If you’ve started thinking “I want to sell my accounting practice,” you’re facing one of the biggest financial decisions of your career 💼
Here’s the catch nobody mentions, though: unlike an audit or a tax return, it’s something most accountants only do once. There’s no second attempt to learn from. So getting it right the first time — and not giving away value you didn’t have to — really matters.
When you decide to sell my accounting practice the smart way, the process breaks down into six clear steps 👇
🛠️ Step 1: Prepare before you list
First, remember that the single biggest lever on your price is preparation, and it starts long before you advertise. Buyers pay more for a practice that’s low-risk and easy to take over:
✅ Move clients onto recurring, contracted fees wherever you can
✅ Reduce owner dependence, let staff own the relationships and the delivery
✅ Tidy up financials, workpapers and debtors so due diligence is painless
✅ Document your systems and processes so knowledge transfers with the firm
💰 Step 2: Know what it’s worth
Next, get clear on value. Accounting practices in South Africa typically sell for between 0.5 and 1.4 times annual recurring fees, depending on risk. A diversified, well-run book with loyal staff sits near the top, whereas an owner-dependent practice with concentrated clients sits near the bottom 📊
Knowing roughly where you fall before you list keeps both your expectations and your negotiations grounded.
🚪 Step 3: Choose how you go to market
This is where sellers have more choice than they often realise.
Traditionally, the route was to place your practice with a broker, who matches you to buyers from a private database and takes a commission — often a meaningful percentage of the sale — when the deal closes. That model works, but it carries two costs worth thinking about 🤔
💸 Commission: a percentage of a multi-million-rand sale is real money, and it comes straight off your proceeds
👀 Limited visibility: your firm is only seen by the buyers one intermediary chooses to show it to, which means fewer eyes and less competitive tension on price
Alternatively, an open marketplace flips the model. You list for a flat fee, every registered buyer can see your practice, and interested buyers come to you directly. As a result, you keep the full value of the sale, and your firm sits in front of the whole buyer pool 🔓
🤐 Step 4: List confidentially
You rarely want staff or clients knowing a sale is underway. Therefore, a good listing gives serious buyers enough to go on — location, fee base, client mix, service lines — without identifying the firm. Genuine buyers enquire, and you stay in control of what’s shared, and when.
🤝 Step 5: Qualify buyers and structure the deal
Once buyers come forward, the work is finding the right fit — someone who can fund the purchase, serve the clients well, and protect the team and legacy you’re handing over. Moreover, most deals include some deferred payment or earn-out tied to client retention, which protects both sides through the transition.
🔁 Step 6: Plan the handover
Finally, plan the handover, because this is where value is either preserved or lost. A phased approach — introducing the buyer to clients, transferring knowledge, staying available for an agreed period — is what keeps clients (and the price you negotiated) intact.
🎯 The bottom line
Ultimately, you have far more control over both your price and your process than the traditional route suggests. Preparing well lifts your multiple, while choosing an open, transparent way to go to market means more buyers see your firm — and more of the proceeds stay with you 😉
That’s exactly what the AFS marketplace is built for: an open platform where every practice listed as an accounting practice for sale gets full buyer visibility, with no gatekeeping and no commission on your deal.
🔎 Looking to sell your practice?
List your practice to access buyers across South Africa and choose which buyers to connect with directly.