CFO Science / For practice owners
/ A note for practice owners
Considering your next chapter?
You built a small accounting or bookkeeping firm. It works. The clients are good ones, the team is loyal, and the numbers are clean. And lately you’ve been asking what comes next — for the firm, for the people who built it with you, and for yourself.
We are a small acquirer of small firms. This page is the conversation we’d otherwise have over coffee.
If you’re reading this page, the chances are someone has already approached you about selling. Probably more than one. Probably some with the same letter, sent to a list.
This isn’t that.
I built CFO Science because the boutique end of the profession — the firms with twenty to two hundred clients, run by a CA or a CPB who knows every name on the AR aging — is the part that does the actual work. It deserves a continuation that respects what you built, not a roll-up that sands the edges off.
“What we offer is the conversation a serious buyer would have with a serious seller — slowly, in writing, and only when you’re ready.”
What follows is what we look for, what’s different about us as a buyer, and how the process actually runs. If any of it speaks to you, the next step is a thirty-minute call. If it doesn’t, the page closes the same way it opened — with no list to be added to.
David DanskyFounder · CFO Science · CA(SA)
/01 — Who we acquire
The firms we look at, written plainly.
We are deliberately narrow. The criteria below are the floor — not every firm that meets them is a fit, and the conversation is the only way to find out which.
Revenue range$300K — $2.5M
GeographyTier 2 & 3 markets · Canada & the United States
Firm type
Owner-operated bookkeeping, accounting, or fractional CFO firms. Sole practitioners and small partnerships. We are not interested in roll-ups, audit firms, or pure tax practices.
Client base
Recurring revenue book — monthly bookkeeping, controllership, advisory retainers. Project-only or seasonal-tax-only firms are not a fit for our model.
Geography preference
Tier 2 and 3 markets in Canada (Halifax, London, Saskatoon, Kitchener-Waterloo, Kelowna, etc.) and the United States. We do consider major-metro firms; the bias is toward smaller markets where local-relationship continuity matters most.
Team
Owner-led, with one to ten staff. We expect to retain the team. The owner’s transition timeline is part of what we structure around — usually one to three years post-close.
Software
QBO or Xero on the GL side; any reasonable workpaper / practice-management stack. We don’t insist on a particular system from day one.
Owner timeline
Most owners we talk to are looking at a 2- to 5-year window, not 6 months. We’re equally comfortable with both, and with the slow conversation in between.
/02 — What's different about us as a buyer
The reasons sellers tend to pick us, written without flourish.
We are not the highest bidder, on average. We are usually the most predictable — and the buyer most likely to keep the firm recognizable to the people who built it.
Operator-led
The buyer is a senior finance operator who has run the seat.
Not a fund manager or a search-fund first-timer. The diligence questions come from someone who has answered them from the other side of the table.
Senior-led
Your team will report to a qualified accountant.
Many acquirers in this space come from outside the profession. We don’t. The buyer is a South African chartered accountant (CA(SA)); the team you’ve trained will work under someone who understands what they actually do — and what good looks like, line by line.
Flexible structures
We’re set up for VTBs, earn-outs, and partial sales.
Vendor take-back, performance-linked earn-outs, partial recapitalization, and slow-handover structures are part of how we usually transact. Not every deal is a clean cash-and-walk; in fact, very few are.
Continuity-first
We keep the brand, the team, and the room.
The default is to keep your firm’s name, your office (where there is one), and your client-facing team for a long horizon. We are buying a continuation, not a customer list to migrate.
Honest range
We tell you in the first call whether we can pay your number.
The wrong way to run this conversation is six months of diligence ending in a number neither of us is happy with. We’ll tell you our likely range early, in writing, so you can decide whether to keep talking.
No list
You will not be marketed to after this call.
If we don’t proceed, your name comes off our pipeline. We will not add you to a newsletter, hand your name to a broker, or quietly check back in twelve months. Confidentiality is the offer, not a clause.
/03 — The process
How a typical conversation actually runs.
Five steps, written timelines. Some sellers move through in eight weeks. Others sit in step two for a year before deciding to continue. Both are fine. The pace is yours.
/01 · Conversation
Week 0 · 30 min
An initial call
You and the founder, on a video call. We talk about your firm, your timeline, and what you’d want the next chapter to look like. No NDA needed; no diligence yet.
