Industry Expertise / Professional Service Firms
Your firm is your people. So is its value.
Every professional-services firm eventually faces the same question: keep building, or begin planning an exit. The firms that command a premium answer it years before they need to.
The market right now
A structural succession wave meets patient capital.
Australia’s knowledge-based sectors — engineering, consulting, agencies, recruitment, design — are consolidating. Many principal-led firms were built by founders now in their late 50s to 70s with no obvious internal successor, while global consolidators, listed groups and private equity pursue recurring-revenue platforms. With acute talent shortages, acquirers increasingly buy established teams and client relationships rather than build them.
Two conversations we have every week.
This page covers professional and knowledge-based firms beyond accounting and law — engineering, consulting, architecture, agencies and recruitment. Most principals sit in one of two positions.
You’re building toward a future sale.
If a sale is three to five years away, the work starts now. We help principals reduce founder dependence, build management depth, shift revenue toward recurring and contracted work, and tidy the commercial foundations — so the firm becomes more valuable and more sellable well before you go to market.
Plan your growth & exit →You’re ready to test the market.
When you are ready, we run a discreet, structured process: positioning the firm’s people, methodology and client base, identifying the right domestic and offshore acquirers, and managing negotiation and terms to protect both price and your staff through completion.
Explore a sale →What actually drives the value of a professional-services firm.
For people-based firms, value is relationships and reputation. These are the factors buyers scrutinise — and the ones we help you strengthen before you go to market.
Recurring over project
Retainers, framework panels and contracted backlog beat one-off project revenue every time.
Depth beneath founders
A capable second tier who own client relationships de-risks the buyer’s biggest concern.
Client diversification
No single client or sector dominating revenue protects the multiple.
Owned methodology
Documented systems, IP and delivery process that outlast any individual.
Talent retention
Low attrition and a credible pipeline signal a durable, transferable business.
Clean commercials
Reliable earnings, sound contracts and a clear professional-indemnity record.
“The best time to make your firm sellable is years before you intend to sell it.”
The Quinn M&A approachWhy principals choose Quinn M&A.
A boutique advisory built for significant private transactions — where the person advising you is the person at the table.
Rare dual expertise
A Chartered Accountant and admitted Solicitor bring the financial and legal sides of a transaction under one senior adviser.
We complement, not replace
We work with your own accountant and lawyer — focused solely on positioning and executing the deal.
Confidential throughout
Senior-led judgement matters where value is people and reputation. Explore your options quietly, without unsettling staff or clients.
Speak with Michael Quinn
Let’s talk about your firm — in confidence, with no obligation.
Whether an exit is years away or already on the table, a short conversation now will tell you where you stand and what a strong outcome could look like.
+61 2 9223 9166
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