For The Right Price Would You Sell Your Firm?

Selling Your Firm For The RIGHT PRICE To Spend More Time Together!

A quick and true story. I was on the phone talking to an accountant about BUYING a firm we had listed.

As we got into the conversation about what practices were selling for these days, he suddenly blurted out ‘you know for the right price I would SELL my firm’.

The grind of endless ‘tax seasons’ was wearing on him and it is one of the many reasons people like him (and maybe you) start toying with the idea of selling.

When we ask people why they want to sell their firms, here are 10 of the top reasons they tell us:

– retiring to travel & go on more vacations
– retiring because tired of tax seasons
– have enough $ so they don’t need to work anymore
– retiring with wife/husband who’s already retired
– retiring to be w/ their grandkids
– retiring to just relax, better life balance, move to warmer weather
– changing careers to flip houses
– going to work for one of their clients
– selling for poor health related reasons
– selling because I don’t want to ‘die in the saddle’

If you scroll down in this article you’ll see a snapshot of 40+ of our listings at one point in time. Out to the right side of each one I went through and listed the general and sometimes specific ‘reason’ that particular person was looking for the right buyer for his or her firm.

I don’t know what your reason might be for considering to sell your firm but if you’re looking to have the 2025 tax season be your last one, I’d be happy to help you make that happen. Here’s how it works.

It Takes 4 to 6 Months (Minimum) to Sell a Typical Tax & Accounting Practice

You may not know this but it usually takes 4-6 months to find the right buyer for your accounting firm – if you’re actively looking to sell it. Some take more than others depending on different factors. Larger firms take longer to sell.

That means if you started with us, listed your firm in Q4, it would probably be end of Q2 next year to close the sale. List your firm after tax season (Q2), then we’re closing end of Q3 or early Q4. List in the summer (Q3) then we likely close no earlier than December (after Thanksgiving or just before Christmas), maybe in January (after the holidays), or in early February just before tax season really starts to heats up.

As I said if you’re thinking, ‘I really don’t want to go through another tax season’, then it is a really good idea to start the process asap of listing your firm. As they say – timing is everything. Here’s a new & big reason to get started taking action on it today.

How Do Buyers Find The Money to Acquire Your Firm?

Although there are a few that do, unfortunately most firm buyers don’t have a large enough pile of their own cash available to buy a practice. So they will use a conventional loan or likely SBA financing in order come up with a down payment for buying your firm.

To that end the SBA announced in October (article here) it will be lowering guaranty fees on certain loan sizes and those lower fees will kick in beginning October 1st of 2024. Think of it as a slight tail wind that makes it more attractive for buyers in your area to see a firm like yours and acquire it as these new discounts go into effect.

The Secret To Finding The Right Potential Buyers For Your Firm – Passive vs Active

I won’t name names but there are a lot of big or general brokers out there that will list your firm online and then sit back waiting for the proverbial ‘phone to ring’. It is a passive approach to advertising & marketing a business for sale.

We take an active approach with a formal process using 5 different methods to attract potential buyers. This includes (1) our internal database of accounting firm buyers we’ve built & nurtured for 20+ years, along with (2) targeted direct mail, (3) local emails, (4) telemarketing and (5) regional & national advertising.

For more details on how this all works or, if you’re a ‘process’ person, you can click on the link below for a 16-minute YouTube video that outlines our 5-Step Process for Finding The Right Buyer:
https://youtu.be/juea8ZNr018

Is NOW The Right Time to Start Looking For The Right Buyer (Who Will Pay The RIGHT PRICE) For Your Firm?

If you do not want to go through another tax season, want to sell in 2025, or are just interested in learning:

– what price we could list your firm at and sell it for?
– how deals are structured?
– about the current market conditions?
– what the lending environment is right now?

or if you just want to start the process of selling your firm, feel free to text or call me at 317-674-3335, or visit our website at: https://acctsales.com/sell-a-practice/

Or you can email me, Jeff Bell, at: jeff@acctsales.com

Here’s that snapshot of accounting firm sellers and WHY they were selling their firm.

City, State | Gross Revenue | Status | Listing ID# | Selling REASON

Northeast / East Coast
– Greenville, SC | $290k | NEW | SC-2031 (switching careers)
– Washington DC area | $150k | Sale Pending | VA-2029 (retiring)
– Washington DC area | $290k | NEW | DC-2026 (mostly Virtual) (retiring)
– Maryland / DC area | $400k | Sale Pending | MD-2010 (retiring)
– Newport County, RI | $400k | NEW | RI-2011 (retiring to FL)
– Silver Spring, MD | $465k | Sale Pending | MD-1994 (retiring)
– Bristol County, MA | $1,800,000 | Available | MA-1979 (retiring)
– Southern NJ | $140k | Available | NJ-1992 (retiring)
– NE Pennsylvania | $620k | Available | PA-1964 (retiring)
– Hartford, CT area | $370k | Available | CT-1106 (retiring)
– Vienna, VA | $50k | Available | VA-1993 (focus on investments business)

Texas
– NW of Dallas – Ft. Worth area, TX | $600k | Available | TX-2003 (retiring)

Midwest
– Middle Tennessee, TN | $1.1M | NEW | TN-2030 (retiring)
– Edmond, OK | $300k | Coming Soon | OK-2034 (retiring)
– Indianapolis, IN | $650k | NEW | IN-2019 (retiring but will work FT/PT)
– Chicago-Naperville area | $370k | Available | IL-1986 (retiring)
– Indianapolis, IN | $1.5M | Sale Pending | IN-2001 (retiring for life balance)
– Chattanooga, TN | $435k | Available | TN-1991 (retiring)
– South Central, TN Area | $1M | Available | TN-1970 (retiring)

Colorado
– Denver, CO | $360k | NEW | CO-2023 (retiring)
– Cortez, CO / Four Corners | $530k | Available | CO-0503 (retiring to PT)

West
– Josephine County/Southwest, OR | $400k | NEW | OR-2033 (retiring)
– Salem, OR | $275k | Coming Soon | OR-2024 (retiring)
– Seattle/Bellevue, WA | $500k+ | NEW | WA-2028 (retiring)
– East Columbia River Gorge area, OR | $1.4M | NEW | OR-2021 (retiring)
– Seattle/Bellevue, WA | $2.2M | Sale Pending | WA-2006 (change careers)
– Seattle/Bellevue, WA area | $625k | Sale Pending | WA-2000 (retiring)

Some Firms That Recently SOLD: