Private equity-led consolidation is reshaping the accounting profession. Technology, once a back-office function, has become the core engine of value creation. For consolidators like Ascend Together, Springline Advisory and Platform Accounting Group, success now hinges not only on integrating underlying tech stacks but on harnessing AI to automate core services, unlock efficiencies, and achieve outsized leverage.
As a CPA-focused managed service provider (MSP), Netgain has decades of experience running mission-critical IT for growth-oriented firms. With AI transforming tax and audit processes into automated pipelines, domain-specific MSPs like Netgain play a pivotal role in reducing integration friction, normalizing data across acquisitions, and accelerating private equity firms toward scalable, high-margin platforms.
The New Reality: What PE-Backed CPA Platforms Demand
Private equity is not just aggregating accounting firm revenue — it’s building platforms that compound value through scale, operational margin expansion and AI-driven automation. But consolidators face persistent obstacles:
- Disparate technologies, security gaps, IT maturity differences and siloed data complicate operations and delay AI readiness.
- Compressed diligence windows often overlook critical risks, from incompatible systems to poorly secured data.
- Post-deal, a lack of technology planning erodes value during onboarding, tax seasons, and rapid growth periods.
- AI tools for tax (document intake to delivery) and audit (full-cycle analysis with human review) remain under-deployed due to inconsistent workflows and poor data normalization — missing huge margin opportunities.
With AI advancements accelerating the value creation potential, PE firms are seeking “super leverage”: turning consolidated platforms into AI-orchestrated ecosystems that process 5-10x more volume at lower costs, shifting focus to high-value advisory.
The Technology Fabric of Winners
To capture this AI-fueled leverage, consolidators must design a technology fabric that’s not only standardized but AI-optimized from the ground up. The winning technology fabric includes:
- Cloud-First Reference Architecture: Unified virtual desktops, productivity tools, and tax/advisory app stacks on platforms like Microsoft Azure — ready for AI data pipelines.
- Operational Controls & Elasticity: Dynamic resource scaling, cost monitoring, cost tagging and automated clean-ups to ensure efficiency without over-provisioning — all critical elements to support spiky AI workloads efficiently.
- Security & Compliance by Design: Centralized identity, endpoint protection, audit-ready controls and AI-specific governance for client and model integrity.
- Human-Centric Digital Experience: Standardized workflows, reliable access for global teams and user-friendly interfaces that complement AI, not frustrate staff.
- Normalized Data Architecture: Unified, real-time data pipelines powering dashboards, analytics and AI readiness across acquisitions.
- Integration Playbooks: Repeatable diligence, migration and onboarding processes that cut time-to-value post-deal.
How Netgain Accelerates & De-Risks Value Creation with AI Leverage
Netgain combines deep accounting domain knowledge, modern cloud engineering and AI integration expertise to help PE-backed consolidators unlock scalable, margin-rich value.
- CPA Cloud Essentials: A turnkey Azure-based environment with secure virtual desktops, embedded cybersecurity, core app support (CCH Axcess, UltraTax, QuickBooks) and AI-enhanced workflows — all fully supported 24/7 by CPA-seasoned experts.
- Onboarding Accelerators: Comprehensive tech and AI due diligence, normalization assessments, templatized migrations and rapid AI-tool integration, bringing acquisitions to a unified, AI-ready baseline in weeks, not months.
- Cost Optimization & Transparency: Continuous FinOps monitoring and dynamic autoscaling eliminates cloud waste while handling AI’s compute intensity and ensures predictable costs and peak performance.
- Security as a Value Driver: Our in-house 24×7 Security Operations Center (SOC) delivers real-time threat visibility, regulatory compliance and AI data safeguards, de-risking transactions and speeding deal execution.
- Support for Critical Peaks: 24×7 assistance aligned to tax seasons, audit deadlines and AI rollouts, all aimed at helping firms operate without disruption during their most critical windows.
By bridging legacy systems, normalizing fragmented datasets and onboarding next-gen AI from providers like Aiwyn or Basis, Netgain reduces tech friction and accelerates automation, enabling the unicorn-level leverage that private equity firms seek.
What PE-Backed Consolidators Should Do Now
If you’re leading or advising a CPA consolidation platform, prioritize these steps to seize AI-enabled value creation:
- Conduct a Tech, Data & AI health check across both acquired and target entities, evaluating security, cloud maturity, app stacks, data quality and AI readiness for automation.
- Define your target reference architecture, incorporating AI baselines like normalized data formats, preferred tools (e.g., CCH/Thomson Reuters integrations), performance metrics and scalability for automated workflows.
- Develop integration playbooks for tech, data normalization, AI onboarding and human change management.
- Prioritize visibility by implementing dashboards for costs, utilization, AI performance and user satisfaction.
- Accelerate AI scalability early by normalizing datasets, piloting automation tools for tax/audit and ensuring controls for ethical AI use.
Conclusion
Private equity-driven CPA consolidations are entering a new phase. Acquisition alone won’t deliver superior returns; the winners will treat technology, AI automation and data normalization as strategic levers for super leverage.
At Netgain, we don’t just manage IT. We specialize in CPA firm operations, enabling PE-backed platforms to integrate faster, scale AI more effectively and expand margins without friction. If you’re aiming to build the AI-powered accounting platform of the future, we’re ready to help you get there.
Sumeet Sabharwal is the CEO of Netgain, where he leads the charge in aligning people, purpose and technology to support CPA, legal and healthcare organizations. With decades of experience in scaling and evolving IT services, he brings a practical, client-centered approach to leadership. Read more about Sumeet.