From Retaining Clients to PE Takeovers: The New Rules of Exit Readiness

00:00:00.450 [Music]
00:00:11.880 uh hey everyone uh welcome to 50 shades
00:00:14.240 of accounting. Today we are diving deep
00:00:17.439 into a topic that’s uh reshaping really
00:00:19.840 the accounting industry as a whole that
00:00:22.279 is exit strategies for decades we have
00:00:25.680 seen that accounting world has been
00:00:27.240 pretty flat without uh much traction
00:00:30.039 happening when it comes to change of
00:00:31.400 ownership buying and selling
00:00:33.320 Acquisitions and so on so forth it was
00:00:35.520 just the reasonable amount which was
00:00:37.480 happening in the last few years we have
00:00:39.879 seen the landscape shift which is
00:00:41.840 happening in the accounting Market
00:00:43.920 partially because we see that the baby
00:00:45.719 boomers are going out of the job market
00:00:48.559 and if you remember Guys these were the
00:00:49.960 entrepreneurs these were the senior
00:00:51.559 Partners who have been working hard
00:00:53.280 throughout their life and now is the
00:00:55.239 time when they’re retiring of course for
00:00:57.239 the right reasons so while they’re
00:00:59.239 retiring there’s so much of buying and
00:01:01.239 selling which is taking place and on top
00:01:03.719 of it we have got uh the private Equity
00:01:06.760 money which is pouring in we can
00:01:08.880 literally see that so to make uh us uh
00:01:12.400 you know or to help us make sense of all
00:01:15.159 of it we have got uh Christine with us
00:01:18.280 uh I’m super thrilled to invite uh of
00:01:20.479 course here today and uh Christine is a
00:01:23.439 expert in um helping accounting firms
00:01:26.840 helping companies to develop those smart
00:01:29.960 strategies in fact exit strategies that
00:01:32.320 we’re going to be talking about today so
00:01:34.360 so much looking forward for this
00:01:35.799 conversation and uh I’ll jump in
00:01:38.119 straight away hey Christine very very
00:01:40.079 warm welcome super excited to of course
00:01:42.159 have you here with us yeah I this is
00:01:45.399 such an important topic and I am a
00:01:47.719 complete evangelist so I’ve got my soap
00:01:51.520 box I’m ready to stand on it great super
00:01:55.159 so we’ll start on right away so
00:01:57.399 Christine now one of the great top so
00:02:00.119 say I always thought about that
00:02:01.640 accounting firms can offer in the
00:02:03.320 current market situation is really
00:02:06.159 helping their end clients to uh get them
00:02:09.800 to ready for the exit because it’s not
00:02:12.040 just one industry there lot many other
00:02:13.920 Industries who are falling into the same
00:02:15.680 bracket because the baby boomers are
00:02:17.720 going out so could you help us U sort of
00:02:20.760 understand the landscape there how it
00:02:22.440 works because we really see it’s only a
00:02:24.680 few Progressive firms who may be doing
00:02:26.319 it but nobody’s talking about that
00:02:28.319 really yes absolutely absolutely the
00:02:30.800 look the great thing about being an an
00:02:32.400 accountant in practice is that you’ve
00:02:35.840 got this unique insight into every one
00:02:39.760 of your clients you know where they live
00:02:41.920 you know how old they are you know
00:02:43.680 pretty much everything about their
00:02:44.920 business and you probably know quite a
00:02:47.200 bit about their personal circumstances
00:02:49.599 as well because likely is if you’re
00:02:51.760 doing their their corporation tax you’re
00:02:54.319 probably doing their personal tax too so
00:02:57.080 you have this amazing Insight now
00:02:59.959 there’s one inali inescapable fact that
00:03:04.959 every single one of us that’s in a
00:03:07.159 business is going to leave that business
00:03:09.680 one day now we can we can react to this
00:03:12.640 two ways we can stick our head in the
00:03:14.879 sand or we can do some preparation
00:03:19.400 and one of the things that always amazes
00:03:21.959 me is if you’re the accountant and you
00:03:24.640 have these
00:03:25.879 insights this is opening the door and
