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The Rise of the M&A Boutique

It may be a little known fact that accountancy firms with a corporate finance division can no longer provide non-audit related services, such as M&A advice, on a contingent fee basis as of March 2020.

The M&A industry is built on contingent fees which typically account for 80% to 90% of the fees on a transaction, offsetting the risk for any client and focusing everyone’s attention on completing a successful transaction.

So, if you are currently thinking that the corporate finance team of your incumbent accountant can handle either your exit, a private equity fundraise or an acquisition, well the answer is they can’t and their Ethics Partner will almost certainly have an issue with it.

However, M&A boutiques, like Bishopsgate, who are independent and focus solely on M&A have no conflicts of interest.

This is a huge change for our industry and something that could have far reaching consequences for the Top 20 accountancy firms!

Please do get in touch if you would like a coffee / Teams call to discuss more

Reference: https://www.frc.org.uk/getattachment/601c8b09-2c0a-4a6c-8080-30f63e50b4a2/Revised-Ethical-Standards-2019-Updated-With-Covers.pdf

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