Smith + Howard Secures TPG Investment as Private Equity Expands in Professional Services
Smith + Howard, the Atlanta-based assurance, tax, advisory, and wealth management firm founded by Jim Howard and Joe Smith, has secured a significant investment from TPG through TPG Growth. Financial terms were not disclosed. The transaction follows Smith + Howard's earlier private equity partnership with Broad Sky Partners in 2022 and represents another step in the firm's evolution into a scaled national professional-services platform. The investment is expected to support technology initiatives, AI integration, operational infrastructure, talent development, and continued expansion. Smith + Howard currently operates with approximately 800 professionals across multiple states and has expanded well beyond traditional accounting into consulting, executive search, cyber risk, wealth management, and advisory services.
The announcement also reflects a broader trend reshaping the accounting and professional-services industry, where private equity firms are increasingly backing platforms capable of combining specialized expertise, technology investment, and diversified client offerings.
What Happened
For decades, accounting firms occupied a predictable corner of the business world. Clients came for audits, tax returns, compliance work, and trusted advice. Growth often followed a familiar formula: add partners, add clients, add offices. Then the economics changed. Private equity firms began looking at accounting and advisory businesses through a different lens. They saw recurring revenue, durable client relationships, fragmented markets, and significant opportunities for consolidation. What many viewed as a mature industry suddenly looked like an attractive platform-building opportunity.
Smith + Howard sits squarely inside that shift. Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Atlanta, Smith + Howard has spent years expanding beyond its accounting roots. Today, the organization provides assurance, tax, advisory, wealth management, cyber risk, executive search, consulting, and specialty tax services through a growing collection of businesses and affiliated brands. The firm operates under an alternative practice structure that includes Smith + Howard PC and Smith + Howard Advisory LLC, allowing it to deliver attest, tax, consulting, and advisory services through specialized entities.
The newly announced investment from TPG Growth follows Broad Sky Partners' investment in 2022 and positions Smith + Howard for its next phase of expansion.
Why This Matters
The most interesting aspect of the transaction isn't the capital itself. It's what the capital is chasing. A decade ago, many accounting firms competed primarily on technical expertise and local relationships. Today, middle-market businesses increasingly need broader support. A client may require tax planning, transaction advisory, cybersecurity guidance, executive recruiting, operational consulting, and wealth management services at different points in its growth journey.
Managing six separate providers creates friction. Working with a platform capable of delivering those services under a connected ecosystem creates leverage. Smith + Howard has spent years assembling that ecosystem. Its platform now includes capabilities spanning advisory services, executive search through S+H Search, consulting services through S+H Consulting, business advisory capabilities through Fahrenheit Advisors, and cyber risk expertise through Geels Norton.
The result is a professional-services model designed around client complexity rather than traditional service silos. That distinction is becoming increasingly valuable.
Market Context
Private equity investment in accounting and advisory firms has accelerated over the past several years as investors pursue fragmented markets with recurring revenue and consolidation opportunities. The appeal is straightforward. Accounting firms often maintain long-term client relationships, generate recurring revenue, and operate within highly specialized service categories. When combined with technology modernization, operational improvements, strategic acquisitions, and expanded service offerings, those characteristics create an attractive investment profile.
Smith + Howard was among the earlier firms to embrace this trend when Broad Sky Partners invested in 2022. The firm's growth trajectory has been notable. Official company disclosures indicate approximately 800 professionals across multiple states, while CEO Sean Taylor’s biography highlights expansion from a single Atlanta office to a footprint spanning multiple U.S. markets and Bangalore, India.
The timing is equally important. Artificial intelligence is beginning to influence workflow automation, compliance processes, data analysis, documentation, and client service delivery. Firms capable of investing aggressively in technology infrastructure may find themselves operating with advantages that smaller competitors struggle to match.
The Leadership Behind the Expansion
Leadership structures often reveal strategic intent more clearly than investor presentations. Smith + Howard's executive team reflects a business designed for multidimensional growth rather than a traditional regional accounting model.
Sean Taylor serves as CEO of Smith + Howard Advisory LLC. J. Sean Spitzer serves as President of both Smith + Howard PC and Smith + Howard Advisory LLC. Karthik Krishnamurthy serves as CFO. Marty Dauer leads growth initiatives as Chief Growth Officer. Kerry Eales serves as Chief Human Resources Officer. Brielle Ferrante serves as CMO. Scott Goodwin serves as CIO. Julie H. Barnes serves as Chief of Staff. Amanda Popolare serves as Chief Innovation Officer. Russ Kanner serves as Chief Revenue Officer.
David Lee, Partner and Assurance Practice Leader, helps oversee one of the firm's core service foundations while the organization continues expanding across new disciplines and markets. Viewed collectively, this leadership structure looks less like a traditional accounting partnership and more like a diversified professional-services platform. That is likely not accidental.
What This Signals
The biggest takeaway from the TPG investment may not be the transaction itself. It may be what the transaction reveals about the future of professional services. Clients increasingly expect integrated expertise. Employees increasingly expect modern technology and better workflows. Investors increasingly favor firms capable of scaling beyond a single service line.
Organizations operating at the intersection of those trends are attracting attention. Smith + Howard's priorities around AI integration, operational infrastructure, talent development, and expanded client services mirror broader shifts occurring throughout accounting, consulting, cybersecurity, wealth management, and advisory markets.
The firms creating durable advantages today are not necessarily those offering the most services. They're the firms building ecosystems that allow expertise, technology, and client relationships to reinforce one another.
The Bigger Industry Shift
Every industry eventually reaches a point where old definitions stop explaining what's happening. The traditional definition of an accounting firm feels increasingly incomplete. The organizations attracting capital today are evolving into multidisciplinary business platforms that combine financial expertise, advisory services, consulting, executive recruiting, cybersecurity capabilities, wealth management, and technology-enabled operations.
Smith + Howard's investment from TPG reflects that evolution. This isn't simply a funding event. It's another data point in a larger story about how professional-services firms are being rebuilt for a market where clients demand broader expertise, technology plays a larger operational role, and scale creates advantages that didn't exist a decade ago.
The accounting industry may still use familiar labels. The business models behind those labels are changing quickly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened between Smith + Howard and TPG?
TPG Growth announced a significant investment in Smith + Howard. Financial terms were not publicly disclosed.
Who founded Smith + Howard?
Smith + Howard was founded in 1971 by Jim Howard and Joe Smith and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
What is Smith + Howard's alternative practice structure?
Smith + Howard operates through Smith + Howard PC and Smith + Howard Advisory LLC, allowing attest services and advisory services to be delivered through specialized entities under the broader Smith + Howard brand. Learn more from the AICPA's guidance on alternative practice structures.
What services does Smith + Howard provide?
Smith + Howard provides assurance, tax, advisory, wealth management, cyber risk, executive search, consulting, specialty tax services, and related professional-services offerings.
How large is Smith + Howard?
Smith + Howard reported approximately 800 professionals across multiple states at the time of the TPG investment announcement.
What was Broad Sky Partners' role?
Broad Sky Partners made a strategic investment in Smith + Howard in 2022, helping support the firm's growth and expansion strategy.
Why are private equity firms investing in accounting firms?
Private equity firms are attracted to accounting and advisory firms because of recurring revenue, client retention, fragmented markets, consolidation opportunities, and increasing demand for multidisciplinary services.
What does the TPG investment signal about the accounting industry?
The transaction reflects broader trends around consolidation, technology investment, AI adoption, platform expansion, and the evolution of accounting firms into diversified professional-services organizations.
