Accounting
CBIZ to acquire Marcum in megadeal
CBIZ Inc., a Top 25 Firm based in Cleveland, is acquiring Marcum LLP, a Top 25 Firm based in New York, for $2.3 billion in a cash-and-stock deal, making the combined firm what is projected to become the seventh largest accounting firm in the U.S. with approximately $2.8 billion in annual revenue.
CBIZ, which is a publicly traded company, is acquiring the nonattest assets of Marcum. Concurrent with the closing of the transaction, which is expected in the fourth quarter, Mayer Hoffman McCann P.C. is acquiring the attest assets. MHM is a national independent CPA firm with which CBIZ has had an administrative service agreement for over 25 years.
Approximately half of the $2.3 billion transaction consideration will be paid in cash and the remainder in shares of CBIZ common stock.
CBIZ and MHM together ranked No. 11 on Accounting Today‘s 2024 list of the Top 100 Firms. CBIZ reported $1.6 billion in annual revenue last year. Marcum ranked No. 13 and has approximately $1.2 billion in revenue and more than 3,500 professionals. Combined, CBIZ will have more than 10,000 team members and over 135,000 clients. CBIZ provides finance, insurance and advisory services in more than 120 offices in 33 states, while Marcum has 43 offices in major markets across the U.S.
“Today marks the most significant transaction in CBIZ’s history as we announce our agreement to acquire Marcum,” said CBIZ president and CEO Jerry Grisko in a statement Wednesday. “At closing, our company will have combined annual revenue of approximately $2.8 billion, more than 10,000 team members and over 135,000 clients. Together, we will provide a breadth of services and depth of expertise that is unmatched in our industry, allowing us to bring a broader array of high-value solutions to our combined client base. This transaction enables CBIZ to strengthen our presence in key markets, continue to attract and retain top talent, and innovate through technology. We are excited about our future together and the opportunities it will provide our people, the solutions we will bring to our clients and the value we expect it will create for shareholders.”
Neither firm was under pressure to merge, but as their competitors grow, they saw opportunities for joining together.
“We’ve both enjoyed a lot of success and revenue, but the combination of these two was just too good to pass up and accelerates our growth strategy to become the firm of choice to the market,” said Chris Spurio, president of CBIZ Financial Services, in an interview with Accounting Today.”
The two firms had been in talks about a combination. “We’ve been talking to them for a very long time, but things really started ramping up late in 2023,” Spurio added. “We’ve been at it since then, culminating in the announcement today.”
Integration is being carefully planned. “We have a very thoughtful integration plan that we’ve been working around,” said Spurio. “Initially it’s going to be focused on our clients. It’s also going to be about aligning those mission critical platforms and systems. We’re colocated in many markets, getting those teams together and starting to build those relationships so we can go to market as an organization that will now be the seventh largest in the U.S. But the integration will happen in a plan that will span over 18 to 24 months and has several phases to it. It’s thoughtful, but ambitious as well. We will continue to serve our clients with the same level of service they have come to expect throughout the process.”
The firms may not be expanding geographically right away since they already both have huge footprints. “Geographically, they have 43 offices located in the Northeast, New York metro, D.C., Florida and California, and that is where we are co-located,” said Spurio. “It just allows us to scale up dramatically in those markets. For example, if you think about our New York metro and New England practices, those will instantly double, and our mid-Atlantic — Philly, Pennsylvania and Maryland — those quadruple. Our Florida and California practices scale up significantly as well. It’s not so much new markets, but adding tremendous size, scale, expertise and industry knowledge to many of the markets that we provide. And they’re interested in a lot of the markets we’re in that they’re trying to get in — think Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Denver — that we have. I think it’s a very interesting combination from that perspective.”
There will be more opportunities for employees and clients as well. “Both organizations are really excited about the opportunities,” said Spurio. “We’ll be able to provide the clients the kind of services and solutions they need and provide our employees with the kind of experiences and career paths that they want.”
