With private equity, ESOPs, strategic mergers, minority investments, permanent capital and new ownership structures reshaping the accounting profession, firm leaders have more options than ever. But having more options doesn’t necessarily make the decision any easier.
In this highly interactive session, Philip Whitman will put attendees in the managing partner’s chair of a hypothetical CPA firm and present a series of very different strategic alternatives for the same firm. Attendees will work through the economics, control, rollover equity, governance, culture, leadership, employee impact, future upside and other tradeoffs behind each option—and ultimately decide which path they would choose.
Building on Whitman’s popular “31 Flavors” framework, the session will show why two transactions with similar headline valuations can lead to very different outcomes—and why the highest valuation isn’t necessarily the best deal.
Attendees will leave with a practical framework for comparing their strategic alternatives and answering the question every leadership team should be asking before entering the market: What future are we actually trying to create?
