Professional Services Services First Half 2025 Report
Strategic and private equity buyers continue to have strong interest in the professional services sector. Professional services segments spanning consulting; accounting, tax & advisory; staffing & recruiting; HCM services; legal services; marketing services; and architecture & design announced 335 M&A deals during the first six months of 2025, up from 307 during the first half of 2024. Weak deal volume in Q2 2024 drove the favorable H1 2025 vs. H1 2024 comparison. The two most active segments in H1 2025 – consulting and accounting, tax & advisory – represented more than 50% of transactions. Staffing & Recruiting and HCM Services were the next most active segments. Combined the four segments comprise more than 80% of deal volume.
The Professional Services sector, traditionally fragmented, is experiencing elevated deal activity in some subsectors. Buyers in this space frequently acquire to fill gaps in their service offerings and capabilities, expand their geographic presence, and gain access to skill sets and domain expertise that is needed to support the evolving demands of their client bases. Additionally, with greater scale, Professional Services firms are better positioned to make the technology investments increasingly required to successfully compete in their markets and maintain efficient internal operations.
Private equity investors have made a notable push into the Professional Services market, fueling deal activity. Recent platform investments in the Accounting, Tax & Advisory segment have been especially notable though all four of the most active Professional Services segments have multiple active private equity investors.
In the first half of 2025, there were 19 buyers that acquired two or more companies during the six-month period; not surprisingly roughly 80% of the multi-deal buyers were private equity backed. Buyers announcing multiple deals in the first half of the year included: Aprio (backed by Charlesbank Capital Partners), Argano (backed by Trinity Hunt Partners), and Baker Tilly (backed by Hellman & Friedman and Valeas Capital Partners).
With their voracious appetite for M&A, private equity backed platforms are forcing Professional Services firms, especially small and mid-sized firms, to contemplate a competitive environment where they will face a growing number of large competitors with the scale necessary to invest in technology, people, and even more M&A. Do they opt to sell to a large, acquisitive firm? Do they go on the offensive and become an acquirer themselves, maybe with the help of a financial backer? Maintaining the status quo may no longer be feasible.
Prior to joining FOCUS, Ms. Taylor worked in product marketing and business analytics roles at AOL. In her role as Director of Business Operations and Analysis at AOL, she led a team responsible for providing analysis, reporting, and strategic recommendations for products generating more than $150 million in annual revenue. She also managed 20+ cross-company initiatives which doubled the retention rate of canceling AOL subscription members as users of AOL’s free, advertising supported products.
Before that, Ms. Taylor was a management consultant and case team leader at Bain & Company, where she worked closely with client management teams, including C-level executives, to deliver measurable financial and operational improvements to businesses in a wide range of industries. Her engagements at Bain included identifying growth and cost savings opportunities, developing implementation plans, and performing investment due diligence.
Ms. Taylor received an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a B.A. in economics from Wellesley College. She is also a CFA charter holder and holds FINRA Series 7, 63, and 79 licenses.
