SBA lenders approved 905 loans that financed a change of ownership of a US accounting business in fiscal years 2020 to 2026 (October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2026) and were not later cancelled, $709.8 million in total, according to WIN’s analysis of the SBA 7(a) loan file as of September 30, 2026. Counted once per borrower and day, they financed about 812 purchases, roughly 116 a year, and the median loan was $500,000. Fiscal 2026 set records for dollars, $141.7 million, and for the median loan, $658,500, although the SBA approved no 7(a) loans in October 2025, during the federal shutdown. California had 126 of the loans, more than any other state. Among larger firms, the Accounting Today Top 100 reported 225 mergers in 2025, up from 122 in 2024 and 112 in 2023; Capstone Partners counted 194 accounting services transactions in 2025; and the CPA Trendlines PE Deal Tracker logged 104 private equity backed deals in 2025, against 22 in 2023. At least 15 of the 30 largest US firms in the 2026 INSIDE Public Accounting ranking have announced private equity investment since TowerBrook invested in EisnerAmper in August 2021. Small practices sold through BizBuySell from 2021 through 2025 at a median 1.02 times revenue and 2.04 times owner earnings; the disclosed platform deals priced at about 11 to 15 times EBITDA.
The SBA figures are WIN’s own count, with the method and the gaps set out below. Everything else is from the publisher, firm or agency named next to it, read November 9, 2026 and linked at the end. What a practice is worth is in how much CPA firms sell for, the buyers active in California in who buys CPA practices in California, and how the deferred part of a price is paid in holdbacks and earnouts.
- 01SBA loans: 905 change-of-ownership 7(a) loans to accounting businesses, FY2020 to FY2026, $709.8 million, median $500,000, about 812 purchases. FY2026: 158 loans and a record $141.7 million.
- 02Where and what: California 126 loans, Florida 88, Texas 64. One in four SBA 7(a) loans to CPA offices (24.8%) financed a change of ownership.
- 03Larger firms: the Accounting Today Top 100 reported 112 mergers in 2023, 122 in 2024 and 225 in 2025. CPA Trendlines logged 22, 65 and 104 private equity backed deals in those years.
- 04Private equity: at least 15 of the 30 largest firms in the 2026 IPA 500 have announced investment, from EisnerAmper in August 2021 to Crowe and Eide Bailly in June 2026.
- 05Prices: small practices, median 1.02x revenue and 2.04x owner earnings (BizBuySell, 2021 to 2025). Platform deals: about 11x to 15x EBITDA.
How many accounting practices are sold each year? What the SBA loan file shows
The SBA publishes every 7(a) loan it guarantees, quarterly, with the lender, amount, rate, term, industry code, state and status. The lender also records the age of the business, and one category is “Change of Ownership”, so the file is a public record of business purchases financed with SBA loans. WIN filtered the FY2020-to-present file (403,644 loans) to NAICS 541211 offices of CPAs, 541213 tax preparation, 541214 payroll services and 541219 other accounting services. That leaves 5,880 loans, 986 of them changes of ownership, and 905 after dropping 81 later cancelled.
Under SOP 50 10 8.1, the SBA rulebook in force since October 1, 2026, a change of ownership is an initial acquisition by a new owner, a purchase of one business by another, an owner buyout in whole or in part, or a purchase by an ESOP or cooperative. The file does not say which, so the counts include partner buyouts as well as outside sales.
| SBA fiscal year | Loans | Purchases (est.) | Total approved | Median loan | Mean loan | Share of all accounting 7(a) loans | Median initial rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | 100 | 95 | $67.7 million | $449,000 | $677,000 | 21.5% | 5.75% |
| FY2021 | 133 | 119 | $91.8 million | $515,000 | $691,000 | 22.1% | 5.30% |
| FY2022 | 89 | 80 | $64.4 million | $425,000 | $724,000 | 16.5% | 5.75% |
| FY2023 | 105 | 97 | $93.2 million | $500,000 | $887,000 | 14.7% | 9.27% |
| FY2024 | 145 | 125 | $122.9 million | $490,000 | $848,000 | 16.0% | 10.50% |
| FY2025 | 175 | 156 | $128.0 million | $500,000 | $731,000 | 15.8% | 9.50% |
| FY2026 | 158 | 140 | $141.7 million | $658,500 | $897,000 | 18.7% | 8.75% |
| FY2020 to FY2026 | 905 | 812 | $709.8 million | $500,000 | $784,000 | 17.5% | 8.75% |
WIN analysis of SBA 7(a) loan data (file as of September 30, 2026). NAICS 5412, change-of-ownership loans approved in each SBA fiscal year (October 1 to September 30) and not cancelled. Purchases count loans approved to the same borrower on the same day once. Share: change-of-ownership loans as a percentage of all non-cancelled 7(a) loans in NAICS 5412 that year.
