Recurring fees versus one-time work
Monthly write-up, payroll, CAS engagements, and annual compliance work renew predictably. Consulting projects and one-time cleanups do not price the same way.
El Paso Owner's Guide · CPA Firms, Tax & Bookkeeping Practices
How to Sell a CPA or Accounting Firm in El Paso, Texas
Accounting practices are recurring-revenue businesses with extraordinary client loyalty — which is exactly why buyers scrutinize whether the loyalty belongs to the firm or to you. Fee quality, realization, and staff continuity decide the price.
- 0.9×–1.3×
- Common value range as a multiple of annual recurring fees
- $5M
- SBA 7(a) financing available to qualified buyers
- 100%
- Confidential — clients and staff never know
The Local Market
What buyers pay for in an El Paso accounting practice
A shortage of accountants and a wave of retiring practitioners have made quality practices genuinely scarce. Buyers include regional firms, local practitioners expanding, and successors already inside the firm.
Realization and billing discipline
Fees actually collected versus time incurred, write-offs, and whether rates have been raised in the last three years tell a buyer how much margin is really there.
Client mix, size, and concentration
Average fee per client, industry mix, and how much of the book sits with a few large relationships all drive risk and value.
Staff, seniors, and workflow
Reviewers and seniors who can carry the work, documented workflow, and modern software are what allow the firm to continue when the owner steps back.
Free Estimator · No Email Required
What is my El Paso accounting practice worth?
Move the slider. This uses owner's discretionary earnings (SDE) — net profit plus your compensation, personal expenses run through the firm, interest, depreciation, and one-time costs. Practices are also commonly quoted as a multiple of annual recurring fees.
$180,000 / year
$40K$1.2M
Which of these are true today?
Illustrative Range
Estimated enterprise value
$396,000 – $684,000
That’s roughly 2.2× to 3.8× your owner’s earnings, before any real estate you own.
Every box you check is a lever you can still pull before you list. Owners who fix the books and the lease first routinely land at the top of their range instead of the bottom.
Illustration only — not an appraisal or an offer.
Step by Step
The six steps that get a accounting or cpa firm sold — in that order.
- 01
Document the fee book and the earnings
Three years of P&Ls and tax returns, reconciled, plus fees by client and service type, recurring versus one-time split, realization, write-offs, client tenure, and revenue by staff member.
- 02
Commission an independent, certified valuation
You advise clients on this every year — apply it to yourself. We commission a certified valuation from an independent NACVA-credentialed appraiser, the caliber of report banks, buyers, the IRS, and courts rely on.
- 03
Transfer relationships to your staff
Every client who deals primarily with a senior rather than with you is value a buyer can finance. Begin the handoff a year or more before listing.
- 04
Fix what diligence will find
Engagement letters in place and current, licensing and peer review status, professional liability coverage, software licensing and data security, staff agreements, unbilled work-in-process, and unpaid taxes.
- 05
Market it confidentially — never publicly
No word to your clients, your staff, or your referral network. We market blind on fee profile and financials to vetted buyers under NDA.
- 06
Negotiate, survive diligence, and close
Offers, escrow, retention terms where applicable, transition-period involvement, client communication planning, staff retention, and funding. We stay on it through the handoff that keeps clients in place.
Costly Mistakes
Six mistakes that cost accounting or cpa firm owners real money.
Being the firm
If every client calls you personally, the buyer inherits flight risk and prices it. Delegated relationships are the difference between a practice and a book of your reputation.
Not raising fees
Years of flat pricing suppress the earnings your value is built on. Sensible increases before a sale are multiplied at closing.
Counting one-time work as recurring
Buyers separate compliance and monthly engagements from cleanup projects. Overstating recurring fees invites a mid-diligence reprice.
Missing or stale engagement letters
Buyers and their insurers look for current engagement letters across the book. Gaps become negotiating leverage against you.
Waiting until after busy season every year
Owners postpone this decision for a decade and then sell under health or fatigue pressure. Preparation, not urgency, is what earns the premium.
Selling to the only buyer who asked
Local firms make quiet, convenient offers. Convenience is not a valuation method.
Questions Owners Ask
Accounting or CPA Firm owners ask us these first.
Straight answers, no hedging. If yours isn’t here, call us and ask it directly.
Practices commonly value around 0.9 to 1.3 times annual recurring fees, or roughly 2 to 3.5 times owner's discretionary earnings, with recurring engagements, strong realization, capable staff, and delegated client relationships at the top of that range. Only a certified independent valuation survives a lender's underwriting.
Frequently. Many accounting-practice transactions include a retention adjustment or a look-back period, so the measurement definition and your transition role are as important as the headline price.
Most buyers want one or two filing seasons of introduction and transition, and some owners stay longer part-time by choice. Duration and compensation are negotiable and affect price directly.
After, and jointly with the buyer, on a planned communication schedule. Early disclosure invites competitors to call your book while the outcome is still uncertain.
Qualified buyers can access SBA 7(a) financing up to $5 million, and recurring-fee professional practices are a favored lender profile. It requires clean, reconciled financials and a defensible independent valuation. SBA pre-qualification is a preliminary, non-binding lender assessment, not a loan commitment.
No. We are brokers, not attorneys or tax advisors, and nothing here addresses your professional obligations. Confirm licensing, peer review, and client-records requirements with your own counsel and your state board.
Where we work
Accounting or CPA Firm owners we represent across El Paso, West Texas, and southern New Mexico
Whether your accounting or cpa firm sits on the east side, downtown, out in the valley, or across the state line in Doña Ana County, the sale process is the same: verified financials, an independent certified valuation, and a confidential, competitive market of qualified buyers. We meet owners at a time and place of their choosing.
- El Paso
- West El Paso & Upper Valley
- East El Paso
- Northeast El Paso
- Central & Downtown
- Horizon City
- Socorro
- San Elizario
- Clint & Fabens
- Canutillo
- Anthony, TX & NM
- Fort Bliss corridor
- Las Cruces, NM
- Sunland Park, NM
- Doña Ana County
- Alamogordo & Deming, NM
- Van Horn & Fort Hancock
- Midland & Odessa
Accounting or CPA Firm Owners · Confidential
Find out what your practice is actually worth.
One confidential conversation with a partner — not a coordinator. We will tell you where your numbers put you today, what would move the multiple, and whether now is your moment.
- Confidential — nothing is shared or listed without your written consent.
- A reply within one business day, usually the same afternoon.
- No fee, no obligation, and no pressure for the first conversation.