t personally hold the client relationships, supported by documented processes and a full tech stack.

Formalizing recurring work matters too. Moving to annual, fixed-value agreements for bookkeeping, accounting, and tax gives a buyer confidence and becomes part of due diligence. Chase built these habits over 15 years, so starting several years ahead of a sale is an advantage.

Is it wise to shore up client contracts and engagement letters before selling?

Yes. Buyers review these during due diligence, so current, formalized agreements strengthen the sale. Renewing engagement letters annually was one of the steps Chase took ahead of his own exit.

Besides price, what matters most in a sale?

For many sellers, what happens to their clients and team members outweighs the top number. Chase did not take the highest offer. He chose an upper-middle deal that fit his clients, his employees, and the firm’s culture. Trust in the buyer, cultural fit, and the transition plan all carried real weight.

What do I do with my life after I sell?

Decide this before you enter a process, because it shapes the deal. Sellers can stay involved through a transition or employment agreement, slow down gradually, or step away, though a full exit on day one is uncommon. Rocky asks every seller whether they want to stay on. One owner he worked with stayed about four years.

Is it wise to tie a key employee’s pay to a percentage of future sale proceeds?

It can motivate a key employee and signal to a buyer that the team will stay engaged after closing, but it isn’t the only option. A clear career-progression path, where team members know how to grow toward manager or partner, tends to do more for long-term commitment than a proceeds share on its own.

2. Buying a firm

Where do you find firms for sale?

Firms for sale surface a few ways: word of mouth, industry events and professional organizations, brokers, and inbound offers, which many owners already receive unsolicited. Buyers who work their network directly, letting people including clients know they’re looking, often find deals without paying broker commissions.

The TaxDome Customer M&A Program is built to shorten and this life-changing experience. Chase maintains a vetted, curated list and matches buyers to sellers on size, services, geography, culture, and timing. So, a buyer isn’t relying only on who they happen to hear about, and a seller isn’t answering to some random email inquiring about buying their firm and wasting a bunch of time.

Who actually buys accounting firms?

A wide range of buyers, not only private equity. Individual practitioners, search funds, and strategic acquirers are all active. Under roughly $3M in revenue, buyers are often individual owners, though PE and larger acquirers participate as well. Larger firms tend to require more acquisition experience.

What are the green flags and deal breakers when buying?

The drivers that raise a firm’s value to a buyer are strong client retention, recurring revenue, documented systems and technology, and a firm that doesn’t depend entirely on its owner. A firm where the owner does all the work still sells, usually at a lower multiple.

Buyers weigh these differently. Rocky, for one, puts the owner relationship first: if he trusts and gets along with the seller, he expects to get along with their clients, which makes the handover smoother.

How are these deals financed and structured?

Structure varies from deal to deal. A common shape is cash at closing plus an earn-out, where part of the payment depends on the firm hitting agreed numbers after the sale. An earn-out lowers the buyer’s risk. Smaller deals may see more appetite for cash at closing. SBA financing carries specific rules, including limits on how long a seller can stay on, so ask any buyer where the money is coming from.

Is a niche or specialized firm sellable or buyable?

Yes. Niche practices, from expat tax to a specific client base, attract buyers. The right match usually comes down to a buyer who already fits that client base or is willing to be trained on it. Finding that match is exactly what the M&A program is built to do, so start a conversation with Chase.

3. Valuation and deal structure

How much is my firm worth?

Valuation is a spectrum, not a single number. It depends on factors like recurring revenue, client retention, service mix, the systems the firm runs on, and how independent the firm is from its owner. TaxDome shares a valuation tool in the webinar follow-up email, and while Chase can conceptually help describe how firms like yours are valued, engaging a valuation firm may make sense. TaxDome does not provide valuation services.

Is there a revenue size too small to consider selling?

