CohnReznick, a Top 25 Firm based in New York, is the latest accounting firm to receive a private equity investment, in this case from funds advised by Apax Partners, a private equity investment advisory firm also based in New York.

This represents the first institutional investment in CohnReznick. The firm plans to use the extra funding to accelerate its growth strategy, deliver more client services and attract talent. Apax will support CohnReznick in expanding service lines, developing technology for client solutions, entering new markets, developing talent and advancing its existing tech platform to drive further innovation and efficiency. Apax also plans to support CohnReznick in pursuing a targeted acquisitions strategy to further grow its client base. CohnReznick was the result of a merger in 2012 between JH Cohn and Reznick Group.

CohnReznick has over 5,000 global employees and more than 350 partners in 29 offices across the U.S. It earned $1.12 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2025. It ranked No. 16 on Accounting Today‘s 2024 list of the Top 100 Firms. The firm has clients in a variety of industries, including real estate, financial services and financial sponsors, private client services, consumer, manufacturing, renewable energy and government advisory.  

“Our partnership with Apax is a milestone moment in  CohnReznick’s history,” said CohnReznick CEO David Kessler in a statement Wednesday. “We have consistently delivered strong growth and cemented our position in  the mid-market, thanks to our best-in-class talent, industry expertise, and comprehensive service offerings. This strategic investment from the Apax Funds will help us continue on our growth trajectory, expanding our solutions and geographic presence to meet client needs while continuing to create exciting career growth for our people. We were impressed by the Apax team’s track record in the professional services sector and their experience in driving operational excellence in complex businesses like ours, while continuing to create a best-in-class experience for employees and clients.” 

Once the transaction closes, CohnReznick will operate in an alternative practice structure, as has become common with private equity funding of accounting firms  CohnReznick LLP, a licensed CPA firm, will be led by Kelly O’Callaghan as CEO and provide attest services. CohnReznick Advisory LLC (which will not be a licensed CPA firm) will provide tax, advisory and other non-attest services, and will be led by Kessler as CEO.  

“Over the past two years, we have built a strong relationship with the CohnReznick team and have been deeply impressed by the company’s culture, vision, and the consistent growth they have achieved,” Ashish Karandikar, a partner at Apax Partners, said in a statement. “We are excited to partner with David and the firm’s leadership team to fuel the next phase of growth. Together, we aim to accelerate  service line expansion, explore new geographic opportunities, and drive innovation. We look forward to what we are confident will be a highly successful and rewarding partnership.” 

Apax was advised by Guggenheim Securities, LLC and CohnReznick was advised by William Blair &  Company, LLC. Koltin Consulting Group served as an additional financial advisor to both Apax and  CohnReznick.

“It was love at first sight,” Allan Koltin, CEO of Koltin Consulting Group, said in a statement. “I can’t recall two firms and their leaders culturally and strategically aligning as fast as they did. When one side talked, the other side finished the sentence. No question in my mind, this combination will produce one of the next $2 billion firms in the accounting profession, but more importantly produce a lot of successful people and clients along the way.”

T&E solutions provider Emburse announced Emburse AI, which provides artificial intelligence capacities across the company’s entire suite of solutions. Emburse AI is trained using data from the company’s over 1 billion spend transactions. 

The release enhances receipt and invoice processing. The AI can read, interpret and act on transaction data, going beyond simple text extraction to leverage machine learning to understand context, predict missing or unclear information, and adapt to different formats for more precise data extraction. The solution automatically maps expenses to one of 39 categories (so far) for Emburse Expense Enterprise users to streamline expense allocation and provides richer insights. It auto-fills and interprets data for employees, automating routine tasks for users. The AI identifies the applicable currency, date format and tax rates, and even common regional merchants to support finance teams globally. Finally, it can proactively extract the additional tip amount data required for meal expenses to save employees time when submitting expense claims.

All AI data is encrypted in transit and secured and processed on localized servers. 

“Finance teams handle hundreds of detailed processes every day, where even one seemingly-minor error can lead to significant financial and operational consequences,” said Paul Nagy, chief product officer at Emburse. “With Emburse AI, we’re giving users a powerful tool to minimize manual effort, improve accuracy, and dramatically reduce time spent on managing expenses and invoices. This latest milestone for Emburse sets the stage for future AI enhancements, including agentic AI, to help finance teams operate more efficiently and strategically.”

Emburse plans to further improve its AI. Future updates will include AI-powered, predictive insights and more. 

Emburse formed in 2020 from a  group of six travel and expense management software vendors — Abacus, Captio, Certify, Chrome River, Nexonia and Tallie — who came together under a single company, Emburse, in an effort to challenge SAP Concur. The news comes shortly after the announcement of Jonas Hirshfield joining as the company’s chief information officer. Prior to this, he was CIO at remote learning solutions provider Class Technologies.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board sanctioned Natalie Murphy, a former partner at Heaton & Company, for violating PCAOB rules and standards and failing to cooperate with an inspection.

Murphy violated PCAOB Rule 4006, Duty to Cooperate With Inspectors, in an investigation concerning the state of audit documentation and the timing of audit procedures. When inspection staff informed Murphy of audits selected for review, she said the workpaper documentation for two of the selected audits was complete and just needed to be “compiled” in the firm’s audit software, despite a substantial portion being incomplete at the time. Murphy also obtained additional evidence and performed substantive procedures for one of the audits days before providing them to staff, while improperly representing that all audit procedures had been completed prior to the issuance of the firm’s audit report. 

In addition, Murphy violated an auditing standard, AS 1215, Audit Documentation, by failing to document modifications and additions made to the workpapers after their completion dates for two inspected audits, and by failing to timely assemble a complete and final set of documentation for the two inspected audits and three additional issuer audits.

“The respondent failed to comply with multiple PCAOB rules and standards, leading to the sanctions imposed by the Board today,” Robert Rice, director of the PCAOB’s Division of Enforcement and Investigations, said in a statement. “We will continue to pursue enforcement actions to address such violations and ensure that accountability is upheld at every level of the profession.”

Without admitting or denying the findings, Murphy consented to the PCAOB’s order, which:

• Censures Murphy;
• Imposes a $50,000 civil money penalty; and, 
• Bars her from being an associated person of a registered firm with the option to petition the PCAOB to terminate the bar after five years, provided she has completed 40 hours of continuing professional education, in addition to CPE requirements connected with any license she holds.

The PCAOB has increased its enforcement activity, according to a new report, even as it faces the prospect of being absorbed into the Securities and Exchange Commission.