Selling or partnering a chartered accounting firm in France: why now is the time to think about it

Ten years ago, handing over a French chartered accounting firm (cabinet d'expertise comptable) almost always followed the same pattern: a departing partner sold their client base to a regional peer or to an employee they had trained, based on a percentage of fees. This model has not disappeared, but it is no longer the only one. In a few years, the market has seen the arrival of structured national groups, fund-backed platforms and European buyers, all looking for quality firms to integrate. This diversity gives partners who want to sell, reinvest or join a larger project more options.

At the same time, the profession itself is changing fast. E-invoicing is accelerating the automation of production, clients expect more advice and recruitment pressures weigh on organisations. ¹ These transformations favour firms able to invest, specialise their teams and pool their support functions. For a firm owner, this changes the nature of buyers, the timetable to anticipate and the way to prepare the business.

A market of nearly €25 billion, solid, recurring and still highly fragmented

French chartered accounting represents around €24 to €25 billion in annual fees, spread across just over 20,000 firms. ^1,2 This revenue has grown steadily over the past decade, driven by business creation, broader assignments and fee inflation. It is one of the few business services sectors to combine growth, recurring revenue and low sensitivity to economic cycles: bookkeeping, tax and social security returns and year-end filings remain mandatory whatever the economic climate.

This solidity comes with extreme fragmentation. Nearly eight firms in ten have fewer than ten employees. ³ Most of the profession's fees are still generated by independent firms with less than €20 million in revenue, very often owned by one or two partners. ² It is precisely this combination, a large, predictable and atomised market, that now attracts capital and fuels consolidation. At European level, Accountancy Europe documents the same movement: the number of deals involving a financial investor in accounting and audit rose from around twenty a year before 2022 to nearly 400 in 2025, and France, long on the sidelines, is seeing its share grow. ⁴

The five drivers of consolidation

The current restructuring is not a passing trend. It rests on structural factors that reinforce one another.

Partner demographics. More than half of registered chartered accountants are over 50, and those under 40 represent only about a fifth of the profession. ² Mechanically, a considerable share of firms will change hands in the next ten years. Yet the natural successor, the young employee gradually buying the shares, is becoming rarer: harder access to financing, less appetite for partner status, competition from other careers. The number of successions almost doubled between 2020 and 2025 and consolidation platforms now capture nearly a third of them. ²
E-invoicing and automation. The obligation to receive electronic invoices applies to all companies from 1 September 2026, with the obligation to issue them following in September 2027 for SMEs and micro-businesses. ⁵ This reform shifts value: data entry and reconciliation, the historical core of production, are being automated, while advice, analysis and management reporting take over. It also requires investment in tools, training and organisation that small firms struggle to absorb alone. Artificial intelligence applied to review and control reinforces this movement.
The talent shortage. Recruitment has become firms' main constraint, ahead of winning clients. ² Large groups have arguments that isolated firms do not always have: career paths, specialisations, employer brand, organised remote working, modern tools. Many combinations are driven first by the wish to build a team large enough to secure production.
The rise of advisory and client expectations. The 2019 PACTE law broadened the profession's scope: amicable debt collection, payment mandates, success fees on certain assignments, administrative support assignments. ⁶ At the same time, SME owners expect their accountant to provide all-round support: management reporting, payroll and HR, legal, wealth, finance. Offering this range requires critical mass and expertise only a group can fund.
Price pressure on standardised assignments. Online players have set low prices for bookkeeping and returns for very small businesses. ² For a generalist firm, the response is to move upmarket, specialise or pool production costs. In all three cases, combining with a larger structure is a frequently chosen route.

Who buys firms today

The range of buyers has widened considerably. There are broadly four families, which have neither the same objectives nor the same ways of structuring a deal.

Fund-backed platforms. Around fifteen funds have invested in accounting groups in France over the past three years, and around fifteen consolidation platforms are active. ² Their logic is buy-and-build: build a national group by successively acquiring regional firms, pool technology, support functions and business development, then sell the whole within five to seven years. ⁷ They offer partners a variety of sale or reinvestment structures.
National groups and historical networks. Whether owned by their partners, a bank or a fund, they pursue a territorial coverage strategy and look for firms well established locally, with a stable team and an SME client base, to complete their coverage and strengthen their teams.
Growing peer firms. Combining two independent firms remains the most common form of succession. It often allows strong continuity for teams and clients, with more traditional price and terms, and remains the natural solution to organise succession or reach critical mass.
European buyers. Nordic and British groups that have already consolidated their domestic market are now making their first acquisitions in France. ³

One point is worth recalling: the 1945 ordinance requires chartered accountants to hold more than half of the capital and at least two thirds of the voting rights of accounting firms. ^2,3 Structures involving financial investors are therefore organised within this framework, with a top company registered with the professional order and instruments that separate economic rights from voting rights. The National Council has indicated that it reviews shareholders' agreements and may refuse a registration. ³ This constraint does not prevent deals, but it shapes their form and makes legal preparation all the more important.

