The Innovative CPA FirmCharlie & Lauren
Strategic Advisory Excellence Since 1984
Executive Dashboard
Strategic Outlook 2026–2028
$25M
Annual Gross Revenue
17%
EBITDA Margin
$34M - $42.5M
Valuation Range
85%
Economic Profit%
3
No. of Equity Partners
$179/hr
Avg Client Rate ($/hr)
95
Total Employees
80%
Overhead as % of Revenue
Valuation-Based Strategic Position
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
Strengths
  • Tax services dominate the revenue mix at 75% of gross revenue, providing a clear core earnings base.
  • The firm generates $25.0 million of gross revenue, which is material in size for valuation analysis.
  • With only 3 partners, revenue per partner is approximately $8.3 million, indicating high partner-level productivity.
  • The practice has defined specialty areas in real estate, high-net-worth, trusts and estates, and nonprofit work, which supports service-line concentration.
  • The firm reports 140,000 billable hours, showing a substantial volume of fee-earning work underpinning operations.
Weaknesses
  • EBITDA of 20% on $25.0 million of revenue may limit upside versus higher-margin peer firms and can constrain valuation multiples.
  • Revenue is 75% tax and only 15% audit, creating a heavy dependence on one service line that increases earnings concentration risk.
  • With only 3 partners generating $8.33 million of revenue per partner, the firm appears highly partner-dependent, which can elevate succession and key-person risk.
  • The firm has 95 staff supporting 140,000 billable hours, which suggests limited scale relative to headcount and may leave less room for operational leverage.
  • Consulting contributes only 10% of revenue, indicating a relatively narrow service mix that may cap cross-sell and diversification benefits.
Opportunities
  • Deepen the higher-value tax-led mix, as tax work already represents 75% of gross revenue and can support stronger pricing and client stickiness relative to lower-share service lines.
  • Expand consulting from its current 10% of revenue to improve service mix and capture more advisory work from the existing client base, which could enhance margins and valuation.
  • Leverage the firm’s specialized niches in real estate, HNW, T&E, and NFP to reinforce differentiation and support premium positioning in targeted client segments.
  • Increase partner leverage and succession depth, since the firm has 3 partners, 95 staff, and partner ages centered around 49, which suggests room to build a broader leadership bench and reduce key-person concentration.
  • Improve operating efficiency and scale around the current 20% EBITDA margin and 140,000 billable hours to convert the firm’s size into stronger profitability and earnings quality.
Threats
  • Revenue is heavily weighted to tax work at 75% of gross revenue, which can limit diversification and make the earnings base more dependent on one service line.
  • The firm’s EBITDA margin is 20%, which leaves only moderate operating cushion if compensation, staffing, or other overhead costs rise.
  • With 95 staff supporting 3 partners, the practice may require substantial partner oversight and delegation, creating execution risk if leadership capacity is stretched.
  • The partner group is relatively small at 3 partners, so the business may face key-person dependency and succession risk if one partner becomes unavailable or exits.
  • The firm’s revenue per partner of about 8.3 million is high, which can indicate strong productivity but also suggests meaningful reliance on a limited number of rainmakers to sustain current performance.
Enhance Profitability

Increasing EBITDA margin to 25-30% could increase firm value by 25-40%.

17% EBITDA margin
Operational Efficiency

You are doing a great job on leverage, continue to look for opportunities to push work down to the appropriate levels, and remember that leverage is your biggest pathway to high levels of profitability

Leverage ratio 31.67:1
Revenue Acceleration

Without a defined growth rate, growth may be accelerated by adding advisory services, pursuing tuck-in mergers, or onboarding a lateral partner with an existing book of business.

+15–25% revenue growth
Risk Mitigation

May enhance operational capacity, diversify expertise, and strengthen continuity, but can introduce complexity in decision-making and profit sharing.
May support continuity, smoother succession planning, stronger long-term client retention, and greater capacity to adapt to growth and innovation initiatives.

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This preliminary valuation range is for discussion purposes only, based on unverified information, and is highly sensitive to assumptions. It does not constitute a formal valuation or transaction guidance and should not be relied upon by any party for decision-making purposes.