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Accounting

Not all revenue transfers, and the mix sets the price

Compliance work transfers. Advisory partly. Project work barely at all — it was bought from a person, and the person is leaving.

$2.40M
Revenue
$2.28M
Revenue method
0.95×
Applied
1.25×
Compliance-weighted
What the tool shows

The applied multiple is 0.95× against 1.25× for a compliance-weighted book. On $2.4M of revenue that is $720,000 decided entirely by mix.

Revenue$2.40M
Revenue method$2.28M
Applied multiple0.95×
Compliance-weighted1.25×
Difference on this book (derived)$720K
Bank loan at 90%$2.05M

Read from the calculator on its shipped example. Lines marked (derived) are the difference between two of its figures rather than one it displays directly.

Every figure above is computed from inputs you control. Change one and the whole model moves.

Coming Soon →

What it looks like

What the mix is worth
Compliance-weighted, 1.25×
$3.00M
As applied, 0.95×
$2.28M
The difference
$720K

Same revenue, different book. Mix is the largest single determinant of the multiple in this sector.

What a lender will fund
Bank loan at 90%
$2.05M
Annual debt service
$336K

Coverage is computed on comp-normalized earnings, and stressed at a quarter of the book walking.

These charts are the calculator’s own, drawn from the example it ships with. Put your figures in and they redraw.

Coming Soon →
The mistake it prevents

Pricing the whole book at one multiple. Compliance is the part a buyer can rely on; project work is a person's relationships. And the coverage test here is not a market crash — it is a quarter of the book failing to transfer, which is the scenario a lender actually models for a professional practice.

What it models
  • Revenue split by service type, each at its own multiple
  • Realization, the gap between billed and booked
  • Seasonality and the working capital it demands
  • Partner and client concentration separately
  • Coverage tested against a quarter of the book not transferring
Conventions, not research
  • Revenue multiples by service type are conventions circulating in accounting M&A.
  • Realization benchmarks are the tool's own thresholds.

Rules of thumb that circulate because they are roughly right. The calculator labels them as such and asks you to record your own source.

The tool applies all of this to your numbers, and tells you where it disagrees with itself.

Coming Soon →

Questions people ask

How is a CPA firm valued?

On a multiple of revenue weighted by service type. Compliance work transfers; project work barely does. The worked example applies 0.95× against 1.25× for a compliance-weighted book — $720,000 on $2.4M of revenue decided entirely by mix.

What multiple does an accounting practice sell for?

There is no single number, which is the point. The tool splits revenue by service type and applies a multiple to each, because one multiple across the whole book misprices it in one direction or the other.

Why does realization matter?

It is the gap between what you billed and what you booked. A firm with poor realization is discounting without having decided to, and a buyer recalculates it before anything else.

What happens to clients after a sale?

Compliance clients mostly stay, and they stay with the staff who do the work more reliably than with the partner who sold it. The tool stresses coverage against a quarter of the book not transferring.

The answers above use the worked example. Your practice will give different ones.

Coming Soon →

How a purchase funds

There is almost no collateral in an accounting practice. A lender is underwriting whether clients stay, which makes the structure carry more weight here than the rate does.

  1. 1
    SBA 7(a) →Start here

    Possible, and the lender will look hard at transition. Expect questions about who owns the relationships before they discuss the amount.

  2. 2
    Acquisition structure →Before you offer

    Bank debt, seller note and equity against coverage. With no hard assets, the stack is the argument.

  3. 3
    Seller financing →Usually essential

    Dominant in this sector. Retention-linked paper aligns the seller with the transfer, which is the only real security a buyer has.

  4. 4
    Personal financial statement →Required either way

    Every 20% owner files one. With no collateral behind the loan, the guarantor is most of the credit decision.

  5. 5
    SBA Express →For a smaller book

    For a small book or a partial buy-in where speed matters more than basis points. Capped at $500,000.

The coverage test on this page is stressed at a quarter of the book not transferring, because that is the scenario a lender models for a professional practice — not a market crash.
Before release · Q4 2026

Up to 50% off for owners who register now

Not all revenue transfers, and the mix decides the multiple. Better to know which parts of the book carry value before busy season eats the year.

No credit card required now. As long as your details are in the system, we send the discount access details when the software opens.

And the financing calculators are free and working today. SBA 7(a), 504, CAPLines, Form 413, equipment and seller paper — your account opens all of them the moment you register, months before the valuation software ships.

  • No payment now. Nothing is taken until you choose to buy.
  • Pricing is published at release; your price is up to 50% below it.
  • The discount applies to the first calculator you buy at launch.
What you hand over

The whole analysis exports as one PDF, generated server-side — every tab, the five-year history, the normalization and the working behind each figure. Not a screenshot of the tab you happen to be on.

It carries the business name, the period, who prepared it and for whom, so a lender or a buyer can act on it without asking who produced the figures.

An illustration of the export layout, not a real page. The PDF is generated from your figures.
Register for early access

One email when the software opens, and nothing else. Your details are not sold or passed on.

Open CPA firm →12 tabs · save your work if you want to · current as of August 2026