00:03:29.319 it’s pushing on an open door I mean you
00:03:31.640 literally you would be welcomed in if
00:03:33.760 you just started having these
00:03:36.360 conversations so what why why don’t
00:03:39.840 accountants have these conversations
00:03:42.120 well I I think it’s really two
00:03:44.080 reasons first of all they probably don’t
00:03:47.680 want to have that conversation with
00:03:49.560 themselves and if they have it with
00:03:51.519 their own clients their clients might
00:03:53.439 say what are you doing and it it’s not
00:03:56.720 very good if the accountant says H not
00:03:59.040 really doing anything
00:04:00.560 um so so there there’s a the kind of 360
00:04:03.760 thing so you know if I’m not doing
00:04:06.000 anything how can I approach my clients
00:04:07.840 well here’s the thing it doesn’t matter
00:04:10.760 where you start whether you start with
00:04:12.560 yourself or whether you start with your
00:04:13.720 clients just get started and recognizing
00:04:17.839 the fact that everybody’s going to leave
00:04:21.880 and so here’s the first thing are you
00:04:23.880 going to leave vertically under your own
00:04:26.360 steam or are you going to leave
00:04:28.120 horizontally and leave a massive mess
00:04:31.120 behind so actually that’s almost the
00:04:33.880 first question that any accountant can
00:04:36.759 ask their client is how do you think
00:04:39.800 you’re going to leave your business and
00:04:42.120 and if the client says well I’m never
00:04:44.240 leaving my business it’s like great I
00:04:46.240 want to get into business with you then
00:04:47.720 because if you’ve got the secret to
00:04:49.400 everlasting life let’s partner on
00:04:51.639 marketing this baby um so see but
00:04:55.880 typically as an accountant you can have
00:04:58.039 the kind of insightful convers ations
00:05:00.759 that let’s face it almost no one else
00:05:03.919 can have corre so it’s always that first
00:05:07.160 step just con it’s literally one
00:05:10.080 conversation starting with the what are
00:05:13.360 you doing to exit your business what are
00:05:16.120 your plans to exit your business it
00:05:20.199 makes sign it’s very very insightful
00:05:21.759 thanks for that in fact uh while you
00:05:23.800 were talking about that uh it’s a
00:05:25.639 reality which is going to strike I mean
00:05:27.520 in the sense it’s life and death those
00:05:29.840 kind of cities it will happen and we
00:05:32.759 have gone through the capital event
00:05:34.120 ourselves sometime back Christine so I’m
00:05:36.199 sure we’ll pick it up later on but just
00:05:39.120 uh picking the you know cue from there
00:05:41.600 but what are the benefits that you see
00:05:43.680 accounting firms can actually Avail if
00:05:46.120 they are really Progressive and they
00:05:47.919 want they want to offer the service to
00:05:50.160 the clients that they have that’s a
00:05:52.880 really good question because often when
00:05:55.280 I speak to accountants you’ll find them
00:05:58.199 moaning a bit about about the fact that
00:06:00.720 one of their clients got sold and
00:06:03.880 they’re now moving to another client
00:06:06.120 they’re moving to another accounting
00:06:08.160 practice and I think well one of the
00:06:10.639 real benefits of opening that
00:06:12.319 conversation and and I think there are
00:06:14.479 three key three key benefits um I am the
00:06:17.520 Mistress of Threes I love them I love
00:06:19.319 threes but there are three key benefits
00:06:21.199 to the accountant so first of all you’re
00:06:24.199 engaging in a conversation that actually
00:06:27.000 gets them thinking and also gets you as
00:06:28.919 the accountant thinking about how you
00:06:30.360 can operate in your in your business so
00:06:32.479 you you’re generating an awareness mhm
00:06:35.240 both for yourself and also for your
00:06:37.680 client because you’ve opened the
00:06:40.160 conversation and and let’s face it your
00:06:42.759 client may never have thought about this
00:06:45.319 you’re now positioning yourself as an
00:06:47.440 account in as an accountant as somebody
00:06:49.880 who goes beyond compliance so if you’re
