Choosing an accounting firm today is a fundamentally different decision than it was five years ago. While technical rigor, reputation, and proximity to your industry or market still matter, today’s decision is increasingly driven by a firm’s ownership structure and its ability to advise beyond compliance. That capability often reflects how closely a firm is connected to the industries it serves.
In just a few years, business owners have navigated trade volatility, shifting tax policy, and rising operating costs. At the same time, the accounting profession is undergoing its own structural transformation, with nearly half of the top 30 U.S. accounting firms now operating under some form of private equity investment or alternative ownership structure. That number continues to climb.
While no advisor can predict every disruption, business owners are beginning to recognize that their business advisors must provide forward-looking insight, deep industry knowledge, and a sustained commitment to the business’s future direction. Industry knowledge is built through ongoing sector-specific training, active involvement in industry associations and peer groups, and a continual understanding of the issues shaping the sector. Firms structured around dedicated, industry-specific teams, groups whose entire focus is on one sector, offer stronger guidance than firms staffed with generalists.
It is important to understand how an accounting firm’s ownership structure is inextricably linked to industry expertise, continuity, service quality, and whose interests drive decision-making. Understanding who a firm “answers to” has become just as important as understanding what it offers.
1. The Era of Compliance-First Accounting Is Over
Today, more than 9 out of 10 of the largest U.S. accounting firms offer advisory or consulting services. This trend has become more pronounced each year as firms respond to business owners’ increasingly expressed wants and needs.
Though CFOs still need to close the books and understand what happened last month, the accountant’s role has moved well beyond “recordkeeper” or “historian.” Lenders, capital markets, and competitors are all asking more sophisticated questions about where a business is headed, not simply where it has been. Reporting on the past is no longer enough. Leaders need insight that informs what happens next. That insight is rarely developed in isolation. It is shaped by ongoing exposure to industry conversations, peer dynamics, and the issues emerging across a sector.
2. Industry Depth Changes the Conversation
From a distance, accounting can look the same across industries. But dig a little deeper, and a construction company, a healthcare organization, and a manufacturing and distribution business operate under entirely different regulatory frameworks, revenue recognition standards, cash flow dynamics and risk profiles. This is why an advisor who understands your financial statements but not your operating environment could overlook issues that matter. Look for practical, hands-on experience in your sector. The strongest signal is a team structured around your industry.
Pay attention to firms that not only serve clients in an industry but also study it, contribute to it, and bring that perspective back into the client relationship through research, benchmarking, and informed guidance. That level of industry engagement shifts the conversation from “here is what happened” to “here is what your peers are seeing, where risk is forming, and what needs your attention next.”
3. Why Ownership Structure Should Matter to You
With over 1,000 accounting firm transactions involving private equity globally in the past decade, and nearly half of the top 30 U.S. firms now operating under some form of outside investment, it is worth understanding the implications.
Private equity funds have limited lifecycles, so firms within those structures often operate under defined investment timelines that can influence priorities and decision-making. This can create a different set of priorities than those of a firm built around long-term client relationships. Instead of the client relationship serving as the core of decision-making, attention may be shaped by fund performance, return expectations, and defined investment horizons. That can create tension, as investors focus on returns over a defined period, while clients focus on service, continuity, and long-term relationships.
Employee ownership is an increasingly viable alternative because it aligns the firm’s interests directly with clients’. Investment decisions, hiring, and capability building are driven by what clients need, not by what an outside investor expects. Research from Rutgers University showed that employee-owned companies experience nearly 50% fewer layoffs than comparable firms.
4. A More Personal Perspective on Employee Ownership
Employee ownership remains relatively uncommon in the accounting profession. Where it exists, it can transform a firm’s culture in ways that are difficult to replicate through other structures. In our case, the decision was rooted in a belief I have long held: the people who ride the elevator every day are the ones who make an organization prosper, and they should share in the value they help create. For some firms, employee ownership is a deliberate choice rooted in long-term alignment. At Grassi, we adopted an Employee Stock Ownership Plan to align our people directly to the outcomes we deliver.
We chose an Employee Stock Ownership Plan because it’s how we believe a firm should operate. It gives our people a meaningful stake in the firm’s future, one that goes well beyond a traditional retirement plan. A meaningful ownership stake gives people a reason to build a career, not just fill a role. When your people are invested in the outcome, you see it in how they serve clients. That is not a theory. It is something I see every day.
5. Two More Things to Look for
Beyond credentials, capabilities, and ownership structure, there are two human qualities that separate a good advisory relationship from a great one. They are harder to measure but easier to recognize when they are missing.
The first is candor. The right advisor tells you what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear. That kind of honesty is not always comfortable, but it is one of the clearest signs that your advisor is genuinely invested in your outcome, not merely managing the engagement or chasing a short-term result.
The second is presence. Your advisor should serve as an extension of your leadership team and be in the room where decisions are made. If you only hear from your accountant around deadlines, the relationship is not serving its purpose.
And Finally, Ask These Questions:
Whether you are evaluating a new advisory relationship or reassessing an existing one, start with four questions:
- Who will be involved in our business, and how often will we hear from them?
- How is your team structured around our industry, and how do they stay current on the issues shaping it?
- How do you stay ahead of our decisions, not just our deadlines?
- What happens when our business changes?
The answers will tell you a lot about whether you have found a firm built not only to file returns and deliver financial statements but also to help you make better decisions in a more complex business environment.
The firms that will matter most in the next decade will not be defined by compliance capabilities alone. They will be defined by how they think, how they guide, and how they align with the businesses they serve.
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