When AAFCPAs announced its acquisition of McLaren & Associates CPAs, the headline was not simply about growth in size. The more meaningful shift was in capability. With the addition of McLaren’s team, AAFCPAs strengthened its bench in forensic accounting, litigation support, business valuation, and tax advisory services.
That same theme shows up across the profession. INSIDE Public Accounting’s recent rankings reflect continued movement shaped by targeted mergers and deeper specialization. At the same time, valuation discussions are becoming more discerning. Revenue still matters, but buyers are equally focused on client retention, talent depth, technology infrastructure, and the durability of higher-value service lines.
Taken together, these signals point to a practical shift in emphasis. Growth for growth’s sake is rarely the objective. The more compelling story lies in the quality of the capabilities being added, and whether those capabilities strengthen the firm’s long-term positioning.
The 2025 IPA rankings coverage describes a profession in transition. Consolidation continues, but many firms are also “sharpening their niche focus” and expanding advisory services as part of how they compete. That matters for M&A because it reframes what a good acquisition target looks like.
Trend analysis in the accounting M&A space makes the same point more directly: firms with advisory components, specialized expertise, or proprietary technology can command premium valuations compared to traditional compliance-focused practices. Compliance work doesn’t disappear; it alone is no longer a compelling growth narrative.
This is where “capability acquisitions” come in. In a capability deal, the buyer is not primarily purchasing a book of recurring work or a set of client relationships that can be serviced by any competent team. The buyer is purchasing differentiated expertise, the credibility that comes with it, and the market positioning it unlocks.
AAFCPAs’ acquisition underscores that logic. The description of what McLaren adds is essentially a capability shopping list.
Sources are careful about what they claim. They do not say “forensics will always be higher margin” or “valuation always sells at a premium.” What they do support is the broader principle: specialization and advisory growth matter in valuation conversations, and buyers increasingly weigh factors beyond revenue multiples.
From there, firm leaders can draw a practical inference about why specialty practices tend to change deal math.
Madras Accountancy’s trends piece notes that valuation methodologies have evolved: sophisticated buyers look at client retention, staff quality, technology infrastructure, and growth potential in high-value services. In plain language, buyers are paying for what will still be valuable in three to five years, not just what billed well last year.
Specialized advisory practices can be part of that future-facing story. They can create distance from fee compression dynamics that are common in routine, repeatable work. That does not mean specialty is immune to competition. It means the basis of competition shifts from price alone to expertise, credibility, responsiveness, and outcomes.
Specialty practices often come with tight referral networks. That is not a sourced statistic, but it is a leadership reality anyone who has operated a litigation support or valuation practice recognizes: relationships are concentrated, trust is earned over time, and referrals move through a small set of gatekeepers.
This is one reason capability can be more valuable than capacity. A generalist acquisition might add more of the same demand you already know how to serve. A specialty acquisition can add new demand channels: attorneys, deal teams, boards, and stakeholders who need an expert they can stand behind.
IPA’s rankings coverage points to firms expanding advisory services and evolving their models, even as consolidation continues. Specialty capabilities are one way firms do that: they create reasons for clients and referral partners to engage outside of tax season or year-end.
Not that every firm must become a forensic shop. The important takeaway is that capabilities adjacent to disputes, transactions, and complex decision-making can widen a firm’s relevance, which is exactly what strategic acquirers are trying to buy.
If capability is the asset, integration is not just systems and branding. It is value protection.
Successful M&A depends on integration planning and execution. It also requires that leading firms begin integration planning during due diligence with clear accountability across workstreams like tech systems, client onboarding, staff training, and brand transition.
In capability deals, the stakes are higher because the value is often concentrated in people, reputation, and repeatable judgment. That is true whether the capability is forensics, valuation, ESG reporting, or technology consulting.
A practical diligence lens for specialty acquisitions:
In the AAFCPAs deal, IPA notes McLaren has been recognized by Worcester Business Journal as Best Forensic Accounting Firm for eight consecutive years (2019 through 2026), and reports a 97% success rate in forensic accounting cases. Those are reputation signals. They are also fragile if the buyer unintentionally breaks the operating model that produced them.
That is the integration tension leaders need to manage: standardize enough to get leverage, but preserve enough autonomy to keep the specialty credible in its market.
Here is the leadership challenge: traditional earnouts often lean heavily on short-term financial outputs. That can work when the acquired asset is a stable, recurring revenue stream with predictable delivery. In a specialty practice, performance can be more dependent on relationship stewardship, referral momentum, and the time it takes to rebuild trust under a new banner.
A more capability-aligned earnout approach often includes a mix of:
The goal is not to “engineer” a perfect earnout. The goal is to reduce the odds that both sides spend the first year post-close arguing about measurement while the real asset, the capability, quietly erodes.
The most useful question in accounting firm M&A is simple: what will we be able to do, and credibly sell, after this deal that we cannot do today?
IPA’s reporting makes clear that movement in the market is being shaped by strategic combinations and specialization, not just passive consolidation.
So when you evaluate a target, look past the immediate revenue lift and ask:
Size can make you more visible. Capability can make you more chosen.
Generalist capacity adds headcount and coverage. Capability adds a narrative: why clients and referral partners should pick you when the work is complex, urgent, or high-stakes. Recent accounting firm M&A coverage and trend analysis both point to specialization and advisory expansion as forces reshaping how firms compete and how deals are valued.
In this market, the firms that win are not only the ones that grow. They are the ones that can explain what their growth means.
A capability-driven acquisition is a deal where the primary objective is adding specialized expertise, such as forensics, valuation, or other advisory services, rather than simply adding recurring compliance revenue or geographic scale.
Trend commentary notes that valuation approaches have evolved beyond simple multiples, and that firms with advisory components and specialized expertise can command premium valuations versus traditional compliance-focused practices.
Integration planning should start during due diligence, with clear accountability across systems, client onboarding, training, and brand transition. In specialty deals, leaders should also protect the people and operating model that make the capability credible.
Capability can be concentrated in a small number of experts, which makes retention and continuity critical. Deals can also stumble if integration unintentionally disrupts reputation signals and referral momentum.
Look for evidence of differentiated expertise, bench depth, repeatable methods, and durable market positioning. Industry coverage highlights specialization and strategic combinations as key competitive drivers.