00:06:52.440 thinking about how you engage in more
00:06:55.720 advisory then this is the most magic
00:06:58.919 question
00:07:00.160 so it’s opening an advisory um which
00:07:04.160 your client is usually silently
00:07:06.199 screaming for by the way um you know
00:07:08.840 they don’t get out of bed and go please
00:07:10.479 give me some advisory but they what they
00:07:12.639 are getting out of bed in the morning
00:07:14.319 and they are saying to themselves I wish
00:07:17.879 there was somebody that I trusted that
00:07:20.000 would just help me MH and the one person
00:07:22.800 they generally trust is their accountant
00:07:25.840 correct and then the third thing is that
00:07:28.919 if you’re in that exit conversation and
00:07:31.680 your client is selling then the
00:07:34.879 likelihood depending on who they sell to
00:07:37.879 the likelihood is that they will keep
00:07:40.919 you as their accountant so it’s only if
00:07:43.919 they’re going to only if the client is
00:07:46.240 sold to someone who is going to jam a
00:07:48.680 few companies together or two companies
00:07:50.800 together in which case it’s always the
00:07:52.960 biggest firm that wins by the way um
00:07:55.280 right then then typically you you’re
00:07:58.039 more likely to ret aain that client
00:08:00.960 because you’ve already got the trusted
00:08:03.360 advisor um role you’ve already nailed
00:08:06.599 that because you were there when the
00:08:09.440 client was literally going through their
00:08:11.440 typically their darkest days correct I
00:08:14.400 think it’s uh really sums up to uh
00:08:16.520 having that One-Stop shop and having
00:08:18.599 that uh you know flavor of uh of of
00:08:22.759 providing that full-blown tipto toe
00:08:25.479 service and going into advisory as you
00:08:27.639 said nothing beats that and we know it
00:08:30.280 one of the areas Which accounting firms
00:08:31.919 they really struggle is with advisory
00:08:34.279 compliances I think everybody’s super
00:08:36.039 not super expert and everything super
00:08:38.320 nice but advisory is one area where U I
00:08:41.240 think clearly this is one area which can
00:08:43.679 be uh explored further so thanks for
00:08:46.120 that uh inside there so Christine just
00:08:48.959 uh changing the gears a bit now and uh
00:08:51.920 getting into the uh you know accounting
00:08:54.560 firms Arena as a whole now we know that
00:08:58.200 uh exit is just not about the timing
00:09:01.880 it’s about the strategy and the fact
00:09:04.680 which I was saying before that baby
00:09:06.160 boomers really while they’re going out
00:09:07.680 of the job market it is such a massive
00:09:09.959 massive play in fact I was reading it
00:09:12.200 somewhere that uh the average age of the
00:09:14.200 cpf CP partner for example is about 52
00:09:18.720 54 so imagine the the 3 4 five years
00:09:23.880 down the line and if the stock market is
00:09:25.640 working well I’m just thinking
00:09:27.399 everybody’s just getting ready to retire
00:09:29.200 right right away so what are the problem
00:09:31.640 areas that you see there while you’re
00:09:33.720 talking to accounting firms per se what
00:09:36.040 they should be doing what they haven’t
00:09:37.480 done just the Grays if you can highlight
00:09:39.760 that oh yeah and and and it just to be
00:09:42.880 clear this is accounting firms and any
00:09:45.880 other business in the universe all right
00:09:48.079 because there’s really three key
00:09:50.279 problems I told you I was the magic 3
00:09:52.720 but there are really three uh three key
00:09:55.279 problems and particularly in accounting
00:09:57.640 firms too
00:09:59.640 the the first of first of all
00:10:02.200 it’s the uh structure of the
00:10:06.279 organization if you’ve got people who at
00:10:09.120 the top are of an age and they’ve been
00:10:11.880 controlling everything and and
00:10:14.040 especially if it’s Founders so if people
00:10:16.399 who found uh uh founded a business but
00:10:19.480 what I find is it’s very specifically in
00:10:21.720 Partnership businesses Partners or the
00:10:24.839 founders everything hangs off them so