The count fell in FY2026, from 175 loans to 158, while the dollars rose, because the federal shutdown closed the program for the first six weeks of the fiscal year. The file has no 7(a) approvals of any kind dated October 2025, and the SBA said the 43-day shutdown halted 7(a) and 504 approvals. From November to September, accounting changes of ownership were 158 in FY2026 against 154 a year earlier. The median purchase, adding together loans to the same borrower on the same day, was $576,700 over the seven years and $804,500 in FY2026. Accounting businesses took 2.3% of the 39,330 change-of-ownership 7(a) loans in all industries.
Most of the loans run ten years: the median term is 120 months in every year, and 86.1% have exactly that term. 83.4% carry a variable rate, the median initial rate went from 5.30% in FY2021 to 10.50% in FY2024 and 8.75% in FY2026, and the median SBA guarantee is 75% of the loan.
SBA-financed accounting practice changes of ownership by state
Pick a state. The figures cover FY2020 to FY2026 and are ranked by number of loans among the 48 states and territories with at least one.
Change-of-ownership loans
Rank by number of loans
Total approved
Median loan
WIN analysis of SBA 7(a) loan data (file as of September 30, 2026): loans approved October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2026 to NAICS 5412 businesses that the lender marked as a change of ownership, excluding cancellations, by project state. Cash, seller-financed, conventional and private equity deals are not in the file, so every figure is a floor.
California leads on count and on dollars, and its median loan, $599,000, is above the national $500,000.
| Rank | State | Loans | Total approved | Median loan | Of which offices of CPAs | Share of the state’s accounting 7(a) loans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 126 | $111.0 million | $599,000 | 55 | 16.0% |
| 2 | Florida | 88 | $77.0 million | $629,250 | 58 | 17.9% |
| 3 | Texas | 64 | $54.5 million | $500,000 | 44 | 18.1% |
| 4 | North Carolina | 56 | $42.5 million | $536,000 | 36 | 35.4% |
| 5 | Ohio | 42 | $38.0 million | $487,500 | 25 | 19.2% |
| 6 | Washington | 39 | $39.1 million | $525,000 | 21 | 27.1% |
| 7 | Illinois | 37 | $29.5 million | $409,000 | 31 | 24.5% |
| 7 | Arizona | 37 | $26.9 million | $447,600 | 21 | 26.8% |
| 9 | Indiana | 27 | $23.4 million | $483,000 | 16 | 30.7% |
| 10 | Pennsylvania | 24 | $11.6 million | $490,000 | 8 | 19.7% |
| 11 | Colorado | 23 | $18.8 million | $450,000 | 18 | 16.9% |
| 11 | Georgia | 23 | $16.9 million | $525,000 | 12 | 13.9% |
| 11 | New York | 23 | $13.5 million | $420,000 | 9 | 5.9% |
| 11 | Massachusetts | 23 | $12.1 million | $282,500 | 14 | 13.9% |
| 15 | Virginia | 22 | $19.9 million | $607,500 | 13 | 21.2% |
WIN analysis of SBA 7(a) loan data (file as of September 30, 2026), FY2020 to FY2026, by project state. Every state is in the lookup above.
California. The 126 California loans financed about 115 purchases. By fiscal year they ran 9, 25, 9, 11, 20, 30 and 22, and the 22 in FY2026 totaled $26.6 million at a median of $809,800, the highest of any year. The share of accounting loans that finance a purchase varies widely by state: 35.4% in North Carolina, 16.0% in California and 5.9% in New York, where 388 SBA loans to accounting businesses financed 23 changes of ownership.
