One of Philly's last independent accounting firms was just acquired amid 'unprecedented' spree of deals

Every week for the last five or six years, Scott Isdaner got another call: Are you ready to sell?

As managing partner of one of the last remaining larger independent public accounting firms in the Philadelphia region, Isdaner, 67, had watched many of his competitors — “our brethren” — get acquired by national companies, in many cases because they needed to do so to survive.

Last week, Isdaner finally joined their ranks — but from a position of strength, he says. Bala Cynwyd-based Isdaner & Co., one of the 20 biggest accounting firms in the region, announced it had been acquired by Atlanta’s Aprio, one of the 25 biggest accounting firms in the country with $485 million in net revenue last year.

“We felt that we were in a position as a firm that if we chose to remain independent and continue down that path, that we would be able to succeed and do so,” said Isdaner, whose firm counts 70 employees, including 10 partners. “However, we’re also very mindful and realistic of what was going on in the marketplace in connection with our industry.”

The acquisition adds to a wave of deals in an industry that in recent years has seen a boom in investment from private equity and other sources of outside capital.

The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, effective June 1. It came two years after Aprio received what it called a “strategic investment” from private equity firm Charles Bank Capital Partners.

And in January, South Jersey’s Bowman & Co. was acquired by a larger firm, PKF O’Connor Davies, which was backed by a Bahrain-based private equity group and a Canadian pension investment manager.

Mergers and acquisitions activity in accounting has been “unprecedented” the last few years, said Jen Cryder, CEO of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Private equity has invested at least $2 billion in public accounting since 2022, Bloomberg reported last year. Sovereign wealth funds and wealth management firms are also pouring in money.

Firms backed by outside capital accounted for two-thirds of the 129 CPA firm transactions last year, up from a 7% share just five years ago, according to Chicago-based Koltin Consulting Group, which specializes in mergers and acquisitions.

Not a lot of regional firms are left in the Philadelphia market, Cryder said. As talent shifts to national firms, that raises the question of how the middle market of closely held businesses, family firms, nonprofits, biotech, and others will continue to be served.

Clients have asked Isdaner whether they’ll still be able to call him and his team. “We’re staying put,” he said. “We’re still going to be here. … And we intend to continue to service our clients as we have, and maybe even better in the future.”

He added that employees will continue to have “career development opportunities.”

Aprio CEO Richard Kopelman said his company is “building something different in Philadelphia, a firm where every client has trusted advisers who anticipate the challenges ahead.”

Isdaner’s firm was founded in 1967 by his father and grandfather, who wanted to start a boutique firm serving small businesses. They called it Isdaner & Isdaner.

They worked with clients from the creation of businesses through sales or passage to future generations. Scott Isdaner was working as a tax attorney at a Philadelphia law firm in the 1980s when he got a call from his dad, Larry, who along with his partners had realized “they lacked a level of tax sophistication that they needed to help to continue to build and grow the practice.”

Scott agreed to join the firm. “My dad and I were best friends,” he said. “The opportunity to work with him was what motivated me ultimately to say I’ll make the leap.”

Scott became managing member in 2002. “The core mission of the firm is to serve closely held businesses and their owners, and along with that, we’ve built a significant tax practice in working with high net-worth families and individuals and family offices,” he said.

In recent years technology has transformed the profession, as firms increasingly automate certain tax preparation and auditing services.

Isdaner and his partners lacked the resources to meet those technological demands, he said, especially amid the rise of artificial intelligence. Client needs also have expanded beyond the services Isdaner’s firm could provide, he said, and the firm faced challenges attracting young talent to build a future leadership pipeline.

“When you add up those three pegs on the stool,” Isdaner said, the firm “decided that we should be entertaining the path of becoming a part of a large organization.”

As independent CPA firms see more and more reason to sell, outside investors have seized on the opportunity.

“Private equity investment in the accounting profession has evolved from an emerging trend to a rapidly scaling force reshaping the business of professional services,” trade publication Inside Public Accounting wrote in a 2025 report.

Cryder, of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants, pointed to accounting firms’ strong recurring revenue.

“What I’ve heard [investors] say is, ‘They’re well run, they’ve got great teams, strong client relationships,’” she said.

Critics have questioned whether private equity investment will increase accountants’ focus on profits and diminish the quality of audits.

Cryder said accounting firms have “always had a profit motive,” adding that in her experience, new investors understand that a firm’s value is tied to its trust in the community.

Isdaner said Aprio wants “us to serve the same clients in this marketplace as we always have.”

“In terms of outside funds, Aprio is run by Aprio,” he said. “It was really not an issue that we’re personally concerned or worried about.”