Exit readiness · $5–10M professional services firms

They've closed two hundred deals.
You're closing one.

When private equity calls about your firm, you have one chance to get the deal right. Exitaca sits on your side of the table — CPA-led, with public-company CFO and Wall Street operating experience. We get $5–10M firms ready for platform tuck-in interest before it arrives.

CPA Former CFO · NYSE & NASDAQ 25+ Years Tax & Advisory Wall Street Operator
The Reality

The information asymmetry is the problem.

Your firm took thirty years to build. The buyer's M&A team has done this two hundred times in the last thirty months.

Since TowerBrook acquired EisnerAmper in 2021, well over a hundred PE investments have hit accounting and adjacent professional services. CPA roll-ups like Citrin Cooperman, Ascend, and Aprio — and Office-of-the-CFO platforms like E78 and Consero — are all hunting $5–10M tuck-ins across CPA, CFO services, and specialty tax.

The headline multiples sound generous — but only cash at close is guaranteed. Rollover equity, earnouts, and clawback provisions are engineered for buyer protection. Without an advisor who understands the structures, partners regularly leave seven figures on the table.

90+
PE investments into professional services firms since 2021
6–10×
EBITDA multiples for well-positioned tuck-in candidates
18mo
Typical prep window to maximize valuation before going to market
Who We Serve

A specific firm, at a specific moment.

If three or four of these describe you, we should talk.

Revenue
$5M – $10M
Practice Composition
CPA, CFO services, specialty tax (R&D, cost seg, SALT), or mixed
Ownership Stage
Founding partners considering first liquidity event
Current Position
Receiving unsolicited interest from PE platforms
Timeline
Open to a transaction in the next 12–24 months
Common Concerns
Succession, partner equity dilution, post-deal autonomy
The Calculator

What is your firm actually worth?

Let us calculate a rough estimate — right now.

Pick your firm type, enter last year's profit, tap through the classic addbacks. Two minutes gets you an adjusted-EBITDA estimate and the multiple range buyers pay for firms like yours. Nothing you type is stored.

Specialty tax10–14×
CFO / advisory9–12×
Traditional CPA firm4–7×
Unprepared, no tension4–6×
Credentials

Why this work, why Exitaca.

The advisors who dominate the CPA-firm space — Koltin, Whitman, Poe Group — bring deep firm-side knowledge, and they work the deals above $20M. Exitaca’s sweet spot is the $5–$10M professional services firm they pass over — CFO services, specialty tax, and CPA firms alike. And none of them have sat in a public-company CFO seat. Few have run their own practice. Exitaca brings all three.

01

CPA & Firm Operator

25+ years in tax and advisory, with EY origins. Currently runs a CPA practice serving entrepreneurs, traders, and expats. Understands how partner comp, client concentration, and tax-quality issues are read by a sophisticated buyer.

02

Public-Company CFO

Former CFO of NYSE- and NASDAQ-listed companies. Has been through SEC reporting, audit committees, and the kind of diligence questions PE buyers bring to the table. We've answered them — for a public board.

03

Wall Street Experience

Direct operating experience with the deal mechanics, leverage structures, and earnout dynamics PE firms use. We translate the term sheet from buyer-speak into the actual economics for each partner.

04

Data-First Approach

We build live EBITDA, partner-comp, and client-concentration dashboards before a buyer ever asks. When diligence begins, your firm answers questions in days rather than weeks — and the difference shows up in the final terms.

How We Work

Exit readiness, on subscription.

Brokers don't get paid until a deal closes — so they push firms to market too early, at a lower price. We are not brokers. We are exit-readiness consultants, and the engagement funds the work that actually moves your multiple.

Phase One · Get Ready

Prepare to be acquired.

A monthly engagement covering the work that determines your valuation — typically twelve to eighteen months before going to market.

  • Quality-of-earnings preparation and EBITDA normalization
  • Partner compensation restructuring
  • Attest / non-attest legal separation, where required
  • Client concentration and contract review
  • Tech stack and operational documentation
  • Live diligence dashboard build
  • Quarterly platform landscape briefings
Phase Two · Deal Support

Support the process.

When buyers arrive, you and your deal counsel run the transaction. We stay at your side as the numbers people — the preparation team the buyer's diligence has to get past.

