Accounting firms Baker Tilly and Moss Adams have agreed to merge in a transaction worth approximately $7 billion. The combination will create the profession's largest firm that is partly private-equity owned, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The merged entity—which will become the sixth-biggest U.S. accounting firm—will carry the Baker Tilly name. Specifically, it would be known as Baker Tilly U.S. on the audit side and Baker Tilly Advisory Group on the non-audit side, The Journal reports.
Baker Tilly in the U.S. has international operations of its own that it mostly obtained through acquisitions. This would be part of the merger with Moss Adams.
However, the other member firms in the Baker Tilly global network, which are known as Baker Tilly International, are not part of the deal, The Journal says.
The merged firm is aiming to make roughly $6 billion in annual revenue by 2030 versus the over $3 billion they collectively booked in 2024, stated Moss Adams CEO Eric Miles and Baker Tilly CEO Jeff Ferro.
The transaction is set to close in June when Ferro will become CEO of the combined firm via his retirement at the end of the year.
From there, Miles would succeed him on Jan. 1, with Ferro staying on as a board director. The firm will have roughly 11,500 people, which comprise 600 partners from Baker Tilly and 403 from Moss Adams, The Journal reports.
The merger comes after Baker Tilly’s sale of a stake in 2024 to Hellman & Friedman and Valeas Capital Partners, along with a wave of other recent private-equity investments in accounting firms, The Journal says.
Miles talked with CFO Journal and said that "There are quite a few revenue synergies. For example, Moss Adams has a very strong technology practice. Baker Tilly, too, has a technology practice. But our strength can help Baker Tilly."
Miles said that Baker Tilly possesses a "very strong" real estate practice that could help Moss Adams in its footprint. "So there’s geographic expansion of our relative capabilities that allows for growth. We both view there are geographies where we’d still like to add more depth and bench strength. We may need to develop new advisory capabilities that maybe don’t exist today," Miles noted.
He said that there are quite a few growth paths. "I don’t see direct international expansion as one of those, but our ability to serve international needs certainly is," Miles stated.