Reverence Capital Partners has acquired Eide Bailly in a transaction valued at approximately $1.8 billion — about 2.1 times revenue. The Fargo, North Dakota firm reported $840 million in billings, up from $780 million the prior year.
The growth math
Eide Bailly has doubled billings over the past six years. The stated plan post-transaction is to do it again in half the time, moving from regional powerhouse to national competitor through rapid expansion and consolidation. Managing Partner and CEO Jeremy Hauk has been described as having pre-built a private equity platform in plain sight — that is, running the firm for years in a way that made it acquirable at scale.
The valuation signal
2.1 times revenue is the number worth remembering. For most of the profession's history, practice transitions were priced as a multiple of the book of business, typically at or around one times fees, often paid out over years and contingent on retention. Institutional capital prices a firm as an asset with a growth trajectory, not a book with a runoff curve.
That gap is why so many owners who had a succession plan in 2022 are having a different conversation in 2026.
The structural picture
The reporting around this deal includes the number that best explains the moment: just over half of the top 30 firms have now taken on outside capital for expansion, and roughly half the top 50 have secured outside capital of some kind. The profession is sorting into three strategies:
- Private-equity-backed consolidators, buying growth
- ESOP structures, led by BDO's example, keeping ownership internal but liquid
- Traditional independents, holding partner-ownership as a talent and culture proposition
All three are legitimate. What is no longer available is not choosing.
What it means for smaller firms
A firm targeting national scale on a compressed timeline needs two things immediately: acquisition targets and delivery capacity. The first drives valuations up for well-run small firms — good news if you are selling. The second is the harder problem, because a firm growing at that speed cannot hire preparers fast enough to keep pace.
That constraint is the same one a 12-person firm faces in February, just at a different order of magnitude. The answer is the same too: automate the mechanical work, and use a trained external bench for volume, so growth is not rate-limited by local recruiting.
Whether you plan to sell, stay, or simply keep serving your clients well, the firms that come through this cycle strongest will be the ones whose capacity is not tied to a headcount they have to find in their own zip code.