No. There are buyers for firms of ALL REVENUE SIZES, including solo practices and client-list-only books. Many owners undervalue what they have. The clear message from the panel was that closing a firm walks away from value that a sale would capture.

Do bookkeeping-only firms sell for less than accounting firms?

There are buyers for all different types of firms. Some buyers may be looking to add or expand bookkeeping recurring revenues that could help expand their tax practice. .

Is there a standard earn-out structure?

No single standard. Every deal is different, based on a number of various factors buyers are interested in. Earn-outs are common because they lower risk for the buyer, but how the total value splits between cash at closing and later payments varies significantly from deal to deal.

Are deals stock sales or asset sales?

It depends on the situation. Both structures happen.

4. The TaxDome Customer M&A Program

What is the TaxDome Customer M&A Program?

A matchmaking service for firms looking to buy or sell. Chase Insogna, TaxDome’s Director of M&A Growth, meets with you, helps with valuation and due diligence, and matches buyers with sellers on size, services, geography, culture, and timing. It runs inside the TaxDome Community and includes monthly M&A sessions featuring TaxDome buyers and any sellers who have been through the process.

Who is the program for, and is there a size requirement?

Any size. The program is open to firms of every size, whether buying or selling.

This was created because smaller firms just walk away and close their doors, leaving their customers to find and another tax preparer. There are many firms interested in buying this established customer book, rather than investing in marketing and spending the same dollars acquiring new business. Additionally, if a seller is already using TaxDome, our curated list of TaxDome buyers makes customers have a much easier transition for the following tax season keeping all their records within TaxDome and familiarity with TaxDome’s tax preparation process.

Is it for both buyers and sellers?

Both. Buyers complete a short form describing what they’re looking for and join a vetted, curated list. Sellers get a more personal process, from an early exploratory conversation through to a match once they’re ready to move.

Do I need a paid TaxDome subscription to join?

Buyers must be current TaxDome customers or willing to become one, since the goal is a seamless same-platform transition for clients. Sellers who aren’t yet on TaxDome can still have a conversation.

Is the program available for Canadian firms?

Yes! Canadian firms can reach out, and TaxDome will look into what’s possible for their situation. Some buyers are also specifically looking to expand into new geographies, which can make a cross-border match worth exploring.

Can the program help me decide whether to scale or sell?

An early conversation with Chase covers valuation and where your firm stands, so it’s a reasonable place to raise a scale-or-sell question. The program isn’t limited to firms already committed to a deal.

Where do I find the form and the community?

The enrollment forms go out in the follow-up email, and the M&A space lives in the TaxDome Community. Chase vets applicants before they enter the M&A community channel.

5. Moving clients into TaxDome after a deal

Can TaxDome merge clients when one firm buys another?

You can bring an acquired firm’s clients into TaxDome, and TaxDome’s team offers free import assistance to move a client list over using the import tool. Once the records are in, duplicate contacts can be merged automatically or manually. Note that TaxDome merges contacts, not whole accounts. For a specific acquisition, your customer success manager or [email protected] can guide the process.

What happens to clients during the transition if both firms use TaxDome?

The client experience carries over. When the acquired clients are already on TaxDome and the buyer uses TaxDome too, clients keep logging into the same app and doing the same things. That continuity makes the handover easier and protects the client relationship through the change in ownership.

6. Links & resources

The M&A program and community

• TaxDome Community, home of the M&A space

Moving clients after a deal

• Free client import assistance
• Import your client data to TaxDome
• Merge duplicate contacts

Where this leaves your firm

A firm is worth more when it can run without the person who built it. That’s the throughline across everything the panel shared, from what makes a sale easier to what a buyer is willing to pay for. Clean numbers, real client relationships, a team that can carry the work, and a clear sense of your own options all take time to build.

The groundwork that makes a firm easy to transition is the same groundwork that makes it run better today.

You don’t have to be ready. You just have to start. Whether a sale or an acquisition is years away or already on your mind, the conversation is worth having now.