Founded in 1951, Marcum provides a variety of professional services, including tax, attest, accounting, and advisory services, as well as technology solutions and executive search and staffing services for entrepreneurial companies, midcap and micro-cap SEC registrants, and high-net-worth individuals.
“CBIZ and Marcum share a dedication to providing high-quality innovative professional services to our clients, and personalized, local client relationships supported by national resources,” said Marcum chairman and CEO Jeffrey Weiner in a statement. “By joining forces, we will capitalize on our strengths and leverage our similar models to bring more diversified services and even greater subject matter expertise to our clients and attract new business. We both have a proven track record of growth through successful acquisitions, and we are excited to bring these two best-in-class organizations together.”
In an email to clients, Weiner added, “This strategic acquisition presents an incredible opportunity for CBIZ and Marcum to bring together the best talent in the industry to offer our clients an exceptional breadth of services and depth of expertise. Together, we’ll become the seventh-largest accounting and advisory services provider in the nation. Our combined force will deliver exceptional accounting, tax, advisory, business, and insurance services to middle-market clients and attract and retain the best and brightest talent.”
Allan D. Koltin, CEO of Koltin Consulting Group, who has advised both firms over the past two decades but wasn’t involved directly in the deal, commented, “This deal is groundbreaking and puts a big exclamation mark on whether or not non-CPA firm ownership can work in the accounting profession. Not only will this create the seventh largest CPA and advisory firm in the country, it will also increase the number of PE firms and related investment groups entering the accounting profession. The accounting profession has been around for 137 years, but it’s never had a day like today!”
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024 subject to the approval of CBIZ’s stockholders, the approval of Marcum’s partners and other customary closing conditions. Perella Weinberg Partners is serving as CBIZ’s financial advisor and BakerHostetler is serving as CBIZ’s legal advisor for the transaction. Deutsche Bank is serving as Marcum’s financial advisor and Dechert LLP is serving as Marcum’s legal advisor for the transaction.
More information about the transaction
Both CBIZ and Marcum have participated in many M&A deals. CBIZ has done over 120 acquisitions since 2008. This year alone, in March,
In June, Marcum Technology, the tech arm of Top 25 firm Marcum,
Thirteen accounting firms have united to form
Operating in an alternative practice structure as Sorren CPAs PC for attest services and Sorren Inc. for business advisory and non-attest services, the combined firms have 85 partners and approximately $170 million in revenue, with plans to add more firms going forwards.
Many of the founding firms met as members of the BDO Alliance, and their leaders had gotten to know one another as attendees at alliance meetings and managing partner roundtables, according to Josh Tyree, the president of Sorren, who was previously president of Harris CPAs, an Idaho-based firm that was the first of the group to go the PE route, signing up with DFW in January 2024.
“Harris had started looking at that process with DFW for a good chunk of 2023,” Tyree recalled, “and I remember we were having a managing partner roundtable meeting in Nashville that year in the fall, and they were all there and I raised my hand after two hours of talking about PE and I said, ‘Hey guys, I think I’m going to jump in feet first and you guys should all come and join us.'”
And they did — with individual firms joining up with DFW over the course of 2024, and a large group in January 2025.
“There was a level of comfort,” he explained. “We knew all of our firms and our people and what we do and how we do it because we’d shared so much information over the years.”
Apart from Harris, the other firms currently comprising Sorren are:
- Acuity (Georgia);
- Aycock & Co. (Texas);
- Capital Nomics Valuations (California);
- Chigbrow Ryan Murata (Idaho);
- Hoerber Tillman & Co. (Florida);
- JRJBF (Illinois);
- KDP Advisors (Oregon);
- KMA Advisors (Wisconsin);
- Pisenti & Brinker (California);
- Roeser Accountancy (California).
- SBF Advisors (Florida);
- Stockman Kast Ryan & Co. (Colorado).
