The accounting industry is undergoing a major transformation due to multiple factors, from evolving regulations to advancements in AI technology. But perhaps the biggest factor impacting the industry right now is private equity.
“Private equity has clearly created a presence for itself in accounting and consulting,” said Brendan Ridge, Global Vice President and Practice Group Lead for Collaboration at Intapp. “It seems like every day, you hear of a new firm either taking investments or making an acquisition.”
Ridge explained that, because the accounting industry is so fragmented, private equity (PE) firms are motivated to acquire other firms to consolidate smaller competitors and become leaders in the market. Accounting firms also offer stable, recurring revenue streams, making them safe investments for PE firms.
With private equity backing, accounting firms can offer more and better services to their clients than ever before. This was the case for Anderson Anderson Brown (AAB), an audit, accounting, and tax solutions firm which received private equity backing in 2021 from August Equity.
“That’s when we exploded into rapid acquisition and growth,” explained Lance Fisher, Chief Technology Officer at AAB.
August Equity’s investment will help AAB pursue M&A opportunities across the U.K. and build a high-quality regional business services group. But to successfully scale, Fisher and his team knew they would need the right document management system (DMS).
A centralized system for M&A
Although acquiring and onboarding new companies would allow AAB to offer more services to clients, Fisher knew it would also create challenges around internal collaboration.
“Every acquisition will come with [their own] data and processes, [so we need to] integrate and migrate them into the AAB family,” he explained.
To support M&A growth, many firms invest in multiple tools to meet the different needs of all their teams. However, unless these tools integrate with one another, professionals will struggle with silos, disparate data, inconsistent processes, and inefficient collaboration. That’s why AAB invested in an AI-powered, scalable collaboration and content management solution: Intapp Collaboration.
Designed by industry experts, Intapp Collaboration is built for accounting firms’ specific needs, including M&A. Firms can efficiently onboard new acquisitions, drive collaboration across teams and service lines, and easily manage documents and workflows — all within a single, unified, and secure DMS. Plus, the software automatically creates compliant and templated workspaces for both internal and external collaboration.
“To collaborate on documents for clients on a platform that’s safe and secure … is quite strategic,” said Fisher. Professionals can work on client matters quicker while minimizing information governance risk to provide better service, build trust, and, ultimately, enhance client relationships.
The combined power of Intapp and Microsoft
Intapp Collaboration is built on Microsoft 365, allowing professionals to use the secure and powerful Microsoft tools they’re familiar with. This was a huge benefit for AAB, as the firm uses various Microsoft 365 apps across teams.
“We standardized with Microsoft,” Fisher said. “[But we also wanted to] make sure everyone [can work with] their own sets of apps as well. So it’s sort of a hybrid world.”
Fisher continued: “When you [have] a collection of apps, it’s key that they get integrated. So for us, the relationship that Intapp has with Microsoft was quite important.”
Using Intapp Collaboration, AAB successfully unified its multiple Microsoft apps — as well as its HR, finance, and tax management systems — in one platform, so professionals can easily access the tools and data they need.
Intapp also lets AAB professionals leverage Microsoft Copilot while minimizing the risk of oversharing. Normally, Copilot users type in the information they’re looking for, and Copilot generates a response by pulling relevant data from across the firm’s Microsoft 365 applications. However, without the right tools and permissions in place, Copilot may inadvertently share confidential information to unauthorized users.
To help solve this issue, Intapp Collaboration lets administrators easily tag documents with metadata and set user permissions, while Intapp Walls for Copilot lets firms control which data Copilot can access. Users can then quickly search for data via Copilot without fear of accessing sensitive information — allowing them to work and collaborate more efficiently.
A system that supports your firm’s vision
As AAB continues its M&A journey, Fisher is confident that Intapp Collaboration will help his team grow, scale, and expand their services.
When AAB was selecting its DMS, Fisher says, “our vision was quite clear. We wanted to go to enterprise-level … [and] get onto one platform that [shared] that vision.”
Fisher advises other firms to likewise consider their own vision before selecting a DMS to ensure it can meet their goals. “Plan ahead, make sure you have a strategy, and make sure you work with a key partner.”
Fisher continued: “[Choosing] Intapp, Microsoft, [and/or other] key vendors is key. You want to be working with enterprise-level vendors who are working in the industry and influencing the industry, because that gives you the ability to be involved and feed off their ideas.”
Ridge echoed Fisher’s statement on having a strategy in place before implementing a DMS. He also noted the importance of preparing your firm’s data and permissions to ease the implementation process.
“[We advise] clients to think about foundation first,” Ridge said. “Get a foundation in place that gets your data on one platform. Ensure it’s tagged with metadata. Get governance and security in place so when AI really comes into fruition, you’re able to use [it] to your heart’s content without any reservation.”
Want to learn more about how AAB leverages Intapp Collaboration? Watch the full webinar, “Unlock the hidden value in your firm’s content to drive efficiency and growth.”