Passing it to your own people
There may be no one inside your firm ready to take it over.
You built a practice your clients trust. We intend to keep it that way.
ArcFinance Partners acquires established CPA firms and keeps them running the way clients know them, with the same people looking after the same relationships. Behind the scenes, we bring the long-term capital and modern support your practice needs to keep growing after you step back.
Balance carried forward
Your practice, after the transition
- Client relationships
- Your team
- The way you practice
- Professional standards
- Local presence
What you builtCarried forward
The question every owner eventually faces
Who will look after my clients when I step back?
Most of the usual answers ask you to give something up.
Merging into a larger firm
Your name and your way of working may fade into theirs.
Selling to an investor
Many investors plan to sell the firms they buy again within a few years.
Selling your practice should not mean losing what it stands for.
We buy firms to keep them.
ArcFinance Partners is the accounting services business of Athen Systems. We are not a fund with an exit date. We are building accounting services into a core, long-term part of our company, and every practice that joins us becomes part of that foundation.
What stays with your practice
Your clients chose your firm because of the people in it and the way you work. Those are the things we are most careful to protect.
Your team
Your staff, managers, and client-facing professionals are the most valuable part of your practice. Keeping them is one of our first priorities, and we add career paths and development opportunities that a single firm often cannot offer.
Your client relationships
Clients keep working with the people they already know, from the office they already visit. Day-to-day service stays local.
The way you practice
We keep the business practices that have worked for you. We do not make changes for the sake of change to a team that is already successful.
Your professional standards
Experienced, licensed CPA leadership oversees professional services, regulatory compliance, and client engagement. Our accounting platform will be led by senior leadership with VP-level experience at an established national or mid-sized accounting firm, and your partners and senior professionals stay central to running your practice.
Your office
We are flexible about keeping your current location, or moving somewhere nearby only when it makes sense, with as little disruption as possible.
What changes stays behind the scenes
Our operations hub in Atlanta, Georgia, takes on the administrative work that keeps partners away from clients, including technology, finance, recruiting, office administration, and systems management.
We also bring a generation of experience in enterprise software. Over time, we invest in secure accounting systems, workflow automation, document management, and better reporting, introduced in planned phases so your operations stay stable and client information stays protected.
The result is that your professionals spend more of their time with clients.
What your clients see
Your practice, as they know it
- Your people
- Your local office
- Your client service
Behind the scenes
Atlanta operations hub
- Technology
- Finance
- Recruiting
- Office administration
- Systems management
- Phased system upgrades
Your transition, on your terms
No two owners want the same exit. Some want to retire within a year. Others want to keep serving their longest-standing clients for several more. We shape the transition around your retirement goals and how involved you want to stay.
We also welcome a transition period in which you and your key managers introduce us to clients and help carry relationships forward, so clients and staff feel continuity rather than change.
Either way, your clients keep working with people they already know.
A clear path from first conversation to closing
- 1
A confidential conversation
We learn about your practice and, just as importantly, what you want for yourself, your team, and your clients.
- 2
Understanding your practice
We review your financial performance, client relationships, team, and transition goals.
- 3
A letter of intent
We put our proposal in writing, including how we plan to handle your transition.
- 4
Due diligence
A customary review and approvals. If it confirms what you shared with us, we do not expect surprises.
- 5
Closing
Generally within 60 to 90 days of an accepted letter of intent.
- 6
Transition
We work alongside you and your managers to keep clients and staff steady through the handover.
Letter of intent to closing: generally 60 to 90 days
The practices we are looking for
We look for established CPA firms with a few things in common. If that describes your firm, we would like to hear from you.
Start a confidential conversation- Long-standing client relationships
- An experienced team
- Recurring revenue
- A record of quality work
Where we are going together
We are building a nationally recognized accounting services organization, one that combines the trust and expertise of traditional CPA practices with the efficiency of modern technology. We will grow through acquisitions, through new client work, and by developing the people already in our practices.
Your firm would not disappear into that organization. It would be one of the practices that defines it.
You built something worth keeping.
Every conversation starts confidentially and without obligation. Tell us about your firm and what you want for its future, and we will tell you plainly whether we are the right fit.
Questions owners ask us
ArcFinance Partners is the accounting services business of Athen Systems, the parent company of Archarina.