Which kinds of practice change hands with SBA loans
| Industry (NAICS) | Loans | Total approved | Median loan | Share of that industry’s 7(a) loans |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offices of CPAs (541211) | 531 | $408.9 million | $500,000 | 24.8% of 2,142 |
| Other accounting services, including bookkeeping (541219) | 208 | $172.0 million | $513,000 | 12.0% of 1,729 |
| Tax preparation (541213) | 157 | $116.9 million | $499,000 | 12.8% of 1,227 |
| Payroll services (541214) | 9 | $12.0 million | $882,000 | 11.4% of 79 |
WIN analysis of SBA 7(a) loan data (file as of September 30, 2026), FY2020 to FY2026, loans not cancelled.
CPA offices took 58.7% of the loans, and one in four SBA 7(a) loans to a CPA office financed a change of ownership, twice the share in the other three codes.
How SBA-financed practice purchases are structured
The middle half of the loans run from $279,500 to $990,000. The smallest is $20,000, and two reach the $5 million cap on a standard 7(a) loan.
| Loan size | Loans | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under $150,000 | 106 | 11.7% |
| $150,000 to $350,000 | 203 | 22.4% |
| $350,001 to $999,999 | 375 | 41.4% |
| $1,000,000 to $1,999,999 | 147 | 16.2% |
| $2,000,000 to $5,000,000 | 74 | 8.2% |
219 lenders made the 905 loans, and the ten most active made 53.0% of them. The file names the bank each loan is currently assigned to.
| Lender | Loans | Total approved | Median loan | California loans |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Live Oak Banking Company | 255 | $219.4 million | $500,000 | 54 |
| United Midwest Savings Bank | 72 | $68.0 million | $701,250 | 9 |
| The Huntington National Bank | 68 | $40.8 million | $350,000 | 3 |
| U.S. Bank | 28 | $21.0 million | $500,000 | 13 |
| BMO Bank | 13 | $8.0 million | $546,000 | 8 |
WIN analysis of SBA 7(a) loan data (file as of September 30, 2026), FY2020 to FY2026, change-of-ownership loans to NAICS 5412, not cancelled.
Live Oak alone made 28.2% of the loans nationally and 54 of California’s 126. As of September 30, 2026, 8 of the 905 had been charged off, 0.88%, with $5.7 million written off, against 1.59% of the other accounting 7(a) loans and 1.07% of change-of-ownership loans in all industries. FY2021 loans show the highest rate, 4 of 133; the FY2025 and FY2026 loans have had little time to fail and show none. 186 had been paid in full.
Under SOP 50 10 8.1 the buyer in an initial acquisition puts in at least 10% of the project cost, with no reduction; seller earnouts are prohibited; the seller may stay only as a consultant, for 24 months at most; and total debt, including any seller note not on full standby, is capped at the business valuation. The seller is paid mostly from the loan at closing. A seller note is allowed and an earnout is not; the other ways to tie price to retention are in holdbacks and earnouts. The loan covers the price less the buyer’s equity and any seller note, and can include working capital and closing costs.
How many accounting firm mergers were there in 2025 and 2026?
| Publisher and date | What it counts | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 so far |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accounting Today Top 100 reports, March 2024 to March 9, 2026 | Mergers reported by the 100 largest US firms | 112, of which 33 with non-CPA firms | 122, of which 34 | 225, of which 36 | Reported next March |
| Capstone Partners, July 13, 2026 | Accounting services transactions announced or completed | Not given | Not given | 194, a record, up 26% | 62 in its year to date, up 14.8% |
| CPA Trendlines PE Deal Tracker, February 16 and October 7, 2026 | Private equity backed acquisitions of accounting, tax and related firms | 22 | 65 | 104 | 58 in the first quarter, 37 in the third (US and Canada) |
Each publisher counts something different; figures as published on the dates shown. Capstone’s July update does not state the end date of its year-to-date count.
