These accounting firms took a different approach to shaking up their structure
Accounting firm Forvis acquired the U.S. unit of Mazars as part of a new international partnership, marking another unique structural shake-up in the industry as peers carve out divergent paths to boost their market share. The firms finalized the arrangements on Saturday following an agreement signed last November.
The deal creates a combined global audit and advisory network with nearly $5 billion in annual revenue. The partnership will allow Mazars to build on its existing U.S. presence and Forvis to plant its flag internationally.
Forvis currently has limited consulting operations in the U.K. The firms’ executives agreed to an acquisition in the U.S. because they both operated there, and they agreed they would only maintain one operation in each country in which they were located.
Neither Forvis nor Mazars, which is based in Paris, took on debt as part of the transaction. The network contains two members: Forvis Mazars LLP in the U.S. and Forvis Mazars Group SC, a partnership spanning more than 100 countries.
Global accounting and consulting networks are generally structured in each country as separately owned entities that share technology, branding and intellectual property. Equity partners hold shares or units in the firm, generating returns and giving them a piece of the business. Mazars’s roughly 1,000-person U.S.
workforce, including 100 partners, joined Forvis under the terms of the deal. The combined firms now have about 7,700 people, including nearly 660 partners, in the U.S. Before the deal, Forvis had 6,700 people, including 584 partners, all in the U.S.
Twenty-six of the firms’ partners retired as of the deal’s closing. The global network will total more than 40,000 people. The deal is among a series of
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