Seasoned Marketer: 6 Ways Independent Firms Can Compete with Private Equity

Every private equity deal in accounting sends out an echo.

Grant Thornton’s PE-backed acquisition of CBIZ is the loudest yet, and its message is clear: private equity is no longer a trend. It’s changing how accounting firms compete.

There is a widening gap between enormous, PE-backed firms and everyone else. This divide means independent firms need to rethink how they position themselves in this increasingly competitive landscape.

The answer is not to try to compete with PE-backed firms in categories where they excel, like reach or scale. Nor is it to compete with them in technology, since they will likely outspend you in that department.

Instead, independent accounting firms must compete in depth and specialization.

PE-backed firms may claim specialization, but they often can’t demonstrate it in the same way a smaller, focused firm can, due to their size and breadth. The advantage of independent firms is depth.

Know What Makes Your Firm Different

To position yourself competitively in this market, you have to first know what makes you different as a firm. Not just in your logo or colors, but in your brand values and messaging. You have to know who you are and how you’re strategically positioned in the marketplace.

Once you know your competitive differentiators, there are six tactical things independent accounting firms can do to stand out from PE-backed firms.

1. Turn Partner Expertise Into Market Authority

Every partner at your firm already has expertise in something. The goal here is to niche it down and market it.

Make one person at your firm synonymous with an in-demand niche. It’s not just “Sam Johnson, manufacturing CPA”. It’s “Sam Johnson, the CPA manufacturers call when tariffs change, and they need to know what a product really costs.”

Develop this niche, deepen it, and then take it to market. Put that partner everywhere: on LinkedIn, in podcasts, in industry publications, on conference panels and in research reports. Make that partner the go-to authority for that area of expertise.

2. Lead with Advisory Over Compliance

While advisory itself isn’t a new idea as a service line in accounting, ClearlyRated’s recent survey indicates that even though 91% of buyers want their accounting firm to function as a proactive advisor, only 4% describe their firm as primarily advisory, and 42% as purely or mostly compliance-focused.

Not only that, the same survey found a correlation between higher NPS (Net Promoter Score, which measures client loyalty) scores and advisory services.

Firms with an equal mix of compliance and advisory services had an NPS of 63, compared with 47 for mostly compliance-focused firms. According to the survey, clients are happiest and most likely to be loyal when their firm offers an equal mix of compliance and advisory work.

If possible, incorporate your niche expertise into your advisory services. Specificity builds credibility. And it pays. In the 2024 CAS Benchmark Survey from CPA.com and the AICPA, firms whose client advisory services (CAS) practices focused on an industry niche reported net client fees about 10% higher than those of firms that did not.

If your firm is compliance-forward, the data suggests that building out client advisory services can improve satisfaction and retention.

3. Own an Industry Niche

In the same way, partner expertise is a competitive edge, so also is industry expertise. Niche accounting works best when it’s narrow. Look for profitable, smaller industries your firm can own.

Instead of “construction”, position yourself as “accounting for HVAC companies doing $10-$50 million.” The goal is to be more relevant to a more specific audience. Make it clear in your copy that you don’t just serve this industry; you truly understand it. You know its pain points, its seasonal trends, the ins and outs of it.

Build other resources around this depth of expertise. Write articles like “The HVAC Contractor’s Guide to Managing Cash in a Slowdown” to establish your subject matter expertise and own your niche.

4. Turn Your Expertise Into IP

Once you’ve established specialization, build proprietary tools to deepen and support it.

If you’re serving the dental industry, create research that your target audience wants to read, e.g., “The Dental Practice Benchmark Report,” where you produce data around revenue per provider, overhead, staffing costs, and collections. Pursue your own data, research, products, and services to support your competitive positioning.

5. Build a Customized Client Experience

Customize your client experience around your expertise. Compared to firms focusing on breadth and reach, you can offer a more focused client experience: greater partner access, faster decisions, more flexibility, and services tailored specifically to how those clients operate.

Define your client segment and create messaging for them. Not a generic, “We provide great service,” but “We are the accounting firm built specifically for founder-led software companies between $10 million and $100 million in revenue.”

6. Make Your Differences Visible

Having the deepest research or most relevant expertise in an area means little if your target audience doesn’t know you have it. This is where accounting firm marketing has to be proactive and specific.

Go to where your audience is: conferences, trade publications, podcasts, LinkedIn, industry associations, banks and law firms. Wherever your audience spends time, go there and speak specifically to them. Again, your message shouldn’t be a general “come to our booth,” but “come hear our session on the biggest red flags when it comes to your nonprofit’s grant compliance before an audit.”

As an independent firm in this environment, your goal should not be to become a smaller version of an enormous private-equity-backed accounting firm.

It should be to specialize. Differentiate. Stand out. Pick one industry, one service line, one specific group of clients, one distinctive experience. And do that one thing better than anyone else. That is how independent firms create their own echo in the industry.