An indicative valuation, calculated on this page
Enter five data points. The calculator returns an indicative GRF multiple range, an indicative headline value range, and the 50/25/25 cashflow under our standard structure (day of completion, month 12, month 24). Same methodology we use internally before any serious conversation. The figures appear instantly, with appropriate health warnings, and there is no email gate or commitment.
How UK accountancy practices are valued
There is no single formula. A sole-practitioner book at £180k of fees and a regional firm at £4m of fees are priced on different methods, by different categories of buyer, against different yardsticks. The honest answer is that valuation method tracks size, and the three brackets below are how the market actually behaves.
Below £750k of recurring fees. Pure GRF (gross recurring fees) multiple. Base of 1.0x, adjusted up or down for recurring proportion, client concentration, location, and practice type. The working range for a clean book sits between 0.8x and 1.5x, with a tighter 0.5x to 1.1x range for sub-£150k books where the buyer is taking on more relative integration cost per pound of fees acquired. This is the bracket the great majority of sole-practitioners and two-partner firms fall into.
£750k to £1.5m of recurring fees. A blended method. The market starts caring about EBITDA at this size because there is enough margin and enough scale for an earnings-based view to be meaningful. The calculator weights GRF and EBITDA linearly across this band, so the figure you see is a weighted average of both methods rather than a hard switch.
Above £1.5m of recurring fees. Pure EBITDA multiple. The buyer is no longer a like-for-like local practice; it is a consolidator, a private equity platform, or a larger regional firm with a corporate development function. Multiplier bands rise with size: 5.0x plus or minus 1.0x at £1m to £3m, 6.0x plus or minus 1.0x at £3m to £10m, 6.5x plus or minus 1.25x above £10m. At this scale Jack Ross is unlikely to be the direct buyer, and the calculator is honest about that on the output screen.
The eight factors that move the multiple
Five of the eight you can give us in a sentence each, and the calculator uses those. The remaining three only emerge in conversation. Each factor moves the multiple a few percentage points in either direction; together they account for most of the spread between a book that prices at 0.9x and one that prices at 1.4x.
Recurring proportion. A book at 85 per cent recurring is materially safer than one at 60 per cent. Recurring revenue survives the change of ownership; one-off work often does not.
Client concentration. If a single client represents more than 20 per cent of fees, the buyer is acquiring concentration risk as much as a fee book. Multiples come down to compensate.
Geography. A book in Greater Manchester, East Lancashire, or Cheshire trades at a small premium to one in a region where the buyer would need to staff a new office. We work the North West; that is honestly where our multiples are strongest.
Practice type. Tax-led and advisory books carry a premium over general compliance. Audit-led books are valued differently again because of registered-auditor requirements and the smaller pool of credible buyers.
Software stack. A book already on Xero or QuickBooks Online with clean workpapers integrates faster than one on legacy desktop software with paper files. The multiple difference is small; the integration cost difference is not.
Staff quality. Qualified, retainable staff who know the clients are part of what is being acquired. Heavy reliance on the outgoing principal for technical work depresses the multiple because the buyer has to replace that capacity.
Owner dependency. Clients who deal exclusively with the principal are clients who may not transfer. Books where the principal has already stepped back from day-to-day client contact retain better and price better.
Growth trajectory. A book that has grown 5 per cent a year for five years is worth more than a flat one. A book in decline is worth less, regardless of the snapshot turnover.
Why headline valuation matters less than deal structure
The single most common mistake we see in first conversations is sellers anchoring on the headline multiple and underweighting how the money actually arrives. A 1.4x deal on £500k of fees, paid 50 per cent on completion with the balance over 24 months and no clawback above an 85 per cent retention threshold on the final tranche, often nets the seller more after tax and risk-adjusted than a 1.5x deal paid 30 per cent on completion with a five-year earn-out, equity rollover, and rolling retention conditions across the whole consideration.
The headline figure is the bit the broker quotes. The structure is the bit that determines what you actually receive. Our position on structure is set out in full on the deal structure page, and the methodology behind the GRF multiple is covered in our long-form article on GRF multiples. If you are at the early stage of thinking about exit, the process overview walks through what a sale actually involves end to end.
Tax treatment also matters more than most sellers expect at the calculator stage. Business Asset Disposal Relief applies a reduced capital gains tax rate on the qualifying gain for eligible disposals, currently 18 per cent. (Rate as at May 2026. Subject to change. Take independent tax advice.) The interaction between deal structure, deferred consideration, and BADR eligibility is the kind of thing your accountant and solicitor should be modelling before you sign anything, and is one of the reasons we recommend you have both engaged before serious negotiation begins.
Limitations of an indicative range
An indicative range is a useful starting point, not an offer. The output is calibrated against five inputs because those five are sufficient to put a book in roughly the right bracket. The factors the calculator cannot see are the ones that move a real offer within that bracket.
Workpapers quality is one. A book where the previous five years of files are organised, current, and auditable supports a faster transition and a smaller integration discount. Client retention history is another; if you have lost two of your top ten clients in the last 18 months, that matters to the offer in a way that a snapshot turnover figure does not capture. Software contract terms (transferability, notice periods, per-seat pricing on transfer) can shift the integration cost by tens of thousands of pounds either way. Lease commitments on the office, PII history, and any open regulatory or HMRC matters all feed into the final number.
None of these are unreasonable for a buyer to want to see before committing. They are also not the kind of thing it is sensible to disclose on a website. If the indicative range looks roughly right and you would like to take the conversation further, contact us and the Managing Partner will arrange a confidential first call.
How accurate is this valuation calculator?
The range it returns is indicative and calibrated against our internal pricing methodology. For sub-£750k books it is typically within 10 to 15 per cent of where a real offer would land after due diligence on a clean book. For books over £1.5m the calculator switches to an EBITDA-based method and assumes margins from practice type, so the spread is wider and the figures are framed as market-typical rather than a Jack Ross offer.
Does the calculator submit my figures to anyone?
No. It runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is sent to us, stored, logged, or attached to your IP address. If you choose to discuss the range with us afterwards, that is a separate decision and the conversation begins with a mutual NDA on request.
What is GRF and why is it the headline metric?
Gross Recurring Fees are the annual fees a buyer can reasonably expect to keep receiving after acquisition: compliance work that renews each year, monthly bookkeeping, payroll, retainer-based advisory. One-off project work, ad-hoc consultancy, and non-recurring tax work are excluded. GRF is the headline because it is the part of the book the buyer is actually paying to acquire.
Why is there a range rather than a single number?
Because precision at this stage would be misleading. The same £400k book can defensibly trade between £320k and £600k depending on factors the calculator cannot see. Giving a single number would imply a confidence the methodology does not support.
Do you ever pay above the calculator's top of range?
Occasionally, yes. A book that is exceptionally clean, has stable client relationships, qualified retainable staff, and a strong recurring profile can support a multiple above the modelled ceiling. The calculator is calibrated to typical, not to the best case.
What happens after I see the range?
Nothing automatic. If the figure looks roughly right and you would like to discuss it, use the contact form and the Managing Partner will arrange a confidential first call. If it does not, you have lost nothing and we will never know you used the page.
Is this calculator suitable for audit-led practices?
It will return a number, but with a wider margin of error. Audit work is valued differently because of registered-auditor requirements, the smaller buyer pool, and PII considerations. If audit is more than 30 per cent of your fees, treat the calculator's output as a rough lower bound and have the conversation directly.