As private equity reshapes the accountancy sector, Matthew Sutton, chief growth officer at Burgess Hodgson, warns that long-term value depends on maintaining trusted client relationships and the critical importance of the professional services ethos, not driving bottom line profits
Private equity capital is moving through British accountancy at a pace that would have looked unimaginable a decade ago, and the consolidation it funds is changing the shape of the mid-tier in real time.
The question is not whether this is happening but whether the firms emerging from the cycle will look like accountancy practices, or something closer to a financial services platform that happens to file tax returns.
This distinction matters because accountancy is a professional services discipline first and a transaction business second.