Practice Mergers and Acquisitions Service
Are you:
- Looking to buy an accountancy practice or block of fees
- Looking to sell an accountancy practice?
- Interested in merging with an accountancy practice?
How it Works
A simple way of bringing firms together
SWAT UK's Practice Mergers and Acquisitions service is your route to growing your practice, or providing a suitable exit route. Our Practice Mergers and Acquisitions Service is a confidential service that aims to introduce prospective sellers to purchasers.
By finding out detailed information about your practice, we will be able to ‘match’ your requirements more specifically with those of other practices, depending on whether you are looking to buy an accountancy practice, sell an acountancy practice or merge. By working hard to match your requirements we will only send you details of firms which meet your business objectives.
However, bringing firms together is just one aspect of our mergers and acquisitions service. We can also provide a range of ancillary services including:
Grooming your practice for sale
Ideally you should plan for a future sale a number of years in advance. We can help you develop your practice to maximise its value to a prospective purchaser.
Due diligence work
If you are looking to acquire an accountancy practice, we can carry out the due diligence work on your behalf. Under the guise of a Practice Assurance visit we are able to spend time with the target firm, review its files and procedures without arousing suspicion, and without the need for unsociable hours over several weekends!
Consultancy services
It’s always nice to have peace of mind that everything in a mergers and acquisitions deal is as it should be. We can review and make comments on the terms of any proposed deal you are entering into, in some cases highlighting specific points which may not have been addressed before.
What’s different about our Practice Mergers and Acquisitions Service?
SWAT UK has been providing training and technical support to the accountancy profession for over 30 years. We therefore understand the profession and are extremely well connected - and respected.
When buying or selling a practice or block of fees, you want to be confident that you'll be dealing with experts with experience in this field who can help you to either acquire or merge with the right practice for your growth requirements, or obtain the best possible price for your practice or fees. Our team of experts have considerable experience working with firms of accountants to improve their profitability and growth plans.
We visit hundreds of firms each year and over time, we have developed very close working relationships with a large number of them. In many instances, these firms talk to us about their future intentions, so we're best placed to put like-minded buyers and sellers together.
We also have contact with thousands of firms through our training, publications, consultancy and recruitment work. This network of accountancy firms means we’re ideally placed to be told about the partners’ future intentions for their practice, often before any other agencies are approached.
Furthermore, our fees for providing introductions are highly competitive, making the process of accountancy practice disposal or buying an accountancy practice a little bit easier to swallow.
Online registration and information gathering
If you are looking to buy an accountancy practice, sell your accountancy practice or perhaps interested in merging your practice with another firm, register your interest by clicking here and completing the short enquiry form.
One of our consultants will then contact you to arrange a convenient time to gather more detailed questions about your practice and how you would like to proceed. Once this information has been collected we will ask you to sign a formal agreement, which sets out your intentions and complete a form providing the detailed information about your firm that will help us to identify the best matches. As soon as these have been completed we will endeavour to find suitable introductions for you.
Confidentiality assured
Discussions about buying an accountancy practice and practice disposal are highly sensitive issues, and rumours can quickly spread unless extreme care is taken. Initial details of potential matches are presented in a way that ensures confidentiality. The names and other details of potential matches are only provided following explicit instructions from both sides.
We have set up a separate DocSAFE area dedicated to the Practice Mergers & Acquisitions service. You will be the only person in your firm with access to this secure area, and access to it is also restricted to just a handful of individuals within SWAT UK. Sensitive information will be supplied through this secure area, rather than by post or via email.
Fees
The fees for an acquisition are paid by the acquiring firm, and by the larger of the two practices in the case of a merger. The fees, which are paid on a successful arrangement, are:
3% of fees up to £1million (2% to SWAT UK Member Firms)
2% of fees over £1million (1.5% to SWAT UK Member Firms)
If the deal involves the sale of owned property, we will charge the seller 2% of the open market value of the property (1.5% to SWAT UK Member Firms).
Due diligence and consultancy work
This is charged depending on the nature of the work and the likely time involved. Please contact us to discuss your requirements, so that we can provide you with an accurate quotation.
Register your interest
If you are interested in buying or selling a practice or specific blocks of fees, or perhaps merging with another firm, please register your details using the form at the top of this page and one of our consultants will contact you confidentially to discuss how we can help you achieve your objectives.
Confidentiality Statement
The details you provide, along with all future information required to help in the mergers or acquisitions process, will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Find out more
For more details, and to speak with someone about your requirements, call Mike Sturgess on 0845 450 5555.
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