Ascend adds Walter Shuffain | Accounting Today

Ascend, a private-equity backed accounting firm, has added Walter Shuffain to expand its geographic footprint in Boston, effective Jan. 1.

Walter Shuffain, which reported $30 million in revenue in 2023, adds 114 professionals, including 13 partners, to the Ascend team. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

“We’re making this change from a position of strength,” Jonathan Yorks, managing partner at Walter Shuffain, said in a statement. “We already have a transition plan for the next generation in place, and we have a great partner group that will be able to carry on our business, but the landscape is changing. We don’t know what’s going to be out there and what’s going to impact us three to five years down the road that we don’t even see right now. So being able to make this change from a position of strength is a significant advantage.”

Walter Shuffain was founded in Boston in 1994 and specializes in serving private businesses and high net worth clients. The firm provides consulting, advisory and tax services to clients in the construction, distribution, health care, manufacturing, private equity, professional services, real estate, technology and wholesale industries. It was named on Accounting Today’s “2024 Best Firms to Work For” list. 

Walter Shuffain will adopt an alternative practice structure, common among these kinds of private equity deals, reorganizing itself into two entities. Tax and business advisory services will be provided by WS Advisors Corp., a new entity affiliated with Ascend, and attest services will be provided by WS CPAs P.C., an independently owned and licensed CPA firms.

“There is a clear opportunity to build an independent, middle-market firm of consequence in greater Boston and to create exceptional careers for their people,” Ascend president Nishaad Ruparel said in a statement. “Walter Shuffain has been building in that direction for years, and our partnership will only accelerate that transformation.”

Ascend is backed by private equity firm Alpine Investors and works with regional accounting firms with between $15 and $50 million in revenue. It ranked No. 59 on Accounting Today‘s 2024 Top 100 Firms list, with $126 million in revenue and over 600 employees. 

Since its launch at the start of 2023, it has made a significant number of investments, including Opsahl Dawson in Vancouver, Washington, in January 2023; ATKG in San Antonio in May; LMC in New York City in June; Sentient Solutions for Accounting, an offshore services provider in India and Mexico, in July; Goering & Granatino in Overland Park, Kansas, in October; Atlanta’s Wilson Lewis in November; San Diego’s LevitZacks in March 2024; and North Carolina’s Blackman & Sloop and New Hampshire’s TSS in May. It most recently added California-based Lucas Horsfall as its latest member firm in October.