It's merger mania time for accounting firms—and it won't let up anytime soon, according to the new 2015-2016 Rosenberg MAP Survey, an annual study of CPA firm statistics. Three main factors have fueled the feeding frenzy: continued slow post-recession organic growth, thousands of baby boomers with no internal succession plans in place, and competition heating up for middle-market clients (the big firms want the biggest and best clients).

“I think that we will see four or five of the top 100 firms disappear via merger deals and there will be major merge-up activity in the next 200 firms below them,” says Gary Adamson of Adamson Advisory, a practice management firm. “For the smaller firms and especially the sole practitioners, we are approaching a buyer’s market.”

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