What this changes for a partner

The diversity of buyers translates into a diversity of possible projects. There is no longer a single sale structure, but several, which answer different personal situations.

A full sale suits a partner close to retirement who wants to hand over to a buyer able to ensure continuity, with a transition period of a few months to two years.
A partnership with reinvestment is for a partner, whatever their age, who still has several years of practice ahead and wants to secure part of their wealth while continuing to develop the firm within a group. They sell a majority or minority, reinvest part of the price in the top company and share in the group's value creation at the next sale.
A combination between peers or a merger of firms of comparable size reaches critical mass, lets partners specialise and gradually organises succession, without an outside investor.
A capital reorganisation (OBO type) lets one or more partners monetise part of their shares and bring young partners or managers into the capital, with bank debt or a minority partner.

What buyers look at first

Recurring fees matter, but they are not enough. Whatever the structure, buyers above all analyse portfolio quality and the firm's ability to keep operating and growing after the deal. It is on these points that two firms of identical size can receive very different offers.

Fee composition. The split between bookkeeping, payroll, audit, legal and advisory shows the nature of revenue and its exposure to automation or price pressure.
The client base and its concentration. A diversified, loyal portfolio documented by assignment reduces the perceived transition risk.
Normalised profitability. Partners' pay and partner-related costs must be adjusted transparently, over three financial years, to show the firm's real profitability.
The team and delegation. Engagement managers and young partners able to carry the client relationship secure continuity and reassure the buyer about the future.
Digitalisation. Production tools, data quality and readiness for e-invoicing show the firm's ability to adapt.

You are thinking of selling: is this the right moment for you?

This is the first question we ask, and the answer is not the same for everyone. The right moment for a sale or partnership is never automatically "right now", even in a market as active as today's. It depends on two things: you, meaning your life plans, personal horizon and wealth objectives, and your firm, meaning its ability to realise today all the value it holds. In practice, we encounter two situations.

Your firm is almost ready. The client base is diversified and loyal, the team is stable, profitability is readable. Or you want your firm to become part of a larger project, that of a large group, often under LBO, that brings the tools, expertise and resources to absorb the changes the profession is going through, which is reassuring for you and for your teams. In this case, a few weeks of preparation are enough to structure the file, put financial and legal matters in order and go to market in good conditions. The current context, with more buyers than ever, then works in your favour.
Your firm needs time. One client represents too large a share of fees, the digital transition is unfinished, margins were hit by a departure or a recent investment. Selling in these conditions remains possible, but it means accepting a discount and less favourable terms. We will then tell you frankly that it is better to spend several months, sometimes a few years, working on the points that weigh on value, and we can support you through that phase before launching the transaction when you are truly ready.

The workstreams that make the difference are well known: formalise the client relationship (up-to-date engagement letters, readable pricing, documented portfolio), entrust key accounts to engagement managers or young partners, clarify real profitability by normalising partners' pay, complete the move to e-invoicing, secure key staff and anticipate the legal and tax aspects of the deal, including the capital ownership rules imposed by the professional order. Depending on your starting point, they take a few weeks or a few years.

The benefit of talking early, even if you are not sure you want to sell, is precisely knowing which of these two situations you are in, and deciding with full knowledge rather than under the pressure of a departure, an unexpected approach or a health problem.

Facing professional buyers who complete several deals a year and have dedicated teams, a partner negotiating alone is rarely on an equal footing. The value of a firm is not just a percentage of fees: it depends on the buyer's plan, the price structure (cash portion, earn-out, reinvestment), the warranties requested, the future of the teams and the terms of the transition. Two offers at the same headline price can mean very different economic realities.

The role of an M&A adviser is to value the firm objectively, identify all relevant buyers, groups, platforms, peers and investors, put them in competition in a structured and confidential process, and negotiate terms beyond price alone. This competition is also what protects the seller: it lets them compare genuinely different projects and choose the one that fits their wealth objectives, their teams and their clients.

Frequently asked questions

Can you sell your accounting firm and continue to work in it?

Yes, and it has even become one of the most common structures. A partnership with reinvestment lets the partner sell a majority or minority of their shares, remain operational for several years and reinvest part of the price in the group's top company. They thus secure part of their wealth while sharing in the group's value creation at the next sale. A full sale with a transition of a few months to two years remains suited to a partner close to retirement.

