Your clients keep their accountant
No rebrand, no call centre, no "your account has moved". The firms we buy keep trading under their own name with the team clients already know.
Practice acquisitions
Sell Your Accountancy Practice in Manchester
Greater Manchester has more accountancy practices changing hands than anywhere else in the North West, and most of them go through brokers or into consolidators that absorb the brand. We offer the third way: a direct sale to a regional group that keeps your firm your firm.
Manchester is where the national buyers hunt. Private equity backed consolidators, franchise fee-banks and brokers with buyer databases all circle Greater Manchester's practices, and the published listings show why: solid firms here command strong prices. What the city lacks is a buyer that pays a fair price and then leaves the firm recognisably itself.
That is the gap we fill. SMB Accountancy Group runs four North West practices, each still trading under its own name with its own team, from AAT licensed to ICAEW chartered leadership. We are not buying fees to migrate onto a platform; we are buying good firms to keep them good, with group support for the compliance, technology and admin load that eats a principal's week.
Dealing with us is simpler than the alternatives. No broker sitting between buyer and seller charging a percentage for the introduction. No months on an anonymised listing while word quietly spreads. You talk to the buyer from day one, we agree terms in plain English you can take to your own advisers, and the handover runs at a pace that protects your relationships.
From the city centre to Stockport, Bury, Bolton or anywhere across Greater Manchester, if you are weighing up an exit or looking for backing to grow, tell us about your firm below. It stays between you and the group's directors.
Why sell to us
A direct buyer, not a broker
Your staff keep their jobs
We buy practices because of the people in them. We support the existing team without overpowering the culture and values that make clients like the firm.
No broker, no commission
We are the buyer, not a middleman. Deal with us directly and there is no listing process, no sale fee and no percentage taken off your price.
Discretion, guaranteed
Nothing reaches your staff, clients or the local grapevine until you decide it should. Early conversations are just that: conversations.
Common questions
Questions sellers ask us
My Manchester firm is larger. Do you still use a fees multiple?
Market guides tend to value smaller practices on a multiple of recurring fees and larger ones on profit, moving to an earnings basis as fee income grows. We look at each practice on its own numbers rather than forcing a formula, and we will talk you through our thinking openly before anyone commits to anything.
How are you different from the consolidators buying Manchester firms?
Consolidators typically retire your brand, migrate your clients onto their platform and fold your team into their structure. We do the opposite: the firms in our group keep their name, their office and their way of working, with the group carrying the back office behind them. If the client relationships are what made your firm valuable, they should survive the sale.
Will you meet in person?
Yes, and early. Liverpool to Manchester is under an hour, and we would rather talk over a coffee than through a data room. The first meeting is a conversation, not a pitch: no advisers, no obligation, and nothing shared with anyone.
Thank you. Your message has been received. We'll come back to you personally within two working days, and everything you've told us stays confidential.
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Register your interest
A few details are enough to start; share only what you're comfortable with. We reply personally within two working days, in complete confidence.
Who reads this?
Your enquiry goes directly to the group's directors and nobody else. It is never passed to member firm staff or discussed outside that circle.
Prefer to talk?
Call 0151 709 9524 and ask for Chris, or write to hello@stuartmcbain.com and mark it confidential. Both reach the same small circle.
Selling elsewhere?
We also buy practices in: the North West Liverpool the Wirral Southport St Helens Warrington Chester Preston East Lancashire South Cheshire