00:10:28.560 they’re so woven into the function of
00:10:31.760 the business and of course the value
00:10:35.000 that the partner or the founder feels is
00:10:39.120 because you know that it’s part of their
00:10:41.920 identity the being this senior person
00:10:45.079 and they can’t imagine doing anything
00:10:46.320 else so they literally built the
00:10:47.800 business around them so that they’re
00:10:49.760 almost like a if you think about an arch
00:10:53.040 a stone Archway always has a keystone
00:10:56.000 and it’s that Keystone that if you
00:10:57.560 remove the bridge collapses the arch
00:10:59.920 collapses right the big mistake that
00:11:02.880 most partner Le or founder-led
00:11:06.480 businesses Miss make is that they build
00:11:10.320 themselves into being the Keystone and
00:11:13.040 the minute they’re not there everything
00:11:15.040 starts to to collapse so so for me it’s
00:11:18.920 the it’s that owner Reliance issue which
00:11:22.040 leads then to the other big mistake that
00:11:24.959 people make is then making no plans for
00:11:27.760 succession and I I’ll go back to that
00:11:30.040 horizontal versus vertical again yeah
00:11:33.639 everybody literally everybody is going
00:11:35.680 to leave at some point and you never
00:11:38.519 know whether that bus that is going to
00:11:40.279 come and hit you might hit you tomorrow
00:11:43.040 correct so the the lack of succession
00:11:45.800 planning because well I’m not thinking
00:11:47.760 of leaving for another 5 years is it
00:11:51.440 makes the um the business weaker and it
00:11:54.399 certainly makes partners partners firms
00:11:56.600 weaker because you tend to find that if
00:11:58.839 the power power is Consolidated and and
00:12:01.040 by power I mean the decision making is
00:12:03.519 all Consolidated at the top and they
00:12:05.720 don’t trickle that down effectively
00:12:08.519 enough then when it only takes one brick
00:12:11.440 to to fall out and and actually the the
00:12:14.279 value of the business is um is
00:12:16.600 eliminated and and in accounting we got
00:12:18.800 an image problem because it’s becoming
00:12:21.040 more and more difficult to get young
00:12:22.399 people in absolutely and I I don’t think
00:12:26.000 as accountant I mean I’m a I’m a Seer
00:12:28.360 accountant but as accountant we don’t
00:12:30.760 paint a nice enough picture of what the
00:12:32.560 opportunities are and so sometimes a
00:12:36.160 young and this certainly happened to me
00:12:38.079 when I was training I would look at the
00:12:40.399 people um that I was training with so I
00:12:43.079 used to look at my FD and I used to
00:12:44.839 think goodness me I don’t want to do
00:12:46.240 that job if that if that’s what’s what
00:12:48.240 I’m going to look like in 10 years time
00:12:50.600 yeah I’m out of here and actually that’s
00:12:53.120 exactly what I did I went and found you
00:12:55.440 know accountancy opened another door for
00:12:57.560 me um and I was very lucky that I I got
00:13:00.279 that opportunity but we don’t show a
00:13:03.880 really good image to bring accountancy
00:13:07.560 in and yet it’s the most amazing
00:13:11.480 profession I mean if you’re
00:13:13.600 nosy or just curious you get to see
00:13:17.959 insights about every client in your in
00:13:21.440 your practice corre I don’t know about
00:13:23.680 you but it’s like looking through
00:13:25.000 someone’s window without actually having
00:13:26.760 to take any responsibility and it’s and
00:13:29.399 and you just get to see all of yet you
00:13:31.480 literally get to see the whole world The
00:13:33.639 Good the Bad and the Ugly um I I
00:13:36.240 personally find that exciting so but
00:13:39.000 then maybe I’m weird in fact no no I
00:13:42.000 absolutely agree in fact I remember um a
00:13:44.240 small joke I’m going to uh you know pass
00:13:47.560 it on so U accounting and accountants as
00:13:51.040 you said there’s a certain stereotype
00:13:52.680 which is attached to the profession as a
00:13:54.519 whole right so it says that uh who is
00:13:57.959 the most extroverted accountant that you
00:13:59.720 have met and that person is who is
