Gains & Pains with Accounting M&A – Report

Strong ongoing demand for M&A within the accounting and financial advisory sectors, despite challenges Despite challenges with integration following M&A within the accounting and financial advisory sectors, there remains strong demand from prospective buyers. This report, based on a survey of 46 accounting and financial advisory firms, confirms that most firms involved in M&A adopt […]

Strong ongoing demand for M&A within the accounting and financial advisory sectors, despite challenges

Despite challenges with integration following M&A within the accounting and financial advisory sectors, there remains strong demand from prospective buyers.

This report, based on a survey of 46 accounting and financial advisory firms, confirms that most firms involved in M&A adopt a relatively casual approach to integration. Almost 60% of firms said that their post M&A integration process was loosely planned or completed in an ad hoc manner. Just 29% of firms felt that financial outcomes (revenue, profit, value) were consistent with or exceeded expectations at the time of the transaction.

The top 3 challenges with M&A were conflicting cultures (63%), management issues (52%) and poor internal communication (50%). Specific issues included challenges dealing with new management styles, uncertain capabilities of incoming staff, ad hoc handover of client relationships, absence of cultural integration and frustrations adapting to new systems and procedures.

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