The Top 100 count is what the largest firms report about themselves, and Accounting Today attributes the 2025 jump to private equity backed platforms buying firms of all sizes; all five newcomers to its 2026 list used outside capital. CPA Trendlines counts deals by the buyer’s backing, and its totals depend on what it includes. The February update that gives 104 for 2025 also gives 86 and 180 in other passages. Its October edition counts 400 private equity backed acquisitions in the US and Canada since December 2016, and 37 in the third quarter against 42 a year earlier. Its November 5 list, which adds technology, wealth and other related businesses, reaches 621 transactions through October 2026.
INSIDE Public Accounting reported on August 6, 2026 that 35 firms in the 2025 IPA 500 had been acquired before the 2026 list, that all four new firms in the IPA 100 are private equity backed, and that nine of the ten fastest-growing firms are too. None of these counts reaches down to the practice with one or two owners. For those, the SBA file above is the public record.
How many of the largest accounting firms have private equity owners?
Of the 30 largest US firms in the 2026 IPA 500, which ranks firms by net revenue, at least 15 have announced a private equity investment, and a 16th, CBIZ, now belongs to one of them. Four of the 15 first announced outside investment from 2025 on: CohnReznick, Wipfli, Crowe and Eide Bailly.
| IPA 2026 rank | Firm | Investor | Announced |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Baker Tilly | Hellman & Friedman and Valeas Capital Partners | February 5, 2024 |
| 8 | CBIZ | Acquired by Grant Thornton Advisors (New Mountain Capital) for $5 billion | Completed November 2, 2026 |
| 9 | Grant Thornton | New Mountain Capital | March 15, 2024 |
| 12 | Crowe | KKR, in Crowe Advisory LLC | June 11, 2026 |
| 14 | EisnerAmper | TowerBrook Capital Partners; continuation vehicle led by Carlyle AlpInvest | August 2021; March 25, 2026 |
| 15 | CohnReznick | Apax Partners | February 26, 2025 |
| 16 | Citrin Cooperman | New Mountain Capital, then investors led by Blackstone | October 2021; January 2025 |
| 18 | Eide Bailly | Reverence Capital Partners | June 23, 2026 |
| 19 | Cherry Bekaert | Parthenon Capital | June 30, 2022 |
| 21 | Armanino | Further Global Capital Management, minority | October 2024 |
| 22 | Aprio | Charlesbank Capital Partners | 2024; invested August 2024 |
| 23 | Wipfli | New Mountain Capital, significant minority | August 1, 2025 |
| 24 | Carr, Riggs & Ingram | Centerbridge Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners | November 2024 |
| 25 | Sikich | Bain Capital, $250 million minority | May 9, 2024 |
| 26 | PKF O’Connor Davies | Investcorp and PSP Investments | November 18, 2024 |
| 27 | UHY | Summit Partners | December 2024 |
Ranks: INSIDE Public Accounting, The 2026 IPA 500. Investors and dates: the announcements listed in the sources. WIN found no announcement for the other top 30 firms, which does not prove there is none.
CFO Brew reported that by November 2024 private equity held stakes in 10 of the 30 largest firms, and on April 30, 2026 that funds had taken ownership of around 24 of the top 100 since 2021, including at least 10 of the top 30; Crowe and Eide Bailly came after that count. Reverence Capital and co-investors take a majority of Eide Bailly in a deal valued at about $1.8 billion, CPA Practice Advisor reported, citing the Wall Street Journal. The first investors are selling. In January 2025 New Mountain agreed to sell its Citrin Cooperman stake to investors led by Blackstone, a deal CFO Brew, citing the Journal, called the first flip of an accounting firm by a private equity investor, and in March 2026 TowerBrook moved EisnerAmper into a continuation vehicle.
The announcements that describe the structure, Crowe’s, CohnReznick’s and Grant Thornton’s among them, split the firm in two. The investors buy the business that does tax, advisory and other non-attest work, and the audit and attest work stays in a separate licensed CPA firm. In California that split is required by Business and Professions Code 5079, covered in California CPA firms by the numbers.
What do accounting firms sell for?
