The intended growth profile of an accountancy practice fundamentally changes the approach to exit planning. A lifestyle or stable practice will attract different buyers to a scaled practice - typically a small regional acquirer or an internal solution with another partner taking over or a staff buy-out. A scaled practice will be more attractive to large regional or national firms and possibly consolidators.

This section on exit planning brings us full circle to the first topic we discussed: to scale a practice successfully, it must be transformed so that it no longer depends on any one individual - including the practice owner. Owner dependency will greatly reduce the value of a practice so exit planning should focus on management layers, delegated client ownership, documented systems, investment in automation and technology, packaged services and marketing engines.

We have a separate hub on Shaping your practice exit which explores the different routes available and the key considerations to bear in mind - all brought to life by case studies with ACCA members that have exited via a variety of routes or created their own solution.

Below you'll find a podcast, Navigating your exit strategy, created from a session that Alastair Barlow (founder and former CEO of flindr) and Bhimal Hira (partner at Prysm Financial) presented at the 2025 Festival of Accounting & Bookkeeping in Birmingham, UK. Drawing on their  own experiences of exiting their practices, they discuss the essential components of exploring exit options, assessing your company’s financial health, and understanding the due diligence process.