Why we enter into long-term partnerships with tax advisory & accounting firms

Anyone who has built up a tax advisory & accounting firm over the years does not just think about the purchase price when merging. It is also about the future of the team and about client relationships that have often grown over decades. Employees, for their part, want to know whether they can continue to count on their tax advisory & accounting firm as an employer in the future.

The answer depends significantly on the time horizon of the new partner. Classic private equity funds usually have a limited term. The subsequent sale of their investments is part of the model and shapes the decisions made during the time together.

We want to further develop tax advisory & accounting firms as a permanent part of the Limetax Group. Reselling the individual tax advisory & accounting firms is not the goal of our partnerships. We align our joint development toward strengthening the tax advisory & accounting firms over the long term. This in particular includes own technology, which we develop together with the teams and improve in everyday tax advisory & accounting firm life.

Owners remain involved in their tax advisory & accounting firm and in the group

When a tax advisory & accounting firm becomes part of Limetax, the owner remains involved in it and also receives shares in the overall group. He continues to help shape the development of his tax advisory & accounting firm and at the same time benefits from the success of the other partner firms.

His entrepreneurial interest thus goes beyond his own tax advisory & accounting firm. A good solution at another location can also improve one's own work; the joint development pays off on one's own shareholding. Sharing knowledge and investing in joint structures is therefore also economically worthwhile.

For us, this is exactly what a partnership is all about: owners help shape further development and remain involved in its outcome. Crucial to this is also how well positioned their tax advisory & accounting firm is in five and ten years.

The Managing Directors continue to lead their tax advisory & accounting firms

The previous management remains on board. They know the clients and understand the strengths of their team. This experience is indispensable for further development. The local roots are therefore preserved, as is the professional responsibility on site.

What changes are the possibilities in the background. The resources of the group are available for technology and recruiting. Succession planning can also be tackled together.

The Managing Directors therefore no longer have to create every prerequisite for the future of their tax advisory & accounting firm themselves. They continue to lead their tax advisory & accounting firm and receive support with tasks that were previously on their desks in addition to the ongoing client business.

Employees need a reliable perspective

For employees, a merger affects their own workplace and the people they work with on a daily basis. Their questions therefore deserve concrete answers.

Our goal is to continue working with the existing teams and to invest in their development. This includes structured further training and professional opportunities beyond one's own tax advisory & accounting firm. The experience of the employees is also crucial for the technological setup: they know the processes and can judge whether a new solution actually helps in everyday work.

Continuity does not mean keeping everything as it was. Skilled labor shortages and increasing demands on daily work do not disappear even without a merger. In a group, tax advisory & accounting firms can meet these challenges with shared resources.

We want to further develop the tax advisory & accounting firm as an employer. Employees should continue to have a career perspective there and be able to help shape the changes in their work.

Building together what moves every tax advisory & accounting firm forward

Not every tax advisory & accounting firm needs to maintain specialist knowledge for every professional question itself. For international matters or employee share ownership plans, exchanging ideas with colleagues from the group helps. The same applies to complex restructurings. Clients keep their local contact persons, while additional specialists support them as needed.

We are also building joint structures in recruiting and personnel development. Proven processes can be transferred to other tax advisory & accounting firms instead of solving the same task again at each location.

The same idea applies to our technology. We develop it together with the tax advisory & accounting firms and integrate it into their daily work. An improvement should not only help a single team, but benefit the entire group. In this way, with every partnership, the collective experience for further development also grows.

Technology relieves the burden, the responsibility remains with the human

For us, the personal character of a tax advisory & accounting firm does not contradict the use of AI. We develop technology precisely because skilled workers spend too much time on repetitive tasks.

AI can compile data and prepare bookings. It also takes over work steps when preparing annual financial statements. The professionals verify the results and retain the professional responsibility. The relief is intended to give them more time for difficult matters and personal advisory of their clients.

So it's not about replacing a team's experience with software. We want to apply this experience where it makes the biggest difference for clients. Professional judgment remains just as important as understanding an entrepreneur's situation.

Legora also describes this interplay for the legal market: AI processes tasks while lawyers contribute their judgment at key points. For us, the development of employees is therefore directly linked to technological development. New possibilities only unfold their utility in interplay with professional experience.

Long-term orientation creates room for own technology

Building own technology means more than just introducing new software. Developers and professionals must understand processes together and test solutions in everyday life. The next improvement arises from their experiences. This work is not completed with the initial introduction.

Part of the benefit arises early on, another part only over years. That is why the planning horizon is so important to us. An upcoming sale can set different priorities than the continuous development of a shared platform. This does not rule out technology investments by financial investors. For us, however, the lasting benefit in tax advisory & accounting firm operations should be the decisive benchmark.

Long-term orientation alone is not enough. It also requires the willingness to invest continuously and to involve the tax advisory & accounting firms in the development. Exactly this combination is Our approach: We build own technology within a group and develop it further together with the people who work with it every day.

For owners, the partnership is therefore an opportunity to continue running their tax advisory & accounting firm entrepreneurially and to move it forward technologically. For employees, it should open up a reliable perspective, combined with better opportunities for their daily work.

The purchase price remains an important question. Just as important is the development afterwards. Together with our partners, we want to build tax advisory & accounting firms in which good professionals can work in the long term and advise clients reliably.