Discussion:Buying a paractice
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Discussion Forum Index --> Business Growth Community --> Buying a paractice
Tsaccounting (talk|edits) said: | 6 September 2008 |
| I am currently in the process of applying for practices that are for sale. I have not had any luck with any of the practices that i have applied for. One of the agents even sent me the below message for one of the practices that i had applied for.
"Thanks for your call regarding the XXXX Practice. The seller’s are looking for someone with years of experience operating a practice. They acknowledge the fact that you have plenty of technical experience but operating the business is a bit different." I have also noted that some of the agents are not really interested - it seems like it is a sellers market. I need advice on the approach i should take on buying / bidding for a practice. Any help or directions would be really helpful. Thanks | |
| 6 September 2008 | |
| What state/region are looking to purchase in? If you arent't shy, you might find it useful to go around and visit the "tax shops" to see if anyone is nearing retirement age. You might be surprised. I just bought a practice from a lady who was "selling" but it was not advertised. I do not believe it to be a seller's market at all. Keep plugging away. I looked at 3 practices over 6 years before I found one where the seller wasn't "over-exxagerating" :-) | |
Tsaccounting (talk|edits) said: | 6 September 2008 |
| I am looking to purchase in Southern CA (preferably OC). What kind of "tax shops" are you refering to? My biggest challege has been to find a practice and also i do not want to wait for years.:-( | |
| 7 September 2008 | |
| They are listed in the yellow pages under "Tax Preparation". | |
Tsaccounting (talk|edits) said: | 7 September 2008 |
| But it is not necessary that they want to retire or sell their practice. Where else can i look for practices? | |
| 7 September 2008 | |
| Here is a list available I found in southern CA.
http://www.accountingpracticesales.com/united-states/west/california-south As far as not wanting to wait for years, pardon the cliche, but patience is a virtue. The first practice that I didn't buy had an owner that would create phantom deductions because he told the client that the refund would be bigger than it actually was. I picked up on this "trend' while working there and realized that many clients refunds would drop when I took over. The clients, of course, would think that I didn't know what I was doing. The second practice owner could not support her sales total with the sum total of the invoices in the physical files. I then found out that she had a real estate license and commingled her RE commissions into her total income! She claimed that it was an "oversight". The third practice that I did buy: Everything they said was in fact correct. Owning this practice has changed my life. Conversely, buying practice one or two would have been one of the biggest mistakes of my life. Best of luck... | |
Tsaccounting (talk|edits) said: | 9 September 2008 |
| Any other places where i can look for practices? | |
| 9 September 2008 | |
| Most of the sites cater to CPA practices, but here is another that has a broader sales reach.
http://www.prohorizons.com/californiasouth.html#longbeach You could also contact the rep for Accounting Practice Sales and let him troll the phone-book for you. I had a call 2 weeks ago to see if I was interested in selling my practice. | |
| 14 September 2008 | |
| TSA... look at the profile for Dougtax. You may be interested... | |
