SJD Accountancy & Nixon Williams sold!

[Unix]

If, as it says in the article, both companies will continue to operate as normal, why would that make any difference whether they tell you or not?

So you don't think you have the right as a customer to know who owns the company?

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

I wonder if this may be the start of a consolidation by the PE. A few years ago, there were a few PE-led consolidators in the accounting area, Vantis and Tenon are two that spring to mind, who bought up lots of mid-tier firms with a view to building a mega-firm. It may be telling that both these consolidators went into liquidation and no longer exist.

[ContrataxLtd]

I wonder if this may be the start of a consolidation by the PE. A few years ago, there were a few PE-led consolidators in the accounting area, Vantis and Tenon are two that spring to mind, who bought up lots of mid-tier firms with a view to building a mega-firm. It may be telling that both these consolidators went into liquidation and no longer exist.

That was my first thought when I read about the deal. Already 27th biggest accountancy firm according to the CUK article so perhaps there will be a few more purchases in the not so distant future? Especially given the fact that based on the numbers I can imagine a few firms looking to cash in.

[Maslins]

I wonder if this may be the start of a consolidation by the PE. A few years ago, there were a few PE-led consolidators in the accounting area, Vantis and Tenon are two that spring to mind, who bought up lots of mid-tier firms with a view to building a mega-firm. It may be telling that both these consolidators went into liquidation and no longer exist.

I did my ACA training with Tenon, still look back fondly on those days.

Yes, it appears (oversimplifying what was no doubt much more complex) the problems Vantis and Tenon had were that building a national firm isn't as simple as buying an established independent practice in each of the fairly big towns and cities. Merging them all together isn't easy, each will have its own systems as well as ethos.

I do think that SJD & NW are very different though. They're already national firms.

As others have said, £100m for £25m turnover does seem a high price. Traditionally accounting firms sell for give or take £1 per £1 of turnover (though I know all too well the Tenon share price shortly before being killed did not reflect that!). I imagine "contractor accountants" probably have higher profitability than "normal accountants" as when all your clients are very similar & do things the same way you can streamline things better. Possibly there's also an element of Twitter/Facebook to it...ie as well as the income from the existing clients, I'm sure both firms have a lot of data as well as other websites. Perhaps part of the valuation revolves around that side of things.

[pjclarke]

Speaking as a satisfied SJD client of many years, I'll be sad if this means Simon Dolan is less hands-on, not that I ever had to use it, but his usually prompt responses to issues raised here was a comfort ...

[d000hg]

So you don't think you have the right as a customer to know who owns the company?

Did you ever check who owned them before? Of course you don't have a right, but you do have the ability using the internet, to do this yourself. It is polite, and I bet you £5 they will shortly send information to their customers. But companies do not send such sensitive, private information out before anything is finalised. They wait for it to be signed and sealed, then reach out.

[TheFaQQer]

So you don't think you have the right as a customer to know who owns the company?

No. There are many companies that I trade with, and I don't know who owns any of them.

I don't know who owns InTouch, and I didn't know who owned the previous accountant I was with.

[Unix]

No. There are many companies that I trade with, and I don't know who owns any of them.

I don't know who owns InTouch, and I didn't know who owned the previous accountant I was with.

You could be dealing with criminals then and you wouldn't know. No very smart.

[ContrataxLtd]

You could be dealing with criminals then and you wouldn't know. No very smart.

Doing due diligence on a company you may be dealing with is one thing but needing to know who owns the company is something completely different. Providing you are getting the service you require why does it matter who owns the company?

Who do you bank with? Do you know exactly who owns the bank, probably not as it's likely to be publicly owned with many different shareholders. Does that stop you banking with them, I doubt it. However, if the bank starts making mistakes and the relationship with your business manager breaks down you will probably move to a different bank.

Providing that Nixon Williams and SJD continue to provide the same level of service their clients are use to why would it matter to them who owns the companies?

[d000hg]

You could be dealing with criminals then and you wouldn't know. No very smart.

You could anyway. Just not ones who have been caught.

Regardless, you don't need to be told in advance. Being told within a month or two gives you plenty of opportunity to bail before any changes actually take place.

Additionally the company being bought stops being its own entity and therefore probably/possibly CAN'T break the news off their own bat, potentially only the parent company has the authority to let them do this? Anyone?