00:14:02.839 talking to you while looking at your
00:14:04.800 shoes yeah that’s the most accountant
00:14:07.639 that you can imagine one would get and
00:14:09.839 these are the kind of jokes we see all
00:14:11.360 the time isn’t it that uh being
00:14:13.279 accounting is uh you know having that
00:14:15.440 big thick glasses and sort of just doing
00:14:17.399 all the numbers and that’s pretty much
00:14:18.839 it so U I think if Acca and SEMA and
00:14:21.800 everyone else is listening or CPA I
00:14:24.240 think uh we need to change that at at
00:14:26.600 the very top because I agree it is Trust
00:14:29.320 worthy it is honest and most importantly
00:14:32.240 I think the amount of trust which the
00:14:34.000 client gives to the accountant is second
00:14:36.560 to none I think we all know that yeah
00:14:39.800 absolutely I remember someone telling me
00:14:42.120 become a lawyer because lawyers changed
00:14:43.880 the world MH okay if you become a lawyer
00:14:47.560 you’re more likely to become a
00:14:48.639 politician which means you’re going to
00:14:50.199 change your world yeah or the immediate
00:14:53.519 world around you accountant can impact
00:14:56.720 and in particularly from a climate
00:14:58.519 change perspect perspective accountants
00:15:00.279 are the ones that are going to bring the
00:15:01.880 tools that are really going to bring
00:15:05.040 effective change and that should
00:15:07.880 energize the Next
00:15:09.920 Generation we’ve got to show them how to
00:15:12.240 do it yeah absolutely I think we should
00:15:14.279 talk to Marvel or DC to create a movie
00:15:16.440 called super accountant rather than
00:15:18.519 Superman which could probably do the for
00:15:20.959 the Gen Z the point which you were
00:15:22.440 mentioning but amazing I I absolutely
00:15:24.759 get that and just to add on there U on
00:15:27.800 the exit strategy G uh you know
00:15:30.199 Christine that you are absolutely expert
00:15:32.160 on is there any preferred mode of
00:15:35.000 exiting for accounting firms per se I
00:15:37.319 mean is it uh that you should be looking
00:15:39.079 at uh the P side of things now that’s
00:15:42.199 happening so much or you should be
00:15:43.839 looking at maybe merging with a bigger
00:15:45.560 firm or just uh looking at U anyone who
00:15:49.040 pays the max amount of money what is the
00:15:51.199 trick there well I’m afraid the answer
00:15:54.160 to that is kind of um it depends and I
00:15:57.160 and I hate that’s a bit weird easily
00:15:59.440 worded but it really depends on you as
00:16:02.560 the business owner what do you really
00:16:05.480 want and because everybody’s ideal exit
00:16:09.319 is very different and it’s one of the
00:16:12.720 things I always do with all of my
00:16:14.319 clients is I look at what does an ideal
00:16:17.319 deal look for you look like for you and
00:16:19.800 that will be all the lifestyle issues
00:16:21.639 not not money is almost the last thing
00:16:24.800 mhm and then we’ll look at what’s an
00:16:27.440 absolute hell no deal it’s like hell
00:16:31.600 will freeze over before I take this type
00:16:33.839 of deal so you’re really looking at
00:16:35.959 what’s really attractive and what’s
00:16:37.480 really not attractive and somewhere in
00:16:39.600 between there is an acceptable deal and
00:16:42.920 the mistake that most people make is
00:16:45.600 that they see and we’ll come on to PE in
00:16:48.360 a minute but they see a lot of PE
00:16:49.839 activity and they think oh that’s going
00:16:51.680 to get me out it’s going to get me out
00:16:53.519 of the day-to-day it’s going to get me
00:16:55.319 Rich you know it’s going to make me
00:16:57.000 retire only for them to find that the
00:17:00.519 price of taking PE money is they got to
00:17:04.439 be in their business for another 5 years
00:17:07.119 and now they’re now they’re an
00:17:09.439 employee and this the partnership model
00:17:13.199 doesn’t really work very well in in PE
00:17:15.720 so the PE house comes in and tries to
00:17:18.359 change it but that cost time and money
00:17:21.119 and in the meantime you’re being to get