  • Buyer-landscape briefings — who fits, what they pay
  • Data-room and quality-of-earnings response support
  • Term-sheet economics explained, partner by partner
  • Rollover, earnout, and clawback analysis
  • Coordination with your deal counsel and tax counsel
  • Post-close transition support
The Process

From first conversation to close.

01
Discovery
Complimentary · 1–2 weeks
A confidential first conversation. We assess fit, discuss your firm's current position, and walk you through a realistic view of what platforms are paying for firms of your size and shape. No commitment, no NDA required beyond mutual confidentiality.
02
Diagnostic
Month 1
A deep look at the financials, partner economics, client base, and operating structure. We deliver a written assessment with a current valuation range, the gap to the next valuation tier, and a prioritized roadmap to get there.
03
Preparation
Months 2 – 12
Monthly engagement executing the roadmap. EBITDA grooming, compensation work, structural cleanup, dashboard build, and quarterly platform briefings. By the time buyers see the firm, the diligence story is already written — and rehearsed.
04
Buyer Diligence
Months 12 – 18
Buyers engage; you and your deal counsel run the transaction. We manage the data room, field the quality-of-earnings questions, and translate every term sheet into plain economics — so nothing about your own numbers surprises you.
05
Close & Transition
Months 18+
We support you and your deal counsel through definitive documents. Integration planning. Partner-by-partner economic walkthroughs. Post-close support through the first earnout period so the structure you agreed actually delivers.
Frequently Asked

Questions partners ask us.

Why a subscription model?
Real preparation takes twelve to eighteen months. Success-fee brokers don't get paid until close, so they're financially incentivized to push you to market quickly, at whatever valuation the market gives you today. We are not brokers and take no success fee — the subscription funds the work that materially changes your multiple, typically a 1.5–2× difference between an unprepared firm and a well-positioned one of the same size.
What is a platform tuck-in, and why does it matter?
A tuck-in is an acquisition by an existing PE-backed platform — CPA roll-ups like Citrin Cooperman, Ascend, and Aprio, or Office-of-the-CFO platforms like E78 and Consero — rather than a direct PE acquisition of your firm. For $5–10M firms this is the realistic path — direct PE platform deals start around $20M revenue. Tuck-in economics look different from a true platform sale, and the negotiation requires understanding both what the platform's PE sponsor needs and what the platform itself values.
We've already received a term sheet. Is it too late to engage you?
It is not. We regularly engage after an inbound LOI lands. The first thing we do is read it line-by-line for the buyer-protection mechanics — clawbacks, retention provisions, working-capital adjustments, rollover terms — and explain exactly what each one means for each partner's economics, so you and your deal counsel negotiate from full understanding. Term sheets frequently move materially after a single informed round of counters.
How do you compare to Koltin, Whitman, or Poe Group?
Koltin Consulting focuses on $20M+ platforms — the EisnerAmpers and Citrin Coopermans. Whitman and Poe are excellent firm-sale advisors with deep CPA-industry experience, but operate on traditional brokerage models — and none of them focus on CFO-services or specialty-tax firms. We are not brokers at all: we are exit-readiness consultants. Our differentiation is public-company CFO experience, Wall Street deal fluency, and a subscription that funds eighteen months of preparation. Different segment, different model, different toolkit.
Will you sign an NDA before any substantive conversation?
Yes. Confidentiality is foundational. We sign a mutual NDA before reviewing any firm financials, and all engagements operate under strict information barriers. Your competitors — and your buyers — will never know you spoke with us unless you choose to tell them.
What if we decide not to sell after starting the engagement?
Then you walk away with a firm that's worth materially more — better EBITDA quality, cleaner partner economics, documented operations, and a tested management dashboard. Many of our subscribers never sell. They use the work to recapitalize internally, recruit younger partners, or simply run a better business. The preparation has standalone value.
Schedule

If your firm is getting calls,
we should be on yours.

A complimentary discovery call. Confidential by default. No pressure, no pitch — a conversation about your firm, your options, and what a sophisticated buyer would actually pay.

Request a discovery call
Engagements limited to qualified firms · NDA before substantive review · Exit-readiness consulting, not brokerage