Small practices are priced on revenue, and the published ranges cluster around one times annual fees.
| Source | What it measures | Multiple of revenue | Multiple of earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| BizBuySell, sold deals 2021 to 2025 | Practices sold through its marketplace; median revenue $400,000 | Median 1.02x; middle half 0.92x to 1.17x; 2025 average 1.11x | Median 2.04x owner earnings; middle half 1.61x to 2.66x |
| Accounting Practice Sales | Broker guide | 80% to 120% of gross | Not used |
| Poe Group Advisors, March 9, 2026 | Broker guide | 1.1x to 1.3x for well-structured firms; 1.4x or more in rare cases; below 1x for smaller practices | Not used |
| CT Acquisitions, October 2026 | Intermediary guide | 0.8x to 1.25x annual fees in a sale to another CPA firm, mostly paid over years | Platforms price EBITDA after resetting partner pay |
BizBuySell’s median sale price was $500,000 in 2025, up from $332,500 in 2024, and the median practice spent 169 days on the market. Larger deals are priced on earnings, and only a few prices are public.
| Deal | Price as disclosed or reported | Implied multiple of revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Citrin Cooperman, New Mountain Capital, 2021 | About 11x EBITDA, as reported by CFO Brew | Not disclosed |
| Citrin Cooperman, investors led by Blackstone, 2025 | About 15x EBITDA, as reported by CFO Brew | Not disclosed |
| Marcum’s non-attest business, CBIZ, announced July 31, 2024 | $2.3 billion, about 12.0x adjusted EBITDA (10.1x counting the tax step-up), about half cash and half CBIZ stock | About 1.9x Marcum’s $1.2 billion revenue |
| CBIZ, Grant Thornton Advisors, completed November 2, 2026 | $5 billion enterprise value, all cash | About 1.8x CBIZ’s 2025 revenue of $2.76 billion |
CFO Brew, April 30, 2026; CBIZ Form 8-K and investor presentation, July 31, 2024; Grant Thornton Advisors release, November 2, 2026; CBIZ Form 10-K for 2025. Implied revenue multiples are WIN’s division of the price by the stated revenue.
These are prices for firms that rank among the 20 largest in the country, and they do not apply to a practice with $1 million of fees. The size bands between the two, and what a consolidator pays for a $3 million firm, are in how much CPA firms sell for.
How many firms are there, and how many owners are near retirement?
The Census Bureau counted 55,052 offices of CPAs with paid employees in the United States in 2023, the latest County Business Patterns year, and 35,650 of them, 64.8%, had fewer than five employees. Nonemployer Statistics adds 34,009 CPA offices with no employees in 2024, and tax preparation adds 28,762 offices with employees and 106,403 without. An office is a location, so a firm with five offices counts five times.
The AICPA’s Private Companies Practice Section runs a succession survey every four years. In the 2020 edition, as the AICPA summarized it in an article PrimeGlobal published on September 12, 2023, 44% of solo practitioners and sole proprietors planned to retire within five years and 31% in six to ten years, fewer than 10% had a practice continuation agreement, and 57% of multi-owner firms had no written and approved succession plan. The full reports sit behind an AICPA login, so these are the 2020 figures the AICPA published openly. In California, 22,756 of the 88,565 active and inactive CPAs, 25.7%, were 60 or older in the Board of Accountancy’s November 2025 report, and the median age was 48. What an owner without a successor can do is in succession planning when there is no successor.
What these numbers do not capture
- Most small sales. The SBA file holds only 7(a) loans. Sales for cash, on a seller note, with a conventional bank loan, to a private equity platform, or to a partner paying from firm cash are not in it, so 905 loans and 812 purchases are a floor.
- Loans and purchases. 905 loans went to 784 borrowers. 93 were approved to a borrower that got another loan the same day, which gives the estimate of 812 purchases; some borrowers bought more than once.
- Inside buyouts. Change of ownership includes partners buying out a partner.
- Large deals. A standard 7(a) loan is capped at $5 million; two of the 905 are at the cap.
- Coding. The lender enters the industry code and the change-of-ownership flag, so a practice coded as a holding company, or a purchase marked as an existing business, is missed.
- Revisions. The SBA reissues the file each quarter. Between the June 30 and September 30, 2026 files, charge-offs in this group rose from 3 to 8. 81 cancelled approvals are excluded.
- Trade tallies. The Top 100 count is self-reported; Capstone and CPA Trendlines count announcements, some of which never close, and include non-CPA businesses. BizBuySell covers its own marketplace. Most private equity terms are undisclosed.