00:17:23.599 the rest of your money out you’re that
00:17:25.559 you’ve got to drive fees and
00:17:27.160 profitability but you’ve got these d on
00:17:30.120 on you from the change that’s required
00:17:33.520 so I think when you look at what an
00:17:36.039 ideal deal for you as an individual is
00:17:39.080 MH and you look at the the what the
00:17:41.400 worst deal possible is for you then
00:17:44.440 somewhere between the ideal deal and the
00:17:46.160 acceptable deal is probably where you
00:17:47.640 want to to to be and it will be
00:17:49.640 different from for every different
00:17:52.559 person when it comes to PE though I if
00:17:56.080 PE is something that you want to explore
00:17:59.440 then let’s get really clear on what
00:18:02.799 private Equity is and what what they’re
00:18:05.840 looking for because um and and actually
00:18:10.520 forget private Equity money uh for a
00:18:13.159 minute you may be approached as a
00:18:16.080 mid-tier practice by a bigger practice
00:18:19.200 and and and the idea of becoming part of
00:18:21.480 something bigger might be very
00:18:23.600 attractive to you so if that if that is
00:18:27.039 something that’s part of your ideal deal
00:18:29.640 then get your business ready to be
00:18:32.919 attractive to that kind of buyer MH and
00:18:35.640 that means understanding what those
00:18:37.039 buyers are looking for mhm so so I
00:18:39.760 always come at it from a what what what
00:18:41.799 does life look like for you in an ideal
00:18:44.880 exit and and I get people who say look I
00:18:47.600 want to die at my desk but I only want
00:18:50.360 to I want to die at my desk only working
00:18:52.280 two days a week and it’s like great okay
00:18:55.080 now we know what we’re working with we
00:18:56.640 know what your values are
00:18:59.240 PE isn’t
00:19:01.280 necessarily the Nirvana that a lot of
00:19:05.120 people think it is because if you’re
00:19:07.559 just focusing on the money you’re
00:19:09.240 focusing on the wrong thing because
00:19:12.120 everything comes at a price and you
00:19:14.919 don’t know what the buyer is looking for
00:19:16.520 you don’t know what that price is MHM
00:19:19.919 that’s super in fact u in fact what do
00:19:22.640 you think about the the cultural side of
00:19:25.799 things so I get that uh while you’re
00:19:27.720 looking at the end game game that you
00:19:29.360 have what you personally want it’s going
00:19:31.240 to drive majority of the actions but
00:19:33.919 what about culture the you know the
00:19:36.720 values which an organization had or has
00:19:39.240 at the moment while before you you know
00:19:41.360 you do any acquisition or of course you
00:19:43.000 go out in the market do you see that has
00:19:45.280 a Major Impact in the decision making oh
00:19:48.400 yes it has a major impact on the post
00:19:52.200 exit
00:19:53.200 experience and so let’s go back to
00:19:56.960 private Equity um you private Equity
00:19:59.400 usually looking for some very specific
00:20:03.760 um boxes to take in their acquisition so
00:20:07.280 they they’re going to be very picky
00:20:08.880 about the the type of thing that they
00:20:10.400 they’re looking for but one of the
00:20:12.720 things that and and and I think we’re
00:20:14.840 starting to see this come through in the
00:20:17.360 accounting industry as the first phase
00:20:20.280 of private Equity investment is now
00:20:23.039 starting to think about how they recycle
00:20:25.480 themselves out of those Investments yeah
00:20:27.480 the flip or period yeah
00:20:29.520 and so if we look at when they got in
00:20:31.400 what was their expectation of their
00:20:33.080 return on investment including the
00:20:35.880 timeline right and one of the biggest
00:20:39.280 impacts NE negative impacts is that
00:20:43.240 private Equity
00:20:44.799 money and the people who manage private
00:20:47.159 Equity Funds didn’t really understand
00:20:50.200 the nature of traditional partner-led
00:20:54.039 accounting firms so they didn’t
00:20:56.559 understand the culture and they also
00:20:58.320 didn’t understand that the accounting
00:21:00.080 industry sadly changes at a glacial Pace