Can an investment fund own an accounting firm in France?

Not directly as a majority owner. The 1945 ordinance requires chartered accountants to hold more than half of the capital and at least two thirds of the voting rights of accounting firms. ^2,3 Funds therefore act through a top company registered with the professional order and instruments that separate economic rights from voting rights, and the National Council reviews shareholders' agreements. These structures exist and are multiplying, but they require careful legal preparation.

How long does it take to sell an accounting firm?

Generally six to twelve months between the start of preparation and final signing: a few weeks to a few months to prepare the file and valuation, two to three months to approach buyers and receive offers, then three to four months for due diligence, negotiation of the agreement and closing. A firm whose accounts, engagement letters and organisation are already in order moves faster; a firm that first needs to work on its profitability or client concentration may benefit from waiting one or two financial years.

How is an accounting firm valued?

Historically, firms changed hands on the basis of a percentage of fees. Structured buyers now reason more from normalised profitability, meaning earnings once partners' pay and exceptional costs are adjusted, weighted by portfolio quality, the share of advisory work, team stability and the level of digitalisation. Two firms of the same size can therefore receive markedly different offers. A serious valuation requires case-by-case analysis, which is why we do not publish ranges.

Is e-invoicing accelerating combinations between firms?

Yes. The generalisation of receiving electronic invoices from 1 September 2026, then issuing them in September 2027 for SMEs and micro-businesses, automates much of data entry and shifts value to advisory work. ⁵ It requires investment in tools, training and organisation that small firms struggle to absorb alone, which pushes them to pool resources within larger structures and makes a firm's technological readiness decisive in a buyer's eyes.

Why put several buyers in competition rather than respond to a direct approach?

Because projects differ sharply on the partner's future role, governance, treatment of teams, price structure (cash portion, earn-out, reinvestment) and warranties requested. A confidential process putting groups, platforms and peers in competition allows you to compare genuinely different offers, obtain better terms and choose the project that fits your objectives rather than the first one that comes along.

What happens to staff and clients after a firm is sold?

In the vast majority of deals, the team is taken over in full and is even one of the main reasons for the acquisition, given the profession's recruitment difficulties. Clients are informed once the deal is signed, with a transition period for the seller to organise the handover. The future of the teams, keeping the site and the terms of the transition are negotiated alongside the price.

At what age or when should you start preparing the succession of your firm?

There is no set age, but there is a principle: talk about it before you are forced to. A partner with ten or twenty years of practice ahead can consider a partnership with reinvestment or a capital reorganisation to secure part of their wealth and accelerate the firm's development; a partner close to retirement will rather prepare a full sale or a combination with a peer. In both cases, the right moment depends on your personal plans and the firm's ability to realise all its value. A first confidential conversation tells you whether the firm is almost ready or needs a few months or years of preparation.

Public sources consulted

Xerfi, Les cabinets d'expertise comptable à l'horizon 2030 (sept. 2026) : https://www.xerfi.com/presentationetude/le-marche-de-l-expertise-comptable_SAE49 (high reliability)
Compta Online, Consolidation des cabinets comptables : la valeur quitte la profession (sept. 2026) : https://www.compta-online.com/consolidation-expertise-comptable-valeur-qui-echappe-la-profession-ao8916 (good reliability)
Compta Online, Marché de l'expertise comptable : le panorama des ouvertures de capital aux fonds (nov. 2025, mis à jour oct. 2026) : https://www.compta-online.com/private-equity-financiarisation-expertise-comptable-ao8214 (good reliability)
Accountancy Europe, Private equity investment in the accountancy and audit sector in the EU, January 2025 to April 2026 (mai 2026) : https://accountancyeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/260629-Private-equity-investment-in-accountancy-and-audit-sector-in-EU-from-January-2025-to-April-2026.pdf (high reliability)
Direction générale des Finances publiques, Facturation électronique et plateformes agréées : https://www.impots.gouv.fr/facturation-electronique-et-plateformes-agreees (high reliability)
LegalPlace, Loi PACTE : ce qui change pour les experts-comptables : https://www.legalplace.fr/guides/loi-pacte-expert-comptable/ (moderate reliability)
Interfimo, Cabinets d'expertise comptable et fonds d'investissement : l'union qui change la donne (sept. 2025) : https://www.interfimo.fr/onlib-infos/detail/cabinets-d-expertise-comptable-fonds-d-investissements-l-union-qui-change-la-donne,955 (good reliability)