What the numbers mean if you own a practice
For a practice with one or two owners the buyer is usually another CPA or a local firm. When that buyer borrows from the SBA, the loan usually runs ten years, the median initial rate over the seven years was 8.75%, the median loan in FY2026 was $658,500, and no part of the price can be an earnout. At least half the 30 largest firms have private equity investors, and those platforms buy smaller firms as tuck-ins. The steps of a sale, from the first call to the client notice, are in how to sell a CPA practice.
Wilshire Intelligence Network buys established CPA and tax practices across California and pairs each one with a practicing CPA who becomes its owner. The firm keeps its name, its office and its people.
Sources
- U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) & 504 FOIA dataset: FOIA 7(a) FY2020 to present, as of September 30, 2026 (file dated October 30, 2026), and the 7(a) and 504 FOIA data dictionary. Downloaded November 9, 2026 and analyzed by WIN; the June 30, 2026 file was used to check the revisions. SBA, SOP 50 10 8.1, Lender and Development Company Loan Programs (effective October 1, 2026), Appendix 15 on changes of ownership; 7(a) loans ($5 million maximum); Shutdown blocks SBA from delivering $5 billion to small businesses (November 13, 2025). Read November 9, 2026.
- Accounting Today, Inside the 2026 Top 100: Now leaving the station (Daniel Hood, March 9, 2026); 2025 Top 100 Firms report (March 2025) and 2024 Top 100 Firms report (March 2024), merger counts. Capstone Partners, Accounting Services M&A Update, July 2026 (July 13, 2026). Read November 9, 2026.
- CPA Trendlines Research, PE Deal Tracker update, February 2026 (February 16, 2026); The next deal cycle comes into view (October 7, 2026); 621 deals, 10 years (November 5, 2026). INSIDE Public Accounting, The 2026 IPA 500 and The real story behind the 2026 IPA 500 (August 6, 2026). Read November 9, 2026.
- Private equity announcements: TowerBrook, EisnerAmper (August 3, 2021) and EisnerAmper continuation vehicle (March 25, 2026); New Mountain Capital, Citrin Cooperman; Cherry Bekaert (June 30, 2022); Baker Tilly (February 5, 2024); Grant Thornton (March 15, 2024); Sikich (May 9, 2024); Charlesbank, Aprio; Armanino (October 21, 2024); PKF O’Connor Davies (November 18, 2024); Carr, Riggs & Ingram (November 19, 2024); UHY (December 2024); CohnReznick (February 26, 2025); Wipfli (August 1, 2025); Crowe (June 11, 2026); Eide Bailly (June 23, 2026) and CPA Practice Advisor (June 23, 2026); Grant Thornton Advisors completes acquisition of CBIZ (November 2, 2026). CFO Brew, Citrin Cooperman deal (January 9, 2025) and Accounting enters its private equity ‘flip’ era (April 30, 2026). Read November 9, 2026.
- CBIZ, Form 8-K and investor presentation on the Marcum transaction (July 31, 2024); 2025 revenue from CBIZ’s Form 10-K filed February 26, 2026, via the SEC’s XBRL data. Read November 9, 2026.
- BizBuySell, Accounting & Tax Practice Business Valuation Benchmarks; Accounting Practice Sales, One Times Gross: Is That the Law?; Poe Group Advisors, What Is the Value of an Accounting Practice? (updated March 9, 2026); CT Acquisitions, Accounting Firm Valuation in 2026 (reviewed October 2026). Read November 9, 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (US file) and Nonemployer Statistics 2024 (US file). AICPA, Get Up to Speed on Small Firm Succession Trends, published by PrimeGlobal (September 12, 2023), on the PCPS and Succession Institute 2020 CPA Firm Succession Planning Survey. California Board of Accountancy, Report on Long-Term Licensing Data Trends, Table 6 (November 2025). Downloaded and read November 9, 2026.
This article is general information for practice owners and is not legal, tax, lending or investment advice. SBA figures are WIN’s analysis of the public loan file on the date shown and will change as the SBA reissues it; deal counts, investors and prices are as published by each source on the dates given.