/02 · Range letter
Week 1–2 · written
Indicative range, in writing
Within two weeks, a one-page letter with our likely valuation range and structure. You can sit with it for as long as you need; it doesn’t expire.
/03 · Mutual NDA
When you’re ready
Diligence opens
A short mutual NDA, a structured request list, and a two- to four-week diligence window. You see who we are, in detail. We see your numbers and your client book.
/04 · Term sheet
Week 5–7
A non-binding term sheet
Price, structure, payment schedule, the transition plan, and the role you’d want post-close. Drafted to be re-read, not signed under pressure.
/05 · Close & transition
Week 8–14
Definitive docs and handover
Legal close, then the transition itself — which is the part that matters most. We design for one to three years of overlap with you, so the firm doesn’t go through a hard switch.
/04 — Deal structures we use
Four structures that cover most of what we transact.
These are starting points, not menu items. Every transaction is shaped to the owner’s tax position, timeline, and what they want their day-to-day to look like in the year after close.
/01 — VTB
Vendor take-back
Cash up front for a portion (often 50–70%), with the balance financed by the seller as a promissory note paid down over 3–5 years. Most common for owners who want a meaningful close-day cheque without selling the upside.
Most common · ~50% of deals
/02 — Earn-out
Performance earn-out
A base payment at close plus an earn-out tied to client retention or revenue performance over 12–36 months. Sensible when there’s a transition to manage and both sides want skin in the outcome.
When transition is delicate
/03 — Partial
Partial sale & partnership
We buy a majority stake; you retain 20–40% and stay involved in the firm as a continuing principal. Used when the owner isn’t ready to step away but wants to take chips off the table and bring in a real partner.
When you want to stay
/04 — Full
Full cash-out (rare)
Less common at this end of the market — full cash at close, with a defined transition assistance period (3–12 months). We structure these only where the firm’s processes already make a clean handover realistic.
~10% of deals
/05 — FAQ for sellers
The questions sellers ask, without the spin.
I’m not ready to sell yet — should I still call?
Yes. Most of the people who eventually transact with us first called two to four years before close. The early conversation isn’t about price; it’s about whether we’d be the right buyer when the time comes. There’s nothing to commit to.
What multiples do you typically pay?
It depends on revenue mix, retention, owner-dependence, and structure. We can give you an honest range in writing within two weeks of the first call — and we’d rather tell you early if we can’t get to your number than keep you in a process.
What happens to my team?
The default is full retention, with the team folding into CFO Science under the existing reporting lines. We have not done a layoff post-acquisition and don’t intend to. Where there are obvious gaps (often: no senior reviewer above the bookkeepers), we hire in.
What about my brand? Do you rebrand the firm?
Generally no. The local brand is part of what we’re buying — it’s why your clients chose you. We’ll usually keep the firm name and add a “part of CFO Science” line over a 12- to 24-month period, then revisit with you.
How confidential is the process, really?
Very. The first call is the founder and you, no analysts. Diligence is run by a small team under NDA. Your name is never shared with our other portfolio firms or with the broader market. If we don’t proceed, your name comes off our pipeline; we don’t keep a “maybe later” file.
Do you charge a broker or success fee on the seller side?
No. We are the buyer. You may, of course, retain your own advisor; we encourage it for any transaction above $1M of consideration.
What about owners who want to keep working?
Common — and welcome. Many of our deals are partial sales where the principal stays on for two to five years in a senior advisory or partner role. It’s often the structure that produces the cleanest client transition.
/06 — A confidential conversation
If anything on this page resonates, the next step is a thirty-minute call.
It’s with the founder, by video, fully confidential. There’s nothing to sign; nothing committed. At the end of it, you’ll either have a written indication from us within two weeks, or a clear answer that the fit isn’t there. Either is useful.
Request a confidential callOr, in writing — hello@cfoscience.ca
/07 — Book a time
Pick a slot directly.
Choose a time that works and we'll send a confirmation with a video link. Fully confidential — read by the founder only.
/08 — Confidential inquiry
Prefer to write first?
Read by the founder only. Response within two business days.
/02 — Practice-owner inquiry
For owners of bookkeeping, accounting, or fractional CFO firms.
A confidential conversation about your firm and what comes next. The form is read by the founder only. No analyst pool; no broker hand-off; no list to be added to.
Read by the founder only. Or, in writing, hello@cfoscience.ca. We reply within two business days.