Allan Koltin, CEO of Koltin Consulting Group, said in a statement, “What makes Sorren stand out is the way these firms came together — with intention, shared values, and a commitment to staying deeply connected to their local markets. This group didn’t just merge for size; they united around a common purpose. It’s a blueprint for how innovative firms can grow, while staying true to who they are.”
The firms all have a strong focus on small and middle-market businesses and nonprofits that want a local firm feel and relationship, even if they need services across the country. As it adds new firms, Sorren will prioritizing those that are a fit with their current culture.
“If we go into another region, we want to start with leadership and good people; we’re not just randomly going out to try and find any firm that meets [a client need],” Tyree explained. “It really has to fit our culture and it has to have a leader in that area for us to go into that services.”
He also made the point that Sorren is still very much a work in progress — relying on current firm expertise to build national practices in tax, assurance, CAS and advisory.
“One goal when we originally started was we wanted to get to enough mass size that we could really start to build this by using leadership from and talent from all the firms that came on board,” Tyree said.
“It’s going to be super fun, but it’s a lot of work,” he added. “If all you’re looking to do is do a rollup or something like that, that’s probably not our style. We’re trying to create this for our type of client and our type of cultures. And we think there’s a little void there where we can do it.”
Donald Trump’s promise to strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status prompted criticism Friday from a former Internal Revenue Service commissioner in the president’s first term, who said the process would take years and need a judge’s approval.
“The IRS will not allow itself to be weaponized,” former IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg News. Rettig, who oversaw the agency from 2018 to 2022, was asked to respond to Trump’s social media post early Friday that said: “We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!”
Trump made the announcement after weeks of threatening a change to the school’s tax-exempt treatment, stepping up his attack on the Ivy League school.
Federal criminal law bars President Trump or the vice president from ordering the IRS to punish his political opponents or reward his allies. Rettig said the Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration “closely monitors and investigates efforts to possibly influence IRS operations.”
The IRS cannot take any action on an organization’s tax-exempt status “without conducting an appropriate examination that would provide relevant information objectively supporting such an action,” Rettig said. “The IRS does not and should not conduct a ‘fishing expedition’ designed to hopefully uncover a relevant issue.”
Organizations also have administrative and judicial appeal rights that can take years to resolve before a federal judge approves a change in tax-exempt status, he said. “Throughout that process, there are many opportunities for resolution that would not result in the removal of the tax-exempt status of an organization,” he wrote.
Trump’s fight with Harvard escalated after it rejected his administration’s demands to reform campus policies to combat antisemitism and promote viewpoint diversity. The administration has frozen $2.2 billion in funding that supported projects including ALS and tuberculosis research.
On April 21, Harvard sued the U.S., claiming the funding freeze violated its free speech rights, and the government cannot dictate what it teaches, who it hires, and which students it admits.
In Trump’s second term, four people have held the IRS commissioner’s job on an acting basis.
China risks deeper deflation by diverting exports to domestic market
The Importance of Backing Up Bookkeeping Data
Warren Buffett to ask board to make Greg Abel CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at year-end
New 2023 K-1 instructions stir the CAMT pot for partnerships and corporations
The Essential Practice of Bank and Credit Card Statement Reconciliation
Are American progressives making themselves sad?
-
Economics1 week agoECB members say inflation job nearly done but tariff risks loom
-
Accounting1 week agoAt Schellman, AI reshapes a firm’s staffing needs
-
Economics1 week agoAmericans are getting flashbacks to 2008 as tariffs stoke recession fears
-
Economics1 week agoTrump insists bond market tumult didn’t influence tariff pause: ‘I wasn’t worried’
-
Economics1 week agoChecks and Balance newsletter: Predictions for the Democrats’ future
-
Personal Finance1 week agoAs Real ID deadline approaches, there are ‘workarounds,’ experts say
-
Economics1 week agoWater sommeliers say the simplest drink is the future of luxury
-
Personal Finance1 week agoMany Americans are worried about running out of money in retirement