00:21:05.200 M and actually even that’s fast so um
00:21:09.120 and I and I so I think they probably
00:21:11.279 well I I know from an anecdotally
00:21:14.200 that many of these practices that were
00:21:16.880 bought off as uh under a platform as
00:21:20.720 part of portfolio purchases through
00:21:23.039 private Equity um funding was they
00:21:26.559 thought that they would get economies of
00:21:28.039 scale and actually that didn’t really
00:21:30.000 result because there was so many
00:21:32.960 cultural um differences so I think
00:21:35.480 private Equity money that was going in
00:21:37.960 maybe a decade ago between six and 10
00:21:41.320 years ago is actually was had a very
00:21:44.440 different approach to the private Equity
00:21:46.559 that’s coming in now especially if
00:21:48.840 they’ve already purchased practices and
00:21:51.960 they’ve gone through the pain of trying
00:21:54.720 to
00:21:55.799 integrate business uh different side
00:21:59.159 of business that have got very different
00:22:01.400 cultures so culture for me is culture
00:22:05.919 kills return on investment like that
00:22:09.960 without anybody really seeing it until
00:22:14.240 they try and come at the until they try
00:22:16.600 and get their money out at the other end
00:22:18.360 and then the returns that they were
00:22:20.120 expecting right at the very beginning
00:22:22.600 they’re not they’re not getting those
00:22:23.840 size of returns because they’ve
00:22:25.720 literally had to sweat blood trying to
00:22:29.559 get businesses to change their culture I
00:22:32.880 get it in fact um so spot on it is I’m
00:22:35.600 able to relate to it what I’m seeing in
00:22:37.360 the industry and uh creating value to be
00:22:41.360 honest while you are buying those
00:22:44.320 accounting firms in the portfolio that
00:22:46.039 you’re building up it’s a massive
00:22:48.240 massive play whether the value can be
00:22:50.919 created through consolidation of your it
00:22:53.080 side of things or through offices and
00:22:55.600 lot many other things so I think the
00:22:57.640 game is on now and this U cycle I think
00:23:01.360 probably looking at two three more years
00:23:03.480 and this is yet to be seen how it’s
00:23:05.000 going to play out you know in terms of
00:23:07.080 the rois for the pees and of course the
00:23:10.039 people who have uh been bought by the PE
00:23:12.039 so uh it’s going to be interesting
00:23:13.360 landscape I guess all right so thank you
00:23:16.200 so so very much Christine it was super
00:23:18.559 insightful uh and I think uh whether
00:23:21.240 it’s preparing firms to get ready and
00:23:23.760 offer the client uh the exit Readiness
00:23:26.320 or looking at the PE money what you
00:23:28.080 should be doing looking at the cultural
00:23:29.880 aspect everything was super super
00:23:32.039 insightful I hope you enjoyed it no
00:23:35.360 thank you and I will just leave with one
00:23:37.159 sentence if you are an accountant in
00:23:39.159 practice and you want to engage more
00:23:41.200 with your clients just go and just go
00:23:43.400 and use this one sentence which is how
00:23:46.760 are you thinking what what are you
00:23:48.360 thinking about your exit and and
00:23:50.960 honestly they will open a conversation
00:23:53.000 that will be so insightful and fruitful
00:23:56.520 and it will add profit to your bottom
00:23:59.080 online um and with this uh we have come
00:24:01.919 to an end of this episode thank you
00:24:03.919 Christine for sharing these uh valuable
00:24:06.080 insights whether it’s uh preparing firms
00:24:09.159 for their next big step planning for
00:24:11.400 their own future or navigating the rise
00:24:14.679 of private equity and accounting today’s
00:24:16.640 conversation has highlighted it’s just
00:24:19.159 so much important to think strategically
00:24:21.640 and of course the cultural side which uh
00:24:24.640 picked up towards the end and uh thanks
00:24:26.960 to the audience as well for listening in
00:24:28.919 and tuning into 50 shets of accounting
00:24:31.279 looking forward to catch up with the
00:24:32.559 next one thank you so yeah stay safe